Hammond L122 motor run capacitor and motor questions

[dryjoy]

My first post here, but firstly just wanted to say how helpful this forum has been in helping me work out what was wrong with my newly acquired L122.

The pitch kept diving and wobbling after a few minutes of playing, and then the organ started tripping the fuse box as soon as I powered it up.

A number of posts in this forum soon helped me track down the motor run capacitor as the likely culprit. My friend helped me replace the old capacitor with two new ones wired in series (being in the UK, I needed a 1.25 uF capacitor, so we wired two 2.5 uF in series), and the organ is now running very well.

One issue was that it was difficult to find anywhere to mount the new capacitors, so we've tied them to the old one. The old one does look a bit swollen, and I've seen stories of them exploding, so my first question is:

• Is there any risk of the old capacitor blowing its load now that it is not connected to anything and just sitting there? I assume it would be liable to explode only if stimulated by a current, but I'm not 100% sure.

My second question is about oiling the motor. I've seen pictures which show two little metal lids which the oil goes into, however I can only see one of these on mine, which is on the right of the motor.

• Are there some motors known to have only one oiling point, or am I missing something?

For interest, here are a couple of pictures, one a close up of the old capacitor with the lid removed and showing the swelling, and the second of the new capacitors in place.


And here are the new capacitors in place:

[tpappano]

I think I would get it out of there. It doesn't appear to have leaked so there may still be a lot of pressure inside just waiting to leak later 8)

[enor]

There should be a similar oil tube/hat on the other side of the motor. If it's missing, it's broken off for some reason.

[Papus]

The oiling tube/flip-top lid can detach from the hole it sits in.
Start by hunting around in the base of the organ, it might be lying on top of the circuit boards down there - you don't want it causing a short.
If you can't find it, you might still be able to oil that side of the motor by directly applying oil into the hole using a syringe or a thin tube

[dryjoy]

Thanks everyone. I agree I'll probably need to get that old capacitor out sometime, but not figured out how to mount the new ones yet. Irritatingly, they have threads on the bottom, making them a bit trickier to deal with. Without the old cap in place, there's nowhere obvious to tie them onto.

Thanks for the tip about the oiling tube coming off the motor. I've not seen anything in there, but haven't been looking for it either, so better have a hunt around. Hoping I can still manage to oil the left side of that motor if it's missing, as I'd hate for that part to pack up. As far as I can tell, 240V motors are impossible to source.

[enor]

Thanks everyone. I agree I'll probably need to get that old capacitor out sometime, but not figured out how to mount the new ones yet. Irritatingly, they have threads on the bottom, making them a bit trickier to deal with. Without the old cap in place, there's nowhere obvious to tie them onto.

Thanks for the tip about the oiling tube coming off the motor. I've not seen anything in there, but haven't been looking for it either, so better have a hunt around. Hoping I can still manage to oil the left side of that motor if it's missing, as I'd hate for that part to pack up. As far as I can tell, 240V motors are impossible to source.

I wouldn't say "impossible", there are lots of cheap donor T-series organs out there ;)

[Papus]

Thanks everyone. I agree I'll probably need to get that old capacitor out sometime, but not figured out how to mount the new ones yet. Irritatingly, they have threads on the bottom, making them a bit trickier to deal with. Without the old cap in place, there's nowhere obvious to tie them onto.

Thanks for the tip about the oiling tube coming off the motor. I've not seen anything in there, but haven't been looking for it either, so better have a hunt around. Hoping I can still manage to oil the left side of that motor if it's missing, as I'd hate for that part to pack up. As far as I can tell, 240V motors are impossible to source.

Any self-starting spinet motor will work in a T, although without the rear pulley for the scanner drum - you'll lose vibrato/chorus. That pulley is unique to the T series.
But at least you'll have a working tonewheel organ.
My T has a replacement 240v motor from some other unknown series with no rear pulley. My organ tech flipped the scanner 180 degrees so the pulley belt simply rotates on the brass spring mount, it works nicely despite being ugly.

[dryjoy]

Any self-starting spinet motor will work in a T, although without the rear pulley for the scanner drum - you'll lose vibrato/chorus. That pulley is unique to the T series.
But at least you'll have a working tonewheel organ.
My T has a replacement 240v motor from some other unknown series with no rear pulley. My organ tech flipped the scanner 180 degrees so the pulley belt simply rotates on the brass spring mount, it works nicely despite being ugly.

Thanks. Mine's actually a L122, but from the comment above yours I understand that a motor from a T would work in mine, if I needed one.

It's a hypothetical at the moment though. My motor is fine at the moment, but seems to be missing the oiling tube on the left side. I haven't had a chance to look whether I can still get the oil in it yet.

[dryjoy]

I wouldn't say "impossible", there are lots of cheap donor T-series organs out there ;)

Thanks. I didn't realise they are interchangeable. Worth knowing.