Disassembly of AC Single Phase Motor 1/2 HP

Hello.

I'd like to thank everyone in advance for any assistance and enlightenment!

I'm not exceptionally talented or skilled at doing a lot of things, but I always try and do the best I can, and never approach anything I do casually. One of the reasons I've been able to learn how to do the few things I can is by listening to those who know, appreciating their time and their advice, and work very, very, slowly. V-e-e-r-r-y slowly. "If it don't fit - Don't Force It" as Mr. George Clinton used to say.

It's how I learned to fix old Lionel Trains, build pictures frames, work on guitars, and other stuff no one seems to care about. :-)

I picked up an old Craftsman Floor Drill Press, probably a 1965 model, that was made by Emerson Electric Company in St. Louis, Missouri. It's from the old Brown Shoe Company factory. It's well over 200lbs, cast iron, and pretty darn cool in my book. It has a quill throw that's as long as my arm, and even though it just has an old Craftsman 1/2hp 1725rpm motor on it (part # 113.12130), but it looks like it can do some solid, serious work.

I'm sorting through it, cleaning it up, and carefully cleaning, oiling, taking off surface rust, and generally tidying it up. I may skip painting it, just to keep the "from a factory floor where men (and women!) worked hard all day long, not like you kids today."

I noticed when spinning the motor pulley, that there was a little rattle. I found the arbor and quill bearings, and can order the motor bearings (there's two of course) when I can put a digital caliper on them. But...how to get to them?

I've got the manual for it, with the exploded drawing. I've watched lots of videos, checked all the woodworking, metalworking, and vintage machinery forums. I've reads threads for days, and haven't really got a clear answer to some things I've been wondering about. Everyone seems to have their own methods, explaining some facets in detail, skipping over others, and after a few days I'm lost in a sea of words, clashing opinions, and YouTube advisors.

Please also, in advance, pardon my stupidity. I always admit it freely. It's the only way to learn.

I've discharged the capacitor, but was attempting to take the bell housing off where the motor shaft comes out that the motor pulley sits on. It will move forward after tapping with a screw driver all the way around evenly, but only about 1/4-1/3" of an inch. When I haven't done anything before, that's when I put the hammer down, and seek advice from smart people. :-) It's saved the old hash browns hundreds of times.

I also take advice seriously, and follow it religiously.

I also apologize for asking questions that probably seem pretty dumb, especially to a bunch of electrical engineers. I've always enjoyed reading the newsletters though, and it seems like there are moments when people like to let their hair down, and play with simple stuff occaisionally, just for fun. The newsletters really are pretty darn cool.

I was wondering if anyone ever had disassembled an AC motor before. I've watched a ton of YouTube videos, and understand the generalities, although I haven't seen a motor that had what appear to be end caps like this one does, with little tabs, bent out of the metal, like this one.

I'm wondering if they can be disassembled for either end, or if you have to always start with the end that had the wires to the capacitor. If that's so, I can certainly try that. My hope was to leave all that in place, sneak the shaft that would have, I guess it would be the commutator on it, out of the motor field and housing, replace the bearings on top and bottom, and sneak it back in without disturbing the wiring and all the other stuff.

If that's what I need to do, that's cool too. I have a soldering iron, and I know how to use it without burning things up, including myself, and soldering joints that look like someone with a tiny bit of skill made them. PCB soldering isn't a specialty yet, but "old school" stuff I'm pretty comfortable with.

More than anything, instead of messing around and just seeing what I can get give, I really don't want to mess the motor up. I was retired by health against my will, and have to live on a fixed income. If I didn't, I'd just order a new 3-phase motor and VFD. :-) As it is, I was lucky to get the press AND be able to eat food the rest of the month too! :-)

The exploded diagram for the press itself (113.24560) had been very helpful, and so has the one for the motor:

Press:

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/222/2218.pdf

Motor:

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=9507

I think the motor probably went through a couple design changes during its run though, and possibly these "end caps" that sit at the ends of the bells where the shaft comes out the motor on each end might have been a later edition or something. Apparently the motors were sold seperately, and the buyer chose which one they wanted to run the press with.

They're a dirty aluminum color, made of what looks like 16 gauge or lighter metal, shaped to cover the end of the bell tip where the shaft comes through, and shaped so they "cap" the end, and have a recessed portion that's kind of pushed down that has the opening where the shaft runs through it.

I thought they might come off, but after tapping a bit, they didn't seem to move, so I stopped. It does seem like there's a seam where they meet the cast bell housing, but I'm not going to push it. I'll clean up the insides and such, but for right now, I was trying to get the bearings ordered with the others (thought I'd just replace them all while I've got it apart) so I could get everything ready for them, to make good use of time.

Anyway, I was wondering if those pressed-metal endcaps were permanently affixed, or if they'd pop off.

Also, if you just do the side with the wiring first, no matter what. If so, I'll just turn around and work on that end.

All of the basic stuff I've seen and read I understand pretty clearly, it's just that I hadn't seen one exactly like this, and I didn't want to try and force the bell housing off of the motor pulley side without knowing if it was being held on by something that makes removing the shaft/commutator from the other end mandatory.

Anything anyone might be able to share would be helpful. I'm sorry to bother you all with something so seemingly trivial and simple, but I've been reading pages, staring at diagrams, and watching videos until I'm blue in the face. A lot of the web pages you see when type in every combination of things you can think of pertaining to this press and motor seem to skip over actually changing the motor bearings, and people that do on equatable presses have motors that don't have those pressed-metal things on the ends. They just remove the long bolts and nuts, tap the bells, and apart they come.

Thanks again in advance,

Chris