Hope for my winch

Discussion in 'General foundry chat' started by Petee716, Jul 26, 2020.

  1. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    I was using my winch today. I had removed and remounted my cable to get the assholes out of it and was testing it, trying to get it to wind up without thumping as I use it to lift my molds. I had a 40 lb load on it and had lifted and lowered it repeatedly trying different strategies to get it to reel up neatly without much luck. Suddenly while lifting the load I heard the sound of frying eggs and sure enough the magic smoke was billowing out. Alot of it. The pic shows what I found. The puddle is from the capacitor. So, that's fried, but can I expect that the motor is a goner too? 20200726_115350_resized_1.jpg 20200726_120432_resized_1.jpg . I just took the end cover off but cant see anything there nor through the vents that would indicate damage. No real stink either.
     
  2. rocco

    rocco Silver

    For starters, I don't really know much about this sort of stuff so take this for what it's worth, disconnect the cap, check for a short between the wires and the frame of the motor, if there's no shorts, my thinking is a new capacitor costs a whole lot less than a new winch, it might be worth taking a gamble on a new cap, especially since there's no visible damage to the motor and no funky smell coming from it. Worst case scenario, the motor's fried and you wasted about $20 on the cap. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will chime in and give you a definitive answer.
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2020
  3. The capacitors regularly die on single phase motors so it's well worth trying a new capacitor to fix it. They fail and fail spectacularly with smoke, bulging, bangs and fireworks due to the need to push materials to the limit to get low cost and small size for the capacitance.
     
  4. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    My friend has one I can try. He says it's too big but will work to test the motor.
     
  5. Too big will cause excessive current flow, so try to keep the active time to a minimum.
     
  6. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    Replaced several caps on various single phase motors over the years. They failed just as you described. And every motor came back to service just fine.

    The caps are actually made with eventual failure allowed for as they have a vent that lets smoke out without the case and contents actually blowing apart. The vent looks like a small hole punched on the end plug of the cap near the two connector lugs.

    Here is a video that shows the failure---starts around the 1:20 mark


    Denis
     
  7. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    Pete, I do not know if the winch is setup in a way that might allow a change over to using a nylon strap instead of cable. That's what I use on my hoist and it lifts very smoothly. I used 2" strap that looks like the strap used in seatbelts. I did use a fairlead to guide the strap and prevent it from folding over on itself. I do not know if the fairlead is necessary, but the strap has spooled on and off smoothly.

    Denis
     
  8. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    I found a capacitor of the right type and rating and installed it. My friend has piles of them. Good fortune, eh?
    Winch is working fine.
    Unfortunately there doesn't look like any way to make that work on the spool that's on there. I saw yours in your write-ups and explored the possibilities with my winch as well as some other items I have laying around. I'm thinking of buying this one as a base and modifying it similar to yours.
    https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/winches/1200-lb-capacity-strap-winch-65115.html
    That way I won't have to modify the one I have or potentially make it less useful for other things.
    The strap seems like the best solution.
     
    Mark's castings likes this.
  9. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    Last edited: Jul 26, 2020
  10. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    Well hell, there it is!

    Thanks
     
  11. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    I picked up that winch but I haven't unboxed it yet. How did you affix the strap?
     
  12. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    Just a little show-n-tell. I'm shamelessly ripping Melterskelter off on the trolly but he seems like a good sport. The jib however is of my own throne-time design. It's a shortened and reinforced treadmill frame. The lift was salvaged from a scrapped printing press accessory. The end opposite the wheels is attached to a length of 1/2 pipe 30" in the ground with a Clevis bolted on just at the surface so as not to create a trip hazard. I'm not handling the loads Denis does but it tested great with 100# and turns 360deg. It will be strictly for lifting molds on and off the pouring platform. 11" travel. 20200711_152440_resized.jpg 20200712_130722_resized.jpg 20200725_131915_resized.jpg

    Pete
     
  13. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    I simply singed the end to keep it from unraveling. And then poked three holes in it with a hot 1/4" rod. I milled a 1/2" wide flat on the drum and drilled and tapped three 1/4" holes on the flat. I used dome-headed socket screws to attach the strap to the drum. I figured once the strap had made just a couple wraps it would not be putting any strain on the screws but would rather be cinching itself to the drum. I imagine there are ten wraps that never unwrap from the drum. I used a couple discs of MDF to keep the strap centered on the drum which was probably about 3.5" wide. 07B652B0-D816-4890-8812-F8AAA9112F0F.jpeg

    This arrangement has worked out very well. In fact, I was using it to mold when you posted this morning. Just came home for lunch.

    Denis
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2020
  14. crazybillybob

    crazybillybob Silver Banner Member

    On most Motors the Cap Dies and the windings are fine. Caps get beat up as they are used (start ups) winches start a lot so caps go. It's worth dropping a new cap in and giving it a run.
     
  15. Petee716

    Petee716 Gold Banner Member

    Yup, I put a new one in and it works fine.
    I stopped at tractor supply and bought a 20ft 3000# tow strap with hooks on both ends. I cut 5ft off one end, milled and tapped the spool shaft, bought screws as you described and will install the strap when I get home.
     
  16. crazybillybob

    crazybillybob Silver Banner Member

    Sorry Petee I missed your update post earlier :oops: Glad it's back up and running!
     

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