Periodic Maintenace is a GOOD THING

[valterra]

Today in Nebrasky we have a wind advisory out.  With my Ametek mill spinning faster than I'd ever seen it, I wondered why I was only getting about 2.8 Amps out of it.  Usually it'll peak around 3 on a moderately windy day.

This afternoon, my house sounded like there was an airplane on the roof.  Lots of vibration.  I knew it wasn't a balance issue, but it had me worried enough to brave the wind and climb the roof.

In order to "furl" the machine (actually just loading it down), I carefully plugged a 27 watts car tail light directly to it.  Not off the battery - directly to the mill.  The light burned brightly for a few seconds and then slowly got dimmer - dimmer - dimmer until I was confident that the genny was stalled.  I got outside and sure enough, it was stopped.

Once I got on my roof, I saw what had happened.  The muffler mounts (really just giant U bolts) weren't tight enough, and the motor had slipped backward about 2 inches.  That was just far enough to allow the wooden Hub to rub against the horizontal wood plank on which the entire thing sits.  The two pieces of wood rubbing together made nice, smooth, black curvy indents in both pieces.  If any of you want to see, I can post pictures.

So lesson 1 learned - use locking washers or super glue or something even on your NON-spinning parts.  

I reached up to take the motor off for repairs and noticed that it was hot.  Just hot enough to burn a little.  I thought that was odd.  "Does it spin okay?" I asked myself.  Then I turned the shaft and heard that dreaded noise... CLINK.   One of the &$ magnets had come unglued inside!  I'm assuming the heat was from the friction, not my battery charging endeavors.

So my 10 minute repair will end up being an overnight one.  And I feel gypped out of this crazy windy day!

By the way, the magnet that came out was a factory one, not one of the ones I glued in with JB Weld.  That stuff held tight!

Lesson 2 - put a block of some kind behind the motor to prevent it from slipping backward.

Lesson 3 - check on the darned thing every once in awhile, not just when there's a problem.

[Old F]

I think it just come down to  finding the rare an allusive round to it  :  )

[ghurd]

Not as bad as it could have been.  :-)

G-

[DamonHD]

Well, you see why I prefer solar PV.  Not a moving part in sight!  I'm a coward re anything with a bearing and movement...

The periodic maintenance tip still holds though, even with PV and indeed software.

Glad you caught it before it decided to try for nuclear fusion.

Rgds

Damon

[valterra]

yeah, this mill does a good job, and powers everything in my small work area.  But ultimately it is a test run so I can learn before I put up a big one.

By the way, got a call from the building inspector.  He said to come by and get my permit tomorrow!  Yay!  I spec'd out a 10 foot genny.  I won't build one that big any time soon, but I didn't want to risk a change of political winds, etc.

Oh, and he said I should have submitted my photo with the screaming woman. He said it sounded funny.  

[ZooT]

er uh.......how long is the permit good for?

Around here a building permit is only good for the year it's issued.....and if you haven't built anything you need to get another one.....

[Capt Slog]

I check mine out regularly, mainly because I'm terrified of it going wrong.  Usually it's enough to stand under it and look up through the rotors and see that there is still clearance as I left it.  

A pair of binoculars helps for a close up inspection, such as are all the bolts where they should be?

But every now and then it comes down and gets a thorough check, grease where it needs it and a quick going over with a spanner to make sure all is tight.

[valterra]

Not really sure on that (not in hand yet).  This is really me and the building inspector covering our butts.  He'd originally said "Yeah, just go ahead and do it.  I wouldn't have even asked."  But we're getting a proper permit just in case someone has a problem with it in the future.