Axminster Sander - Motor fault ?

[mind_the_goat]

Hi
I've looking at a used Axminster bench sander, looks very similar to the AS408 sander, but an older version I guess. It has a 250W motor, so not very powerful. When it starts up it takes a few seconds to get up to speed, and if I put my finger on the disc it doesn't have enough power to start at all. However once it gets going it seems to be okay. Is this normal behaviour or does it have a fault, such as a faulty capacitor?

Thanks

 

[graduate_owner]

I don't know if this is of any interest but:-
I bought a Clarke dry/wetstone grinder some years ago (yes, I know, I don't usually buy Clarke tools now), and it was slow to start. It seemed to struggle to get up to speed for quite a few seconds, but then worked OK. However it now seems to start up fine, so seems to have settled down to normal behaviour, although it's still a Clarke!!

K

 

[mind_the_goat]

Interesting, thanks.
The guy selling reckons it's always been like that, and it did seem to be okay once it got going. I know 250W is not hugely powerful but I was still expecting it to take off my fingerprint rather than not rotate at all when I put my digit on the disc. Not even sure if a motor that small has a capacitor fitted.

 

[mind_the_goat]

I know there are a few electrical engineers out there, I've got 1 day left to make a buying decision, anyone ?

 

[marcros]

if it works when up to speed, then does it matter about the fact that it wont start with a finger on it? offer a price accordingly.

 

[mind_the_goat]

It was on Ebay and went for more than I wanted to pay.
but thanks for replies

 

[Eric The Viking]

Just seen this. Prob too late now but anyway: how big is the motor (watts)? Smaller Induction motors tend to just have a capacitor (easy and cheap to sort out), larger ones have a centrifugal switch doing the starter winding - trickier if faulty. I'll have a look at the motors I have (several of each, all 1ph), but I think the break point is around 2hp. Axminster themselves will know, too. If it's small, prob ok to risk. If larger, it might need a professional repair.

E.

 

[mind_the_goat]

It was a small motor 250W. I didn't get it in the end but I'll know next time.

 

[CHJ]

A 12" disc sander I have (Axminster) has a 0.6kw motor.
It can be stalled at start up (fails to spin up) if a cleaning stick is applied at 1 or 2" radius.

 

[Reggie]

It sounds like a reasonable safety feature to me, although it could just be the nature of the motor having a slow start with low torque as it won't be at full power at that point?