# Delta Table Saw Motor Problem



## Redrox007 (May 4, 2011)

Hi All,

I have a Delta "Industrial" hybrid table saw with a 1 3/4 hp motor that I bought at Home Depot about 3 years ago. In the last week or so I have been having real problems with it and I'm hoping someone might have some advice or solutions.

The issue is that when I turn it on, the saw only gets up to about to about 1/2 speed and then after about 8 seconds trips the circuit on my panel. I have plugged it into different plugs in my shop on different circuits and the same thing happens.

The motor is very heavy and the belt is held in place by the weight of the motor. I've tried the reset button on the motor itself when turning on the main power but I can't seem to get it to work.


Does anyone out there have any ideas? Could it have something to do with the brushes? To even pull the motor out of the cabinet is a large job due to the weight and the inability to get maneouver around inside the cabinet. I was hoping that for the cost of this machine the motor would have lasted longer than 3 years!

Any ideas or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much, love the forum, has been very helpful over the years!

RJJ


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

I would pull the motor and take it to a repair shop. :furious:


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## Redrox007 (May 4, 2011)

mdntrdr said:


> I would pull the motor and take it to a repair shop. :furious:


 is there anything I can do to check it myself? do you know how to check the brushes?

thx


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

Redrox007 said:


> is there anything I can do to check it myself? do you know how to check the brushes?
> 
> thx


 
I have no idea what motor you have.

My guess is... it doesn't have brushes. :smile:


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## xphnmn (Dec 7, 2009)

+1 on pulling the motor. While I agree the motor should have lasted more ths 3 years the only other suggestion would be to first pull the belts (there may be more than one) and try running the motor with out the belt(s) to see if maybe there may be some binding in the arbor assembly. Not very likely, but possible. I would think the belt(s) would squeal if there were a problem in the arbor assembly. But you never know. I've stalled the blade on my saw with no belt squeal.


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## Redrox007 (May 4, 2011)

mdntrdr said:


> I have no idea what motor you have.
> 
> My guess is... it doesn't have brushes. :smile:


How do you tell if it does or it doesn't?


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## xphnmn (Dec 7, 2009)

Redrox007 said:


> How do you tell if it does or it doesn't?


Universal motors have brushes. Induction motors don't. The motor plate on yours will tell you which type it is.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

It should be a belt drive induction motor if it's a full size cast iron saw. If it screams like a circular saw when it runs, it's a universal motor. If it's quiet and smooth, it's an induction motor. 

If it's an induction motor, it could be one of the capacitors or the centrifugal switch. The caps are housed in the protruding "cans" on the outside of the motor housing...it's very easy to remove the screws and take a look at the caps. If one is bad you'll see obvious signs of scorching or exploding....they're cheap and easy to replace. If it's not the caps, it's worth the effort to try and get at the centrifugal switch at the fan end of the motor. You may have to remove the fan to get at it, but it works a little like a friction clutch and sometimes gets stuck....spray it down with WD40 and poke at it gently with a screw driver to see if it'll unstick.

An induction motor will look something like this (the caps are at the top of this motor):


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Look on the end*

The end opposite the pulley or blade will have 2 insulated screws or plastic caps each on opposite sides of the motor housing. You remove the caps by unscrewing them and behind them are the brushes, usually square or rectangular black carbon sticks spring loaded, about 1/4" or so.  bill
FYI- Brushes are found most often on AC/DC hand held power tools like circ saws, routers and drills and on some low cost direct drive table saws. They are not used on larger stationary power tools, table saws, jointers, and planers .


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

Have you made any progress RJJ?


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## rrich (Jun 24, 2009)

I would guess the capacitor needs to be replaced.


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## Redrox007 (May 4, 2011)

knotscott said:


> Have you made any progress RJJ?


Hi,

I did take the belt off and ran the motor without the belt attached. Motor ran fine so I cleaned the arbor and made sure the axle that spins the blade was fine. The pulley on the blade axle seemed very close to the edge so I moved it closer to the blade with the nut on the threaded axle. 

Put everything back together and ran the saw for about 60 seconds. Everything worked great. I lubed everything up and ran the saw for another minute or so. Ran perfect. 

That was Friday. Saturday I went back in the shop and turned on the saw. Same thing -- motor got to half power then cut out after 8 seconds. 

I'm at a loss. Any ideas?

Thanks guys -- most appreciated. 

RJJ


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*loose connection or bad capacitor*

Somethings not making a permanent connection. Could also be the starting switch, a rotary gizmo inside on the arbor shaft. Had a similar problem on a Grizzly 3 hp motor, bent the contacts while plugging the thing in until it stayed on. Dust and crud didn't help either. Make sure all the wiring connectors are snug....:yes: bill


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