Meber SQ400 bandsaw slowing down under load

[thesmiler73]

Seeking some advice regarding a Meber SQ400 bandsaw that has been in my family from new. must be nearly 40 years.

Having issues with it slowing under load even with new blades.
The motor is the original 80B/2M unit made by SEIMEC Italy.
240v, 2 pole, 1Kw, 1.25 HP, 20mF capacitor plus other numbers that I have no idea about.

Could it be a simple capacitor fault and if so is it just a standard 20mF 240v one?
Other option is do I increase the motor size to enable more flexibility and allowing me to resaw more often.

Thoughts and opinions welcome.

Many thanks.

 

[clogs]

1,25HP seems a bit small.......
To the best of knowl, if it has a single capacitor it's used just for start up........
A two capacitor motor norm has 1 to run and 1 to start.....
If the machine is sound and has a fairly stiff frame just double the HP of the motor.....
might mean a little engineering work to make it fit, base plate drilling and a new pulley perhaps.....

Any machine of mine that needs a new motor always get a new one at least 50% bigger than orig....

 

[Sideways]

Quickly skimming the motor factors website I see that 80 frame motors are typically spanning a power range of 370 to 1100 Watts. Most of them are 550W, and just a few are as powerful as 1.1kW.

When you change out a motor it's much easier to keep the same frame size as this means mounting holes, spindle diameter and spindle position relative to the mounts should remain unchanged and makes for a much easier swap.
If you were to change the motor, then stepping up to 2hp / 1.5kW wouldn't be a bad thing. Those will typically run off a UK 13A plug. But that isn't a huge increase in power and you will need to change the motor mount and bore out or replace the pulley to fit a bigger spindle, which might be more work than it is worth.

I would try the easy thing first. Change the capacitor. It has done well to last 40 years and surely doesn't owe you anything. If it is a single capacitor, it will be permanently connected and if it has failed, then the motor will be essentially running on one winding instead of two. That will reduce power so consistent with the symptoms.

Capacitors are commodity items and only cost a few pounds. Under £10. Just look on ebay. You should match the capacitance (at least to within 10% of whatever the existing one is labelled), and be sure the voltage rating of the new cap is the same or higher. If there's one in the 300V range for similar money, choose that, just because a little extra headroom never hurt.
20 microfarads sounds about right for a run cap on a 1.1kW. This is often abbreviated to 20uF because most of us don't know how to get that greek symbol for "micro" up on screen.
mF made me instinctively read millifarads which are 1000 times bigger and an almighty big can !
Your capacitor isn't 20 milli farads

Good luck.
It pays to be neat with your wiring. It is also a good thing to use properly sized ring crimp terminals on the wires (including the capacitor connections) in a motor terminal box. Please do use cable glands or at least grommets to protect your cables from sharp edges and keep the dust out of your motor, and don't use electrical tape for anything at all. If you need to insulate, buy a small packet of heat shrink sleeving.

 

[thesmiler73]

Quickly skimming the motor factors website I see that 80 frame motors are typically spanning a power range of 370 to 1100 Watts. Most of them are 550W, and just a few are as powerful as 1.1kW.

When you change out a motor it's much easier to keep the same frame size as this means mounting holes, spindle diameter and spindle position relative to the mounts should remain unchanged and makes for a much easier swap.
If you were to change the motor, then stepping up to 2hp / 1.5kW wouldn't be a bad thing. Those will typically run off a UK 13A plug. But that isn't a huge increase in power and you will need to change the motor mount and bore out or replace the pulley to fit a bigger spindle, which might be more work than it is worth.

I would try the easy thing first. Change the capacitor. It has done well to last 40 years and surely doesn't owe you anything. If it is a single capacitor, it will be permanently connected and if it has failed, then the motor will be essentially running on one winding instead of two. That will reduce power so consistent with the symptoms.

Capacitors are commodity items and only cost a few pounds. Under £10. Just look on ebay. You should match the capacitance (at least to within 10% of whatever the existing one is labelled), and be sure the voltage rating of the new cap is the same or higher. If there's one in the 300V range for similar money, choose that, just because a little extra headroom never hurt.
20 microfarads sounds about right for a run cap on a 1.1kW. This is often abbreviated to 20uF because most of us don't know how to get that greek symbol for "micro" up on screen.
mF made me instinctively read millifarads which are 1000 times bigger and an almighty big can !
Your capacitor isn't 20 milli farads

Good luck.
It pays to be neat with your wiring. It is also a good thing to use properly sized ring crimp terminals on the wires (including the capacitor connections) in a motor terminal box. Please do use cable glands or at least grommets to protect your cables from sharp edges and keep the dust out of your motor, and don't use electrical tape for anything at all. If you need to insulate, buy a small packet of heat shrink sleeving.

Thank you for the extremely informative reply. I rewired all of the machines when I moved them to my workshop and always very aware of cable grommets. Nothing worse than metal on wiring. Yes definitely micro farads hahaha. Will see if one of my other motors has the same as will do a trial run. Can't see meber supplying a duff machine. Also upgrade could be possible as have access to a friendly engineer for making up any parts.

 

[Sideways]

Perfect
It sounds like you have it nicely under control.
Good luck with your project and please let us know what worked when everything is back to normal