Axminster bandsaw generic replacement motor?

[bcguitars]

HI all,

I've been lurking for a while and reading loads of good stuff and was wondering if anyone had an idea about this ..

I have a HBS250N bandsaw from Axminster which is now complaining about even 18mm MDF so am going through the motions of getting a new motor. I spoke to Axminster and they're £77 inc VAT which doesn't seem too bad but I'm wondering if they are a generic motor and I could get one from somewhere else, possibly more cheaply but more to the point more quickly as Axminster don't have them in stock until beginning of July .. :shock:

Any views / tips etc greatly appreciated!

Cheers
B

 

[Racers]

Could be the capacitor is on the way out, did it cut 18mm MDF before?

Pete

 

[CHJ]

Are you sure the motor is shot?

Induction motors don't normally give up power output without showing undue over heating or other traits because of faulty windings.

Is it a centrifugal switched start motor or a more basic unit with a Start-Run capacitor?
If the latter, is it slow to start up? you may wish to investigate fitting a new Start-Run capacitor as one developing a fault could well provide limited feed for starting and no false phase boost for normal running which would manifest as loss of power.

Edit:- Peter beat me to it.

 

[sunnybob]

I'd change the blade before changing the motor.
And make sure the bearings are adjusted properly so that the new blade doesnt have its teeth flattened by being squeezed between the bearings.

 

[bcguitars]

Hi there, thanks for the replies!

I bought new blades from Tuffsaws, the one I have on at the minute is a 3TPI and it's not helping much :/ It did indeed cut 18mm MDF before without any quibbles, it's balking at soft pine now

I also adjusted all the guide bearings at the same time to make sure there was no rubbing going on going on. When the motor stalls or slows down significantly it does take a second or two to get up to speed but I thought that was just normal - I've never heard about the start-run capacitor.

That took me on to a bunch more reading anyway and I found a post by dchallender on this forum where he wrote:

Well folks I have finally had a chance to get in the workshop for a little while today and I have finally got to the bottom of the issue with the machine.

Firstly the pulley was set to low speed as other previous people have mentioned, also I went through everyone's suggestions, with respect to the pulley, motor, etc. and found a number of issues with the machine which I have now rectified.

Anyway got to the root cause which was that when the belt was under load the motor was being pulled, when I initially looked at the mounting bolts last week they were ok, however having run it and put some load on the motor it has moved slightly having vibrated loose on it's mounting bolts. DOH!!! (homer) This caused the motor to slip on the drive belt, resulting in no transfer of power to the saw blade.

Would anyone be able to tell me how I can check pulley speed and where the cap is so I can haul it out and replace it? I'll check the motor mount bolts too ..

Cheers
B

 

[sunnybob]

Just a quick recap on the blade adjustment. You have to make sure that when the blade is pushed back by the wood that it doesnt go so far back that the teeth get squashed.
this is a common problem. The blade only has to run for a few seconds under those conditions for the teeth to be so flattened that they stop cutting.

As long as you are sure that is not happening we can move on.

Are you trying to push the wood through faster than before? If the blade is wandering about, try feeding slower.

Now we get to motor. The motor mounting obviously has to be tight. The belt should have some slack but not much. have you ever adjusted a car fan belt? Same rules, but the bandsaw can be a bit looser than a car.

If there is a seperate capacitor, it is either mounted under a metal lump on the motor, or inside the connecting box. A capacitor is usually a white circular plastic canister. It needs a special type of test meter that you are unlikely to own, so the simplest thing is to replace it. there is a number printed on the thing. It will have (for example) 7 followed by the greek small m, which looks like a backwards y and an F
So you need whatever that number is as a replacement.

 

[bcguitars]

I have another brand new blade for the saw so I'll put that on to take the existing teeth out of the equation and make sure the back bearing won't allow the blade to go back too far.

I'm not feeding any faster than before, if anything I'm feeding twice as slowly .. also if I try to get even a slight radius in then the blade stops practically immediately.

I'll check the bolts and order a new cap from Axminster anyway, about £5 I think. Hopefully I'll get time over the weekend and update on Monday , thanks for all the help so far!

 

[CHJ]

Are your two main drive wheels spinning freely.
It's not unknown for the bottom wheel bearings to get clogged up with dust if the extraction has not been optimal.
Might be the one of the bottom bearings (usually the rear one) is seized and trying to turn in the housing.

 

[bcguitars]

Are your two main drive wheels spinning freely.
It's not unknown for the bottom wheel bearings to get clogged up with dust if the extraction has not been optimal.
Might be the one of the bottom bearings (usually the rear one) is seized and trying to turn in the housing.

I checked this before when I was setting up the guide bearings but no harm in checking again A little bit of targeted vacuuming wouldn't hurt I'm sure ..

 

[bcguitars]

Ok, new saw blade, set up and wheels spinning freely, new start run capacitor, still not cutting 2" pine at any more than 1mm per second .. should I go for a new motor? :/

 

[sunnybob]

I think you might be asking a lot from a small bandsaw.

if the blade is not wandering but the motor is stalling, then yes you have reached that motor's capacity.
If you dont want to live with that speed then your options are either modify yours or buy a bigger machine.
If youre going to modify, do a cost analysis first. very often what starts out as "just a bigger motor" ends up with more and more parts being bought and adapted untill youve passed the cost of a bigger machine.

 

[bcguitars]

Hi Bob, thanks for your reply.

I totally agree, I have no wish to modify this but I am thinking to replace the motor, primarily because it used to cut so much better so I know it's capable of cutting soft pine at more than 1mm/sec speed ..

Cheers
B

 

[sunnybob]

If it did work well, then lets hope replacing the motor cures it.

 

[paulm]

Just another thought, but I'm surprised at using a 3tpi blade on a small machine, and on thinner materials as you are. It may contribute to the motor slowing down as each tooth needs more power to get it through the material than would the smaller teeth on say a 6tpi blade. Would also help on cutting curves.

You may have been using 3tpi before though when it worked fine, in which case ignore this !

 

[Rorschach]

Strange, I have that same machine and it goes through anything I can fit under it with no bother. I even modified the guide so i can take a deeper cut and it still doesn't bog down.

 

[Myfordman]

Is there any chance that you have fitted the blade on inside out?

 

[bcguitars]

If it did work well, then lets hope replacing the motor cures it.

That's what I'm hoping! I'll report back when it comes, around middle of July .. One more thought I had was to move the drive belt on to the larger diameter drive wheel on the motor - I guess this would make the blade slower but give it more torque .. Argh - all I wanted to do was cut some wood

Just another thought, but I'm surprised at using a 3tpi blade on a small machine, and on thinner materials as you are. It may contribute to the motor slowing down as each tooth needs more power to get it through the material than would the smaller teeth on say a 6tpi blade. Would also help on cutting curves.

Tbh the 3tpi performs the same as the 6tpi I put on before it, it was just a tryout for me but yep, not many curves possible with the 3tpi!

Strange, I have that same machine and it goes through anything I can fit under it with no bother. I even modified the guide so i can take a deeper cut and it still doesn't bog down.

Thank you! I'm definitely going for the new motor then

Is there any chance that you have fitted the blade on inside out?

Unfortunately not

 

[CHJ]

was to move the drive belt on to the larger diameter drive wheel on the motor - I guess this would make the blade slower but give it more torque ..

Muddled thinking there.

The drive belt should be on the Larger Pulley on the motor, and of course the corresponding Smaller Pulley on the Blade Drive wheel.

This will give you fastest Blade speed, the norm for most wood cutting scenarios.