Lighthouse motor help!!

[aschutsky]

Hi guys,

This morning I just completed my 'blackbox' clone with 4 of the lighthouse 7123 240V motors. The box has a sealed chamber for the vacuum area, a 3" port for the PVC connection, and separate baffles for intake and exhaust like Gary's design. Each motor is connected to it's own 10A circuit breaker in an electrical box attached to the enclosure. Wiring is 10/3 going to the electrical box and 14-2 to each motor. Each motor is held down by 3 x 1/4 threaded rods with nuts/washers on each end. I spent a fair amount of time ensuring each motor's vacuum inlet was centered in the mounting hole. This morning I got to power them up for the first time but not without major issues. :(

I powered up two of the motors individually for a few seconds and shut them down without any issues. I left the top cover(s) off for these tests. The vacuum connection 3" port was left open with no restrictions or debree in front of it. Man these things aren't quiet. : I then powered up all 4 motors at once and they were humming for about 10 seconds and then instantly one of the motors locked up and spit out a flame/bad smell. :( Of course I shut everything down immediately and wafted away the smoke. I pulled the motor out and there was nothing lodged in the intake path but the motor wheel seemed bent and would not spin at all.

What the heck did I do wrong?? The other motors seem to power up OK, but I did not run them for more than a few seconds each. All bolts holding the motor are intact and nothing came loose. Was the motor tightened down to the board too much? It didn't seem to be but I have no idea what else the issue could be. I'm majorly bummed as I spent a lot of my free time on this enclosure over the past 4 weeks and thought I took extra time to do everything "Right." :mad:

Some pics of my enclosure of it helps:

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u12/aschutsky/Shopbot%20PRT%20setup/AC44D179-5B18-48D7-AB24-869B2B74F5DF_zpsiqulofbt.jpg

[aschutsky]

Bottom of the box:
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u12/aschutsky/Shopbot%20PRT%20setup/C8B85AC7-B3A8-421A-82FA-A12351628118_zpsya6upno6.jpg (http://s164.photobucket.com/user/aschutsky/media/Shopbot%20PRT%20setup/C8B85AC7-B3A8-421A-82FA-A12351628118_zpsya6upno6.jpg.html)

[coryatjohn]

Did you possibly suck in some debris when you first started up? A small chunk of wood would destroy a high speed pump in a fraction of a second.

Did you have air filters connected?
Did you purge those filters of debris before connecting them?

Another obvious possibility is the unit was defective.

[aschutsky]

Did you possibly suck in some debris when you first started up? A small chunk of wood would destroy a high speed pump in a fraction of a second.

Did you have air filters connected?
Did you purge those filters of debris before connecting them?

Another obvious possibility is the unit was defective.

Hi John,

I did not have anything hooked up to to the box at all - no piping no filter. The area in front of the box was clear. This was just a test run to make sure everything was/is working properly before hooking up the plumbing. I just pulled the bottom off the box and nothing unusual or debree there. There are also no markings on the wheel of the motor? I'm stumped. :( With the way that motor flamed up I'll be petrified to let them run even when they are working properly. I know there are many applications running these out there though, but it's hard to forget the smell of the shop right now.

Andrew

[Ken Sully]

Andrew,
Found this on the 1724 motor. Says they pull 12.4 amps.
Maybe that is the problem?
http://www.centralvacuummotor.com/Product%20Bulletin/117549-12.pdf

[aschutsky]

Andrew,
Found this on the 1724 motor. Says they pull 12.4 amps.
Maybe that is the problem?
http://www.centralvacuummotor.com/Product%20Bulletin/117549-12.pdf

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the post. My motors are the 240V version so they are about half the current. :)

Andrew

[ken_rychlik]

If you over tighten them you can crush the impeller to the body

[aschutsky]

If you over tighten them you can crush the impeller to the body

Ken,

I will check them again, but I didn't crank down on them all that hard. With that said, I don't know what else would be the issue? As a sanity check, if the motor turns easily with it bolted in place I'd assume I'm ok?

Thanks for the ideas guys.

Andrew

[Howley]

Did you purchase the foam gasket?
I just finished my vacuum up last week using the identical motors, and I used the gaskets they sold me and compressed them down half the thickness.
Without the foam gaskets I could easily see how you could over tighten the pump housing into the impeller, there is very little clearance
Or there was a small piece of unseen debris that got sucked in and froze the impeller. Not sure what lighthouse can do for you?

[aschutsky]

Did you purchase the foam gasket?
I just finished my vacuum up last week using the identical motors, and I used the gaskets they sold me and compressed them down half the thickness.
Without the foam gaskets I could easily see how you could over tighten the pump housing into the impeller, there is very little clearance
Or there was a small piece of unseen debris that got sucked in and froze the impeller. Not sure what lighthouse can do for you?

John,

I did not the buy gaskets - you may be on to something. If the tolerances are indeed that tight, I could see how that could potentially be an issue. I will give Ward a call today to see what's up.

[pkirby]

I had the same issue of overtightening the motor. Use a foam gasket and loosen them up a little and you should be fine.

[aschutsky]

Update: Overtightening certainly seems to be the cause. I spoke with Ward yesterday and he stated the foam gaskets must be used with these motors. I inspected all 4 motors yesterday and actually 2 of them were stuck, and the other 2 had a slight rub that should be easily corrected. The 2 that were stuck Ward is working with me to replace at a discount. He provided some information to remove the canister from one of the stuck motors and indeed the wheel freed up right away when doing so. Fantastic customer service and support from him. With any luck I'll be up and running in another week or so.