ToddFun.com

Part1:

In this blog posting I’m attempting to diagnose a problem with a motor power supply for a small metal lathe. I will document how I evaluate a circuit board and repair it if possible.

I’m confident the problem is with the power supply because when I plugged in the lathe nothing happened.  The motor doesn’t flinch even when the speed control is turned to high. Plus there is no voltage at all across the motor terminals so that does make sense.  Something in the motors power supply is preventing power getting to the motor terminals.

 There are always a few steps I take when attempting to repair something electrical.

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DAY 1

I have to replace my 16 year old Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.2L V8 engine. It no longer passes emission testing and smokes like a mosquito fogger!

Being this engine swap-out project will take several days I’m going to post each day’s progress below with a DAY Number heading marking each day’s work. Unfortunately this will not be a full tutorial but rather just some eye-candy photos and progress blurbs. You will learn what is “generally” involved in replacing a motor and you may realize it is something you could do someday instead of junking out a nice vehicle and taking on 5 to 6 years of new car payments.

In the past I normally pull my motors, tear them down and replace and rebuild as need be. But that takes a ton of time so for my Jeep I decided to order a fully remanufactured “long block” from Engine House in Phoenix, AZ. They have a great rating with the BBB and everyone I asked recommended them.

Below is a photo of a remanufactured “short block” which does not have cylinder heads installed. With a short block you would have to use your old heads or get new cylinder heads and install them yourself.

I chose to use a new “long block” like seen below which has new cylinder heads already installed. 

If you need new cylinder heads its cheaper to just buy a long block, plus its a big time saver not having to put the cylinder heads on yourself.

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I converted a Harbor Freight utility cart into a multifunctional welding cart. The conversions to the cart make it easier to move about in tight places yet strong enough to support 100lbs of brick and a plate steel top. I added a second smaller chopped up Harbor Freight utility cart as a firebox to catch all the sparks when cutting with the oxygen-acetylene and plasma torches.

Final cart modifications: Large plate steel top for MIG welding, bricks for oxygen-acetylene welding and firebox for plasma cutting.

Converted to oxygen-acetylene welding and plasma cutting:

Converted to MIG welding:

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