Originally Posted by jamesl  I have used these sa 200 lincolns for many years and if you remove the cover over the exciter armature you may find that it is corroded (turned black). Start the machine and fold a piece of emery cloth over a piece of wood, then hold it on the armature until thr copper turns shiny again. This should fix the problem. Sometimes if the machine has been sitting idle for a long period of time it will loose its residual magnetism in which case you may have to hook up a 12 volt battery to the exciter brushes for a few seconds. By the way the exciter armature is the smallest end of the main generator. |
Do NOT use emery cloth on an armature. The abrasive conducts electricity and when it dislodges and becomes embedded between the commutator bars it shorts out the armature.
Sandpaper only.