The Organ Forum

Do cold Leslie Motors normally take a few hours to warm up?

Thanks,
B

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1959 Hammond M3
1959 Hammond M3
1946 Hammond S-6

Nope.

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HAMMONDS: A; B3; D; E; 5-M3's; T582C.
LESLIES: 3-31H's; 21H; 22H; 122; 122A; 145; 147; 245; 715; 825; 25; 125; 4-44Ws; 45; 46W; 102;103;50C;51C;55C; 300; 2-120's; 770.
ALSO: 1925 Wicks Pipe Organ; Yamaha DGX-520; Kurzweil MicroPiano.
(Yes, I have 'AD')

I have something funny going on with my 860 for the last month.  The upper rotor doesn't spin fast enough when you first fire it up.  I oiled it at a gig.  That has not fixed the issue.   After about 10 or 15minutes it runs fine.

Leslie stays in the cold when not setup at a gig but that has nothing to do with the problem,   The culprit is something else.

 

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Have a great day

It depends on what you mean by cold. In the early 80's when I gigged with my L-102 and 760 Leslie I had to have a hair drier with me in the winter. After 6 hours in the trailer in -25 degrees Celsius they both needed some warming before starting...

Jussi

CEB:

I have something funny going on with my 860 for the last month.  The upper rotor doesn't spin fast enough when you first fire it up.  I oiled it at a gig.  That has not fixed the issue.   After about 10 or 15minutes it runs fine.

Leslie stays in the cold when not setup at a gig but that has nothing to do with the problem,   The culprit is something else.

 

It is probably your horn and spindle clogged up from old oil or grease. Remove the horn from the spindle and wipe both (outside spindle, inside horn bushing) until clean (WD40 or mineral spirits preferably), wipe dry and then oil with Hammond oil.

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HAMMONDS: A; B3; D; E; 5-M3's; T582C.
LESLIES: 3-31H's; 21H; 22H; 122; 122A; 145; 147; 245; 715; 825; 25; 125; 4-44Ws; 45; 46W; 102;103;50C;51C;55C; 300; 2-120's; 770.
ALSO: 1925 Wicks Pipe Organ; Yamaha DGX-520; Kurzweil MicroPiano.
(Yes, I have 'AD')

Thank you sir.

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Have a great day

I have the same problem with my 122r and have adjusted the tensioner to no avail.  I ordered a new (over-priced) belt, perhaps that will help.

Check if the motor runs with the belt off. The slow motor needs to be turning the rubber tyre, too.

There are a number of things that make a perfect motor seem gutless, as well as being clogged with old oil..... 

Remember too that when the belt is ON it has to be loose enough so that it slips when you hold the rotor. It'll jam up if it's too tight.

Sometimes the positioning nuts on the three long bolts holding slow motor can get inexplicably altered ( perhaps they were loose and moved with vibration over time) and the spindle doesn't connect.

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1970 Brendon T. Wright
1959 C3
1975 T-500
1992 Korg 01W/fd
1994 G&L S-500

TheAdmiral:

CEB:

I have something funny going on with my 860 for the last month.  The upper rotor doesn't spin fast enough when you first fire it up.  I oiled it at a gig.  That has not fixed the issue.   After about 10 or 15minutes it runs fine.

Leslie stays in the cold when not setup at a gig but that has nothing to do with the problem,   The culprit is something else.

 

It is probably your horn and spindle clogged up from old oil or grease. Remove the horn from the spindle and wipe both (outside spindle, inside horn bushing) until clean (WD40 or mineral spirits preferably), wipe dry and then oil with Hammond oil.

+1

This remedied the same issue that mine had a while back.  

One of my three Leslies does the same thing.  It's the one I gig with.  It's been that way for 10 years, always worse during the cold weather months.  I've been always running it on fast for 10 minutes before I start playing.  I'll try the cleaning method suggested and see how that does. 

Check the rubber tire - sometimes they get a bit of a glaze.  I de-glaze them by running them against a piece of 220 grit sandpaper, then clean them with solvent (clean the motor armature too).  Then adjust the motor tilt so it engages and disengages properly.  A weak armature spring can also cause problems.