Furnas Motor Starter, Size 0, Rebuild / Upgrade

toolman_ar

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I wanted to share my experience upgrading and repairing the motor starter found on my saw.


The motor starter I am working on is from a Rockwell-Delta 28-365, Wood and Metal bandsaw.

What I started with looked like a mess and I was intimidated because I am not an electrician and have great respect for electricity. This starter is the original motor starter for the saw. It only had two heaters and the 3rd leg was not protected.


Research began by looking on the internet for the Furnas Motor Starter number, 16CC104410C, and found nothing. Realizing this motor starter is 50 years old and out of date, I began looking on eBay for a size 0 starter. I found a starter that looked just like mine. Placed an order because it was new old stock and priced right. Once I received the NOS starter I hit pay dirt. Inside the box was a document from Furnas with a parts break down on the motor starter. It listed all of the parts by part number and even an add on 3rd leg relay. Looking up the parts by part number, I was able to find the parts needed to add the 3rd leg protection needed to update my old Motor Starter.

What I started with:
Junction Box on Bandsaw.jpg


Today I did a bench test of the motor starter and tested the circuit. I now have a working motor starter and can begin to reassemble my saw.
 
One of the things I learned is that there are two types of relays.
If you look at the pictures you will notice that some of the relays have a red reset switch, and some are green.
The Red relay is non temperature compensated. The Green are Temperature Compensated.

I did not realize this until I started to order heaters. That is when I realized I had a problem. Not a good idea to mix and match relays. As the heaters are designed for one or the other.

After realizing this I ordered enough parts to build two starters and have one with green relays and one with red.

Adding the third leg relay is very easy and the directions give you the wiring diagram based on your motor starter size.
 
I have a good Furnas starter that came off my SB Heavy 10. If you want it for parts, it's yours.
 
My 14" Rockwell lathe has the same starter on it too, size 0. I was able to read the label inside the cover enough to determine what size heaters to change out to. Found three replacements on evilbay. Back in business!
 
What is a heater? I was originally thinking toolman was meaning hot leads, but then I looked up furnas starters and found that there are heaters.
Is this for a 3ph, or 1ph?
Is it literally a heater? What's it do?
 
Woodchucker,
In the last row of three pictures, you can see the tan colored items marked K34.
These are the heaters. The heaters mount to the relay, item P in the breakdown.

I had to look up what a heater was when I started working on this starter. Basically it is a circuit breaker. As current flows through the heater, it takes on heat. The more current the greater the heat.

If the motor goes haywire and begins to over amp, the heat will rise and the heater will fail. Turning off power to the motor.

This starter is being used on a 3 phase, 1.5 hp motor.

You should have a motor starter on motors over 1 hp.

The size 0, defines what size motors the starter will work with.

toolman_ar
 
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