Thread: Late teens to '20 Century electic motor

My Champion drill press came with a Century electric motor that another member said was 1920's vintage. Are there any precautions or measurements I should make before applying any juice? Should I open it up to clean any junk out from around the armature and the stator (are those the correct names?) On the motor tag it says Repulsion Start Induction Single Phase Motor, 3/4 HP. 110 or 220 volt ac, Serial Number 837542 with the following patent dates: Dec 29, 1914 and Oct 19, 1915. Presently the plug is a three prong twist lock with no numbers on it, but it has two gold lugs and one silver so I am assuming it is wired 220, is there any way to check I have not found a wiring diagram. The motor has four wires in the junction box the two adjacent center ones are shorted together and two outer ones go to the starter.

Thanks

Jeff

My Champion drill press came with a Century electric motor that another member said was 1920's vintage. Are there any precautions or measurements I should make before applying any juice? Should I open it up to clean any junk out from around the armature and the stator (are those the correct names?) On the motor tag it says Repulsion Start Induction Single Phase Motor, 3/4 HP. 110 or 220 volt ac, Serial Number 837542 with the following patent dates: Dec 29, 1914 and Oct 19, 1915. Presently the plug is a three prong twist lock with no numbers on it, but it has two gold lugs and one silver so I am assuming it is wired 220, is there any way to check I have not found a wiring diagram. The motor has four wires in the junction box the two adjacent center ones are shorted together and two outer ones go to the starter.

Thanks

Jeff

Jeff,

I would definately remove the end covers and clean out any mouse nests with a shop vac or compressed air. Do not use any solvents on the wires. You may find a considerable greasy mess inside under the bearings. this should be removed with carefull scraping where there are no wires k1 (kerosene) is a good solvent around the wires and brushes use electro motive electric parts cleaner available at better auto parts stores. Also check the bearings and if need be clean them too. The covers will need to be put on as they came off so be sure you mark them. Be carefull when removing the one end cover as some of those old motors have a brush set in them that can be a bit tricky to deal with. Close inspection of the motor may reveal that the brushes may be held in a retracted position by inserting a small piece of wire in a hole. If you remove the dog house cover on the side you will likely see that the wires are banded with metal tags to identify each pigtail. look at how the wires are tied together and compare this to the chart on your motor. If it is a dual voltage motor you should be able to wire it for either voltage without any real trouble. Just be gentile with the wires as they often get brittle with age. The stationary part of the motor is called the field, or the stator. The moving part is called the rotor or armature. I hope I have helped.

Mike

Jeff,

I would definately remove the end covers and clean out any mouse nests with a shop vac or compressed air. Do not use any solvents on the wires. You may find a considerable greasy mess inside under the bearings. this should be removed with carefull scraping where there are no wires k1 (kerosene) is a good solvent around the wires and brushes use electro motive electric parts cleaner available at better auto parts stores. Also check the bearings and if need be clean them too. The covers will need to be put on as they came off so be sure you mark them. Be carefull when removing the one end cover as some of those old motors have a brush set in them that can be a bit tricky to deal with. Close inspection of the motor may reveal that the brushes may be held in a retracted position by inserting a small piece of wire in a hole. If you remove the dog house cover on the side you will likely see that the wires are banded with metal tags to identify each pigtail. look at how the wires are tied together and compare this to the chart on your motor. If it is a dual voltage motor you should be able to wire it for either voltage without any real trouble. Just be gentile with the wires as they often get brittle with age. The stationary part of the motor is called the field, or the stator. The moving part is called the rotor or armature. I hope I have helped.

Mike

I would swing through the windings of the motor with a multimeter to ensure there is electrical continuity (i.e. the 2 ends are connected together in the middle) and also check between the windings and earth (ground). Ideally you'll have not very much resistance through the windings (can't give a figure) and over 1 MegaOhm to earth.

Hopefully this'll prove the motor may work and also prevent anyone from getting zapped.

I would swing through the windings of the motor with a multimeter to ensure there is electrical continuity (i.e. the 2 ends are connected together in the middle) and also check between the windings and earth (ground). Ideally you'll have not very much resistance through the windings (can't give a figure) and over 1 MegaOhm to earth.

Hopefully this'll prove the motor may work and also prevent anyone from getting zapped.

Sounds like it's wired for 220. For 110, the four wires should (probably) be connected to form two pairs, then a power lead goes to each one. You'll have to experiment or use a meter to find which leads are the start/end of each winding, unless you find a diagram.
Check the bearing lubrication. On the three phase motor that came on my Royersford drill, somebody had the great idea to replace the oil cups with grease cups. Might have been OK if they had gone directly into the bearings, but as it was the grease just fell into the oil reservoir and didn't do anything. It spun about 100% better with the addition of a little oil.
Andy

Sounds like it's wired for 220. For 110, the four wires should (probably) be connected to form two pairs, then a power lead goes to each one. You'll have to experiment or use a meter to find which leads are the start/end of each winding, unless you find a diagram.
Check the bearing lubrication. On the three phase motor that came on my Royersford drill, somebody had the great idea to replace the oil cups with grease cups. Might have been OK if they had gone directly into the bearings, but as it was the grease just fell into the oil reservoir and didn't do anything. It spun about 100% better with the addition of a little oil.
Andy

Good advice… Clean, oil and check the wiring. Can’t expand on that.

Reminds me of a power hacksaw I bought at auction. Unless there’s something obviously wrong, I’ll go to the next step a plug it in and flip the switch. So I did and I found out why the owner said it was useless…. The blade was in backwards… Duh! After overcoming that monumental difficulty I started tearing it down for a good cleaning, mostly sawdust and very little rust. And yep, I had the mouse nest, complete with petrified mouse under the base of the machine. But the real thrill came when I popped the motor connection cover off. All the rubber insulation on the power cord had long turned brittle and flaked off leaving nothing but bare wires in a metal box with a metal cover. That was a definite “Holy S#!t” and I was amazed that not even the GFCI tripped. It must have got the right number of bounces in the trip home. Needless to say it got a new power cord. The only thing it needed next to a good cleaning.

I guess the moral of the story here is to pop the cover on the motor, give it a good cleaning, oil it, and check the wiring or you’ll never know what you just missed.

BTW Royersford recommends a one horsepower on their DP. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Wayne

Good advice… Clean, oil and check the wiring. Can’t expand on that.

Reminds me of a power hacksaw I bought at auction. Unless there’s something obviously wrong, I’ll go to the next step a plug it in and flip the switch. So I did and I found out why the owner said it was useless…. The blade was in backwards… Duh! After overcoming that monumental difficulty I started tearing it down for a good cleaning, mostly sawdust and very little rust. And yep, I had the mouse nest, complete with petrified mouse under the base of the machine. But the real thrill came when I popped the motor connection cover off. All the rubber insulation on the power cord had long turned brittle and flaked off leaving nothing but bare wires in a metal box with a metal cover. That was a definite “Holy S#!t” and I was amazed that not even the GFCI tripped. It must have got the right number of bounces in the trip home. Needless to say it got a new power cord. The only thing it needed next to a good cleaning.

I guess the moral of the story here is to pop the cover on the motor, give it a good cleaning, oil it, and check the wiring or you’ll never know what you just missed.

BTW Royersford recommends a one horsepower on their DP. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Wayne

Thanks good advice, I will have to open it up and be careful with the brushes. I have an insulating lacquer that I used to re-insulate the wires of the vacuum tube power supply that came with my grinder magnet; perhaps I will be using that again. The Champion brochure I saw also recommended a 1 hp motor. I don't think this is the original motor because the base plate for the motor has multiple tapped holes in it so if this motor is not sufficient I’ll put a larger one on.

Jeff

Thanks good advice, I will have to open it up and be careful with the brushes. I have an insulating lacquer that I used to re-insulate the wires of the vacuum tube power supply that came with my grinder magnet; perhaps I will be using that again. The Champion brochure I saw also recommended a 1 hp motor. I don't think this is the original motor because the base plate for the motor has multiple tapped holes in it so if this motor is not sufficient I’ll put a larger one on.

Jeff

I also appreciate the advice! I picked up a 1HP Century a month ago and was getting ready to ask the same general questions. Mine's a little greasy, but not too bad. It's wired for 110V, and it fired up okay (with a few blue sparks from the brushes). Like Jeff, my big concern was the insulation falling off the lead wires, and cleaning up the bearings. I was thinking of slipping some lengths of heavy heat shrink tubing over the leads.

I notice that mine is 2900 RPM. I'd never heard of that before, is it common? It's stamped as 110 or 220V. There's no metal junction box, just a plate on the side with four holes and the four leads going through. There are four brush holder assemblies, each with the spring and linkage, but only two have brushes in them.

Another question: The brass plate which has the two marks for timing the brushes for forward and reverse: Right now, mine is set well beyond the one mark, all the way at the end. I'm assuming that I should reset it to one mark or the other to get the timing right? Or is there some reason why it might be "advanced" like this?

Is it a good idea to clean up the commutator (with commutator paper and electronics cleaner), or are there any dangers of damage? Should I true up the faces of the brushes for good measure? They don't look too bad now.

It's such a beautiful piece of machinery. I'm thinking now that I'm going to use it to power my LeBlond No.0 mill, and mount it in some way where it can be easily seen. It's too nice to hide down behind a machine.

What size range did Century make this series of motors? How large and how small? Did they make 1/4 and 1/2 HP versions?

Bruce Johnson (who wishes I had some time to work on my toys! )

I also appreciate the advice! I picked up a 1HP Century a month ago and was getting ready to ask the same general questions. Mine's a little greasy, but not too bad. It's wired for 110V, and it fired up okay (with a few blue sparks from the brushes). Like Jeff, my big concern was the insulation falling off the lead wires, and cleaning up the bearings. I was thinking of slipping some lengths of heavy heat shrink tubing over the leads.

I notice that mine is 2900 RPM. I'd never heard of that before, is it common? It's stamped as 110 or 220V. There's no metal junction box, just a plate on the side with four holes and the four leads going through. There are four brush holder assemblies, each with the spring and linkage, but only two have brushes in them.

Another question: The brass plate which has the two marks for timing the brushes for forward and reverse: Right now, mine is set well beyond the one mark, all the way at the end. I'm assuming that I should reset it to one mark or the other to get the timing right? Or is there some reason why it might be "advanced" like this?

Is it a good idea to clean up the commutator (with commutator paper and electronics cleaner), or are there any dangers of damage? Should I true up the faces of the brushes for good measure? They don't look too bad now.

It's such a beautiful piece of machinery. I'm thinking now that I'm going to use it to power my LeBlond No.0 mill, and mount it in some way where it can be easily seen. It's too nice to hide down behind a machine.

What size range did Century make this series of motors? How large and how small? Did they make 1/4 and 1/2 HP versions?

Bruce Johnson (who wishes I had some time to work on my toys! )

Yeah, I'd say the motor on my drill is the original- there's only one set of holes in the motor mount. It's three phase, and I don't remember the brand, but it's not a Century.
Andy

Yeah, I'd say the motor on my drill is the original- there's only one set of holes in the motor mount. It's three phase, and I don't remember the brand, but it's not a Century.
Andy

Re: cleaning one out. When rebuilding my big lathe, I was advised by a former GE powerhouse generator repair shop manager to use mineral spirits to wash out the innards, wires, insulation and all. I used an air powered oil spray gun, think Binks paint gun with a rediculous flow rate. It was like pressure washing the interior of the motor. Afterwards, it looked like a brand new one. I let it dry for a few days before re-installing the end bells and painting. Just don't use water, needless to say.

Re: cleaning one out. When rebuilding my big lathe, I was advised by a former GE powerhouse generator repair shop manager to use mineral spirits to wash out the innards, wires, insulation and all. I used an air powered oil spray gun, think Binks paint gun with a rediculous flow rate. It was like pressure washing the interior of the motor. Afterwards, it looked like a brand new one. I let it dry for a few days before re-installing the end bells and painting. Just don't use water, needless to say.

Just don't use water, needless to say.

Not so fast..... water isn't that bad. You DO need to bake it out again, especially if a motor has been UNDER water for any length of time.

But water isn't deadly, unless you are crazy enough to put on power with the thing dripping wet or underwater.

Just don't use water, needless to say.

Not so fast..... water isn't that bad. You DO need to bake it out again, especially if a motor has been UNDER water for any length of time.

But water isn't deadly, unless you are crazy enough to put on power with the thing dripping wet or underwater.