Triton Router - she no start

[Never Enough Money]

messagenews: [e-mail]...> Hmmm. Not what it says on Amazon. See

[CW]

They don't. They don't even get to 2.5.

[Leon]

In the Houston area 2 of my main suppliers and a 3rd that I know of are dropping or have dropped Delta/PC. Apparently the 3rd dropped Delta because Delta ran an ad that indicated that the #1 place to buy Delta was at Lowe's. Steel City is starting to show up as a replacement.

[Bill in Detroit]

Mike, would it be possible to jumper around the switch? Sudden failure, smooth spinning, no smoke, brushes not showing damage (I presume you also took a peek at the armature). Hmmm ... doesn't seem likely that the router is getting juice.

Bill

[Barry Lennox]

I have one, but touch wood, it has given me flawless service.

From the sound of your symptoms, I'd suspect a problem with the little electronics board that does the soft start/speed control.

Hard to know what the best course is, maybe buy another identical one, and get the other fixed when you are next in town?

Barry Lennox

[Mike Richardson]

Bill,

It probably would, but - well I am not very informed on things electrical, and would not want to take a chance on doing anything silly. Your guess seems right - I figure the speed control - which I looked at - its an epoxy filled block, or the cut out on the switch guard. Def no problem with brishes/armature/bearings etc - its a switching on/isolation issue.

I might feel more confident next look (lol)

Mike

[B A R R Y]

If the lie is repeated enough...

[Never Enough Money]

I found a "horsepower-amps-volts" clarification posted to this newsgroup by John T. Horner. There's probably other good ones, too. I thought it would be constructive to repeat it here, especially for those ignorant of the horsepower-amp-volts thing, like me. John said (with some minor edits by me)

First, Sears isn't the only company to use the misleading Developed Power labeling .... but may be the most egregious about it.

"Developed" horsepower is much like "Peak RMS Power" was in the world of amplifiers. In the US the advertising of "Peak Power" was outlawed in the 1970s as misleading advertising.

"Developed" horsepower is calculated by jamming the motor in a stall (not rotating) and turning on the power. The power drawn by the motor under those conditions (amps x volts = watts) is measured. The measurement is then converted to horsepower though the conversion 1 horsepower = 746 watts. A 3 "Developed Horsepower" motor is thus one which draws 2,238 watts at a dead stall. Using standard 115 volt house wiring we have 19.5 amps being drawn at a stall. A plain 6.12 ohm resistor of sufficient power dissipation capacity (that is one very physically large resistor!) thus also "Develops" 3 horsepower. Of course this is all pure Horsepucky.

Electric motors are not 100% efficient at converting electrical power into rotational mechanical power. Real "rated" horsepower is measured as the mechanical power output of the motor at speed and under load. The

site has good information on the specifications of their ac motors for background reading if anyone is interested. An excellent (big bucks!) single phase motor might have a full load efficiency of 80%. The more common ones are in the range of 55% to

70%.

Now let us do some simple math:

A true 3 horsepower motor of 65% efficiency running at full load needs (3HP X 746 watts/HP)/0.65 eff = 3,443 watts input power. At 115 volts this implies 29.94 amps, obviously a serious overload for a standard 15 amp wall socket. At 230 volts the current draw drops to 14.97 amps, within the capabilities of a 230 volt, 20 amp feed.

Doing the same calculations for a 1.5 HP motor you need about 15 amps at 115 volts. Thus a power tool with a 1.5 HP motor running on 115 volts should be connected to a 20 amp circuit, not a 15 amp circuit.

This is why the rated horsepower of woodworking machines generally doesn't go above 1.5 HP for 115 volt equipment.

There are issues of starting current, line losses, temperature margin and such which have been left out of this quick primer.

I wish the government would put an end to this nonsense of developed horsepower in the same manner they squashed the analogous situations which once prevailed in the worlds of audio equipment and automobile engines.

John H.

[snip]

[CW]

Basically a good explanation but a few corrections are in order. "Peak" and "RMS" power are two different things. The advertisement of peak power was the problem. RMS is a true measure of power. The audio industry is notorious for padding their numbers even today. Car audio is a good example. There are many systems sold that, if the actual output was as high as claimed, would kill the engine when the volume was turned up. Standard line voltage is 120 volts RMS (169.68 volts peak), not the 115 volts in the article. Small point and does not reduce the validity of the article. Also, it is common practice, even among industrial suppliers, to rate small motors in input horsepower as it makes it easier for the end user to match a motor to his supply.