I bought a Powermatic 2000 cabinet saw in December. It works fine until I put a thick dado blade on. The motor runs for a few seconds and stops. I have a dedicated 30 AMP circuit and 208 volts in my shop. The 3HP motor is 240 volts but Powermatic tech support says that it should run on 208. It doesn’t. Has anyone else had this problem?
Zephyr
Replies
Might want to check you power- if you have a dead leg, it might act like that.
No other logical reason comes to mind.
hth
I think something is going on with Powermatic and their motors.
I blew the motor on my TS 66 just 3 months after the warranty period, and I blew the motor on another PM tool (edge sander) just last week.
I am useless when it comes to helping you diagnosis problems with the motor in your new TS. You're not having problems of any kind with the regular blade, just the dado? No strange sounds, etc.?
With my edge sander, when I took the sanding belt off, it ran fine. But with the belt on, it would run about 5-6 minutes and then just die. It's with a motor repair place now.
There is a guy on the forum who is a real expert when it comes to this sort of stuff (RichL); I'll try to find him and ask him to respond in this thread.
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"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
208 volt is typically seen in 3 phase systems. Is this a single or 3 phase system, or single phase tapped off of three phase. Industrial wiring or a home shop? U.S. Canada, where ever?
Any chance this is a 10" dado set?
John W.
John
Thanks for your reply. This single phase tapped off of three phase industrial in the US. The dado is the Freud 8" Super Dado (SD508).
Great question that no one in here can answer? Or maybe somebody.
My saw runs fine but I cannot use that 10 inch Daddo set that was very expensive.
OK.. so the only problem Is the maximum width and the wrench provided with the Daddo set will not fit my NUT on the saw!
I am thinking the power supplies are cycling power (maybe always have?) on the grids.. 208 and lower by a bit here! All the main lines I see I would guess are Three Phase. Three main wires and I see different taps of the three going down different blocks of houses?
And do not forget that the voltage provided MAY.. or is that IS, because of that old transformer out on the old tree stump that hangs near-by ...
What happens when you cut 8/4 stock with a regular blade?? Most motors are rated for 208 volts these days. It should say on the motor label what the voltage ratings are. When it goes off I'm assuming it's tripping the overload in the magnetic starter. How long before it will start up again? Most mag starters have a dial to adjust the trip rating. It might be set too low. I'm assuming you don't have to reset the breaker. Could be a fault in the mag starter. PM should be able to talk you through a progression of steps to determine the problem. Call them up and try talking to a different tech. You could also try calling a local motor repair shop and see if they can walk you through some basic trouble shooting. It's clearly under warranty so I guessing you didn't buy ot local or you could put the burden on them to diagnose the problem.
Rickl
Thanks for your response. I have not tried to cut 8/4 stock with a single blade. I will. Powermatic sent a tech guy out. The mag starter is set at the highest level. He even bypassed the starter and went directly to the motor and it still failed. They then assumed it was the motor so they replaced it. The new motor is doing the same. The motor is rated for 230 but Powermatic says it should be ok with 208. It does not trip the shop breaker. I did buy it local from International Tool. Just a few miles from my shop. They are telling me to contact Powermatic. If I cannot resolve this I will get them to replace it with another brand. I just thought that others might have had the same problem.
Zephyr
Zephyr,
Check your magnetic switch. You might find that someone at Powermatic didn't do all their checkouts and left one of the contact wires not tightend down.
When you use your dado, the vibration is higher and a loose wire will open enough to let the magnetic switch open and not start back like it would with a loose connection on a standard switch...
Bill
Edited 2/26/2007 10:15 pm ET by BilljustBill
I had a similar problem with my PM 66. I called back the electrician who wired my saw. He found the problem was a loose wire - in the wall socket.
Your problem does not sound like the saw to me, since it happened with two different motors.
Dan
I am having the same problem with a new pm 2000, Did you ever find a solution to your problem? I would appreciate any advice you may have.
I have checked my voltage and that was ok. I even went so far as to by-pass the switch all-together by running the cord straight to the motor with the same result.
The person you posted to has not visited the forum since last October. What kind of problem are you having?
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Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.~ Denis Diderot
I have a powermatic pm 2000 It seems to run fine with a 10 inch blade in it but if I use a 8 in dado blade the motor runs for a few seconds then it will kick out.
I tried the adjustments inside the power switch (14-17) with the same result. I also unhooked the switch altogether and hooked the power cord directly to the motor and again the motor kicked out with the dado blade on.
I checked the power and I am getting 120 on each leg at least 208 volts together ( I have a cheap meter so that is the max voltage reading for the meter).
All the connections in my cords and wall outlet seem to be good and tight.
If you have any suggestions for some thing I may be missing I would appreciate the help.
I too have had some difficulties with the motor on my PM-2000 (purchased ~2 years ago). For the first several months, when I turned it on it would often just sit and hum without turning. I quickly learned that if I just turned it back off quickly (before the thermal overloads tripped) and then turned it back on again, it would usually start right up. This was clearly something haywire with a starting capacitor.
Oddly enough, the problem eventually cleared up without any intervention on my part (I was too lazy / busy to do anything about it at the time), and it now runs fine.
About the dado set problem: It may be that the thermal overload on the motor is tripping, but that shouldn't happen unless the saw is slow in coming up to speed or there is unusual drag (load) due to the dado set.
Can you re-start the motor right away after it "kicks out", or do you have to wait for a couple of minutes before it will restart? If you are having to wait, then it is the thermal overload tripping. Otherwise, it is the magetic starter dropping out. I haven't looked into the wiring details, but this should be a first step in figuring out where the problem lies.
TCK
The dadoe set rotates freely by hand when installed?
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Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.~ Denis Diderot
Yes the dado blade rotates easily by hand.
Zephyr, you said "It works fine until I put a thick dado blade on."
That leads me to wander if a) there is mechanical resistance-you may have tightened the extra thick dado blade in such a way that the bearings are squeezed- with power off and belts off see it the arbour runs freely after spinning by hand.Check to see what the inside shoulder
of the dado assembly is bearing bearing against- are you useing the correct flanges if needed?
Or b) there could be an issue with the switch due to increased start up load-heavier dado blade or the above.
You did say it works fine otherwise.....
I, also, have the pm2000. I wired a 240v outlet off a 30 amp breaker and tested it too 240v or 120v each leg. I had a similar problem with my 8" stacked dado set at 3/4". I had to reset the breaker several times to get it to run. Then, mysteriously, the problem went away. I now use the dado set regularly with no problem. I honestly don't know what changed. I am, however, concerned about the other person's post regarding motor failure after the warrenty is up. I never contacted Powermatic regarding this problem. I'll definitely post if I experience further problems. Hope this helps.
I'm wondering about the voltage level. It should be 220V coming in out of the wall receptacle because 220V is made of two 110V lines that are out of phase. Does this mean the 110V line is only 104V line ( to make a 208V line). It seems that the wiring for 220V line was not at least 12 gauge ( smaller gauge than 12 is even better. it's lower resistance) , therefore there are much voltage lost in the 208V line when the motor is turned on. The motor has a soft start which gradually increases the current consumption, and will be at max power a few seconds later. At which time, 208V line might not be 208V line, but it's lower than that and the motor shuts off.
It's my 2 cents.
Q
I had a friend who went through the exact same thing with Unisaw. His also ran fine but would cut out shortly after he began using the stacked dado set. He replaced the switch, Delta put a new motor on it, it continued. Then a friend who happened to be an electrician came over. They dragged the saw closer to the panel and the electrician put a short extension cord out from the panel and the saw ran fine. He then replaced the wiring to the 220V plug he haed been using, putting in heavier wire more just to be sure and the ssaw has run perfect ever since.
The electrician thought there was a fault in the wire someplace more than it being undersized but he said taht was close also. We don't understand exactly what he was doing but he put a couple instruments on the old wire and told us that while there was nothing obvious, something wasn't right with the wire. anyway, the Uni has been working just fine for a couple years now since the re-wire job.
Tom Hintz
Because there is always more to learn!
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