M3 won’t come on

[dkgillham]

I have an M3 that I picked up for free. It's in real nice shape physically. I did have to solder a new power cord because the old one was frayed. After plugging in the organ I can hear it hum but the motor is not running. I oiled the gears and the TWG. How do you unstick a start/run motor? Any suggestions would be helpful. Or how hard is it to replace a start/run motor on an M3? Thanks for the help.

[tpappano]

Can you turn the flywheel to the right of the run motor with your fingers? Does it turn easily, or is it stuck? (don't force it)

[dkgillham]

It's now spins but when I engage the run motor it won't stay spinning.

[tpappano]

The next test would be to just turn on the 'run' switch. See if the tubes glow, if they do, while the run switch is still on turn the flywheel with your finger and see if you feel resistance to it turning. If it turns freely your run motor might be bad. If the tubes don't glow, you may have a bad run switch. Also, when doing a normal start, if the generator does not come fully up to speed, the run motor can't capture and maintain synchronous speed, and it will slow back down to a stop. This can be from too much bearing friction and it may just need to marinate in its new oil for a bit 8)

I have a hard time waiting on things and with two M3 I rescued whose TGs were stuck hard, I sprayed the snot out of them with WD40 and they both freed up within minutes. The real oil still has to travel down the wicks for proper lubrication, which may take days, but the WD40 will at least get it unstuck and running. I naphtha flushed both of these because they were so dried up that the new oil couldn't get to the bearings. Now they both run great!

[dkgillham]

I'm gonna see if the oiling does anything for it. It freed up enough that it was spinning with the other flywheel pretty good but would not stay up to speed just slowed back down. Do you think turning the tone wheel generator on it's side and WD40 all the bearings by the tone wheels would help anything. If it could just stay up to speed it would be playing right now. It's frustrating cause I want to get to playing it. I also just picked up a free M2 on Monday and the run motor on it is definitely not working I can hear it humming but not spinning. I tried pulling it completely off to move the shaft by hand and loosen it but the gear can't fit through the hole so I'm stuck on how to completely remove it.

[tpappano]

I would try those simple tests I described above first, they will help identify a possible motor or switch problem.

[David Anderson]

Please note that the manufacture of WD-40 states that the product is not appropriate for sintered bronze bearings because it contains water-displacing compounds that can clog the pores in the porous bronze. It's for garden tools, not bearings.

[tpappano]

Interesting, did not know that! I do know from 'learning the hard way' a long time ago that repeated application of WD40 will certainly leave a gummy build-up. Then, one thinks "Oh, it just needs more WD40", which causes an insidious WD40 death spiral, which then causes one to throw a perfectly good Teletype machine into a landfill 8) Based on that I look at WD40 as more of an emergency one-time treatment.

[Alek Z]

Definitely wouldn't recommend WD40. At least if you're more patient than I am. I got an M3 about a year ago that was almost completely locked. I couldn't turn the flywheel more than an inch at a time with a lot of force. I'm not very patient, lol, so I just put a little bit on all the bearings and then let the oil work it's way through the wicks after a while. You should make sure all the oil wicks are still in place though, particularly the ones that connect to the back of the start motor, between flywheel and run motor, behind the run motor. Also might want to clean and oil the start motor shaft.

[tpappano]

That sounds like a better, more proper plan!

[dkgillham]

Got the M3 tonewheels and shaft along with flywheels unstuck and spinning finally. The only problem is not after turning on run the flywheels slow to a halt. I got excited when the start motor finally got spinning along with the tonewheels. Now if the run motor would just do it's job and keep it spinning I could be playing it.