Help with motor wiring before I electrocute my myself!

[chola]

Hi All,

I have acquired a complete motor and switch assembly that I want to use to run my mini lathe. The question is, is there an easy way to make the motor run anti-clockwise?

The motor is 240v (Australian Specs), so there are 3 wires into the motor itself (1 earth -green / yellow - and 2 others). Is it simply a case of switching the 2 others around or is there someting inbuilt in the motor that prevents this approach?

Reason for asking is it would make a much easier installation on the lathe if configured this way.

Thanks for any help.

Colin

[Al_The_Man]

Would need to know if it is capacitor start induction motor or universal.
Is there anything on the motor RPM etc, does the motor look like it has brushes? Does it have a Capacitor strapped to the side?
Al.

[ImanCarrot]

Sounds the same as a UK spec. I take it the other two wires are Blue (Neutral) and Brown (Live).

Reversing these wires could possibly make the whole casing or something else LIVE and represent a hazard to your hairstyle

HOLD until someone comes here and clears it up. I'll ask me mate tonight- he's a sparky- I'll check back here tomorrow in case you aint got an answer

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by ImanCarrot Sounds the same as a UK spec. I take it the other two wires are Blue (Neutral) and Brown (Live). Reversing these wires could possibly make the whole casing or something else LIVE and represent a hazard to your hairstyle

Actually if he reversed the other two and one happed to be connected to the case like you say, the fuse or breaker would blow right away due to the motor being grounded.
Canada, UK and Australia use a grounded neutral system.
Both types of motors can be reversed, but how it is done depends on the type it is.
Al.

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Man Both types of motors can be reversed, but how it is done depends on the type it is. Al.

I should clarify that maybe, The universal type motor can be reversed electrically, but if fitted with a fan, most are, the fan is often uni-directional and is important to regulate the load on a Universal motor, so if fitted with a unidirectional fan, it cannot be reversed.
Al.

[chola]

Hey All,

Thank's for the replies.

OK. from what I can ascertain it is capacitor start (is strapped to the side), does not look like it has brushes (ie: there are no screw type plugs for removal and replacement of the brushes as I've seen on other motors), and RPM's is about 2000 (although it will be geared with pulleys that vary the speed from 250 to 2500 approx). 350 watt.

The motor has a fan but the vanes don't have any pitch / angle on them.

ImanCarrot - you are dead right, the remaining wires are blue and brown (these are the ones I was referring to about swapping). Interested to see what your sparky mate reckons (I don't want to try anything to alter my hairstyle, I'm panicking about the 2 grey hairs I've already got.....don't need any more just yet!).

By the looks of it 'The School of Scalextric Racing Car Set Electrics - 101' is not correct in this case (if you wanted the car to go backwards....swap the wire connections!).

Thanks again for the help.

Colin

[Al_The_Man]

OK it's a capacitor start induction motor, there are actually two windings, a run winding and a start winding which the capacitor is in series with, to reverse the motor, you need to identify either the start winding or run winding and reverse the ends of one or the other, a picture is worth a 1000 words, so if you do a search for 1ph induction motor you should find scores of examples, and help in reversing.
There are special drum switches set up to do this, or you can get creative and do it with relays.
If you take the terminal inspection plate off the motor, you should see more than two terminals where everything is connected as I mentioned above.
There should also be a centrifugal switch on the motor shaft that cuts the Capacitor out, when it reaches a certain RPM.
Al.