Thread: Older table saw motor stalling

Sounds like the starter winding is not being energised. This may be via a start capacitor which is faulty or a start switch, which is operated by the motors rotation, and it is not switching on. The start switch may simply be full of dust so that the contacts are being kept apart. I have had that happen when a bug was caught between the contacts.

Agree with Bohdan re capacitor maybe faulty. If you look at the motor sticker it says “Capacitor Start”

Yes after watching a utube video on testing and replacing motor capacitors I'm sure that's what's wrong with mine. I've done some searches using the text on the side of the cap but I'm still not trusting myself to find the right replacement. The word MALLORY is printed above the text.

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They are common as a motor start capacitor. A quick search came up with this. It’s a US supplier

216 - 259 MFD 110-125 vac Electric Motor Start Capacitor uf HVAC volts | eBay

I had this exact issue a while ago with a second hand jointer I had bought. I would press the start button and get a slight movement of the motor drive pulley and a constant hum but no rotation. An electrician at work advised an inspection of the start switch, just as Bohdan has suggested. Quite straightforward to do. I found the contact surfaces pitted and dirty and for some reason misaligned. Some judicious bending and a clean up with emery paper, as far as I can remember, solved the problem.

I had been using my pedestal drill one day and working it hard with a large Forstner Bit to the point it was starting to get fairly hot so I thought I would stop for the day and finish the job in the morning. When I went to start up again the following day the motor wouldn't start, just gave a bit of a kick. I turned it on again and gave the chuck a bit of a spin by hand and it slowly started up and got up to full speed. After doing this a few times it would start on its own but slowly, and then get up to speed. I checked what the capacitor was and was able to pick one up locally and fitted it. The drill was now like a new one and seemed to be better at starting than I remember for a long time.
Your capacitor is under the half round cover on the top and will most likely be just plug on leads to the terminals. The screeching sound is probably the starting switch being dry and will only make the noise when going slow.

Well, lesson learned is if it walks like a bad capacitor and talks like a bad capacitor, it very well could be a bad centrifugal start switch...and that's what it turned out to be. After getting the new cap in it did the same growl no start and after getting it all apart and cleaning the switch it starts like a dream. Well almost, I have a replacement bearing on the way but after that this 30+ year old motor should run like new. Thanks for all the direction guys.