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CT 043 issues ..... Repairs - Completed !!

Capt Hook

New Member
Hi all. If you're looking for a loooooong discussion of the wiring in a CT043 lathe here's a link.


I bought a replacement motor, and am ready to hook it up. Does anyone have a photo of the physical hookup of the CT043 or CX707 wire hookup? Here's the pic of my new motor. Many Thanks. DSC_0038_7.JPG
 

Gearhead88

Super User
Hi all. If you're looking for a loooooong discussion of the wiring in a CT043 lathe here's a link.


I bought a replacement motor, and am ready to hook it up. Does anyone have a photo of the physical hookup of the CT043 or CX707 wire hookup? Here's the pic of my new motor. Many Thanks.View attachment 21597
Bump ...............

It might take a while for the AC motor whisper'ers here to notice your question .

I don't want to give you bad advice and then the smoke leaks out of your new motor.

If you were to read this thread through from the beginning , it's a real episode , I'm a low voltage DC guy , my AC knowledge is limited . I've learned a lot .

I bought one of those motors and never used it , it turns out , my lack of experience bit me in the tail , I changed the capacitors in my original motor and that's what it needed from the start.

I'm gonna make a wrap up discussion about this today , my Lathe is fixed ................. a long story .

Standby
 

Gearhead88

Super User
It's fixed , a long time and a parts sourcing nightmare but it runs again .

Lot's of the participants here have helped to solve the issues , I thank each and every one of you.

From the beginning I struggled with this , I'm a low voltage DC guy , my inexperience with AC circuits and this type of equipment made me look and feel like a bozo.

Things I did wrong .............
I bought a motor that I didn't need. $360.00 !!!
I activated contactors manually and damaged / killed components that may have otherwise been OK , I fried two contactors , this is the result of my poking around in there.
I ordered parts from suppliers that I shouldn't have ( more on that later )
I used a multi meter that was faulty and had no capacitance test function , once I had the correct meter, things changed , actual progress was made.

Things that I did right ..............
In an effort to get a better understanding of how this machine is wired and how it works , I followed every wire and drew out a proper wiring diagram so I could actually see the circuit and how it works. I've never been a fan of simplified wiring diagrams , where several wires are drawn as one for the sake of clarity.
I took my time working through this , and with the help of several of the members here was able to learn about some fundamental motor operation theory and to learn about testing capacitors.
After mulling it over , I decided to not take the easy way out and cave in to the pressure to strip all the Chinese crap out and change to a drum switch , even though I was close to doing this to save time , also I know I could have made this work , the start button I was going to use has thermal overload protection just like the starter on my mill and a drum switch would have been installed between that and the motor.
I did take the time to clean up the wiring while I was in there and replace the cheesy broken din rail terminal strip.

Parts sourcing was the biggest hurdle to get over with this .

I should say right now , at the end of the day , Busy Bee was who got me all of the parts , I paid dearly for them but they got me what I needed .
It took some negotiating at the local store here , at first they were just not interested , "the machine was too old " , once I proved to them that the current version of this machine is very similar , shares all of the same switching , same transformer and same motor , they were able to order the parts through the Concord store. It only took two months for them to "get it" and place the order .
I think the staff here may have learned some customer service lessons in the process , or I hope they did.

However , before I was able to convince Busy Bee that this old lathe was worth saving ...............

This happened ..............

I ordered contactors , off of ebay , a set of three from Trillium controls in Concord Ont . , they were the wrong ones , they never did reply to any of my messages , to please get me the correct contactors , I could not return them because of this , I'll not be buying anything else from them , I'm stuck with the contactors they sent.
I also bought a thermal overload relay off of ebay , that came out of China too but arrived quickly , I didn't need one but now I have a spare, the good thing is , this part is correct.
I ordered a second set of contactors from a vendor based in China on ebay , this was even more frustrating , it took weeks for them to even ship them because of Chinese new year . The picture in the ebay listing showed the exact contactor I needed , I ordered three , eventually after waiting over a month , I got them , only to find out the idiot who packed the order threw the wrong contactors in the box. I worked with them , as difficult and frustrating as that was , they recognized the mistake and have partially refunded my money , I can keep the contactors.
There isn't an English catalog that I know of where you can look at these specific contactors and choose the exact replacement .
I should mention , yes I ended up with a bunch of contactors I couldn't use , the upside is , they were $15 each from China , $30 each from Trillium , the down side is the Busy Bee contactors were priced at $65 each !!!
There are some space limitations inside the electrical box, so to subsitute in a different contactor or three isn't really an option I was willing to entertain.

I ordered new motor capacitors off of Amazon , changed those out and made the original motor a working unit again.

I ordered new terminal strips off of Amazon , to replace the cheesy cracked din rail Chinese crappy ones that the machine came with.

Busy Bee got me the exact contactors I needed , they were very expensive , they also got me a pair of directional switches and an "E" stop switch , I only used the contactors , the other switches are spares.

My theory on switches is ........ every time you activate a switch , it's one less time it's going to work.

So , to summarize the parts list , the parts I actually changed to get this repaired.................
Motor start Capacitor
Motor run Capacitor
All three contactors
Terminal strips where all the connections entering or leaving the electrical box are made.

I replaced the terminal strips that were in poor condition , relocated the one and only fuse the machine came with and relocated the ground terminal strip , while i was cleaning up the messy electrical box.

IMG_1712.JPG

I have spare parts now , new and used .
I have a spare motor too ( hangs head in shame )

IMG_1713.JPG

IMG_1714.JPG

IMG_1716.JPG
 
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Gearhead88

Super User
Good to see you back making chips. Did you try the new motor just to be sure it will work "if" needed?
A pain in the arse to do , so I won't be doing it anytime soon. I just want to enjoy having a running machine again and for now , be done with the fiddling , I did bench test it about a month ago just to calm my nerves.

Besides , the excitement of my new to me Tig machine is still quite fresh , I did my first welds with it today .
 
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Capt Hook

New Member
Nice summary. I bench tested the new motor. Works great. draws 6.5 amps running. Now just have to find out how the 3 wires plus gnd hook up to it to fwd and reverse. On the bench, the fwd and rev worked great, but required hard wired jumpers.
 

Capt Hook

New Member
I bought it from Government Surplus Canada. They laid it down on it's back on a pallet and some of the gear oil dribbled into the electrical compartment. It fried the transformer, so I ordered and installed a new one (not the Chinese original, but one from Newark with similar specs). My guess is that the gear oil dripped into the motor wiring and caused a continuous draw of 55 amps. Spent way too much time troubleshooting and bench testing it and eventually gave in and ordered a new motor.
 

Gearhead88

Super User
I noticed a bunch of content on this discussion is missing , as is the "diagnosing an Asian Lathe " thread , I must have missed something .... ?
 
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terry_g

Ultra Member
I asked a moderator about that.
Apparently he asked to have his profile deleted after
removing a lot of his posts.

Terry
 

Capt Hook

New Member
If anyone has a photo of the 3 x power/control wires hooked up the a new motor in either the CT043 or the CX707, that would be much appreciated.
 

Matt-Aburg

Ultra Member
Hi Gearhead88 or other members. I have this same lathe. Two days ago, I was taking a cut when it just died completely. Since this happened, I was forced to get my 1440 back online. I have decided to sell the CT043. When I get the chance, I will be moving it out of its place and seeing if it is just a fuse. The motor was strained trying to cut S7 steel. The machine is at least 15 years old, and never gave me problems, before it died. I am really not needing two lathes and could use the floor space. I have decided to move 100 percent to the 1440. Please PM me with best offer.
 

YYCHM

(Craig)
Premium Member
Hi Gearhead88 or other members. I have this same lathe. Two days ago, I was taking a cut when it just died completely. Since this happened, I was forced to get my 1440 back online. I have decided to sell the CT043. When I get the chance, I will be moving it out of its place and seeing if it is just a fuse. The motor was strained trying to cut S7 steel. The machine is at least 15 years old, and never gave me problems, before it died. I am really not needing two lathes and could use the floor space. I have decided to move 100 percent to the 1440. Please PM me with best offer.

You should post this in the classifieds thread.

 

Gearhead88

Super User
Hi Gearhead88 or other members. I have this same lathe. Two days ago, I was taking a cut when it just died completely. Since this happened, I was forced to get my 1440 back online. I have decided to sell the CT043. When I get the chance, I will be moving it out of its place and seeing if it is just a fuse. The motor was strained trying to cut S7 steel. The machine is at least 15 years old, and never gave me problems, before it died. I am really not needing two lathes and could use the floor space. I have decided to move 100 percent to the 1440. Please PM me with best offer.
If you need a motor to revive the lathe you have for sale , I bought a new one and never used it . It was on the lathe for a few days but I never ran it and it went back in the box it came in. I repaired the original motor and used it to get the lathe running , there wasn't an option of returning the new motor I bought , it was special order . Keep in mind , There's a possibility that the motor on your lathe just needs a new capacitor.
 
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Downwindtracker2

Well-Known Member
I have bought used Taiwanese machinery, three out of four had major electrical issues . I take it, that is parr for the course . My 1992 DF1224g lathe had fried it's forward contactor, they ran it with the reverse contactor, switching it with a toggle switch .
 

Matt-Aburg

Ultra Member
If you need a motor to revive the lathe you have for sale , I bought a new one and never used it . It was on the lathe for a few days but I never ran it and it went back in the box it came in. I repaired the original motor and used it to get the lathe running , there wasn't an option of returning the new motor I bought , it was special order . Keep in mind , There's a possibility that the motor on your lathe just needs a new capacitor.
Hi,
Do you have the schematics you made for this available? I have an electrician coming over on Saturday to access the problem. He likely won't be able to diagnose it without having the proper paperwork.
 
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