leslie 122 motor issues

[drew571]

Hello,
I have a 21H that I converted into a Leslie 122. I just installed the upper and lower motor stacks which are 2 speed instead of the 1 speed from the 21H.

The lower motor turns but doesn't seem to be fast enough. Any ideas what could cause that?

The upper motor does not turn but it is trying to. It is vibrating and I can feel that it's trying to turn but it just doesn't seem to want to. I noticed when I tried to turn the top wheel by hand it didn't want to turn at all, so I unscrewed the top just a bit till it turned. Now it turns by hand but it doesn't want to turn by the motor yet. Any ideas?

Here are some pictures of my equipment.


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[torea]

Have you tried adjusting the tension on the lower baffle? My 25 was taking forever to kick up to full speed and one day the belt popped off. Turns out the motor hadn't been tightened enough and had wobbled forward until the belt could no longer stay on. Now it zips up to full speed and brakes quick.


Half the motors we've had have made small noise without moving. A thorough spraying with WD40 and hand turning seems to help a lot. Often, once we get them loose and they've dried, letting them run for 30-45 minutes helps a lot.

[drew571]

that worked for the lower baffle. thank you. in hind-site it seems such an obvious solution. :)

I took apart the top fast motor, cleaned it, oiled it and not the fast motor is working great. The slow motor is also working as far as spinning is concerned but it will not move up into place to turn the large o ring section that engages the top shaft. it just spins constantly on the bottom without moving up.

any solution for this?

thanks.

[torea]

that worked for the lower baffle. thank you. in hind-site it seems such an obvious solution. :)

I took apart the top fast motor, cleaned it, oiled it and not the fast motor is working great. The slow motor is also working as far as spinning is concerned but it will not move up into place to turn the large o ring section that engages the top shaft. it just spins constantly on the bottom without moving up.

any solution for this?

thanks.


Great. I wouldn't have messed with my 25 had the belt not come off and get tangled around the baffle :'(

You need a new spring. One of these - http://www.tonewheelgeneral.com/build_page.php?item_no=TWG-USK - I've had to get a few for the lower 2-speeders because it seems each one I get is a side-mount intended motor.
Or you can try playing around with yours to get it to work. I think Jdoc used a spring from a pen? There are a few threads on stretching/compressing the spring you have to get it to work. I was already making a TGWH order so I threw in a spring to save myself some time.

[drew571]

thanks so much, i will try those and see how it goes! at least I know how to take apart the motors and clean them up now, that got the top motor going and I'm guessing the bottom motor would benefit from a good cleaning as well.

[torea]

No problem! Glad to be able to finally help on the forum, not just ask =D

When we get motors, my dad usually makes an evening out of cleaning them. Take em apart, spray em, pluck out the crap, let em run. All is well after an hour or two.

[jdoc]

make sure the small motor angle is not stopping the shaft from moving up

[drew571]

thanks guys, ok, so I cleaned out both the upper and lower motors. here's the deal with the lower motor now. i replaced the spring and put it back together. the slow motor doesn't want to move up much more than a couple millimeters. if it moved more, it would be great. Now, the angle of the low motor would only be an issue in my mind if the top of the shaft were getting caught underneath the large "O" ring that is attached to the top spindle. But in this case the lower shaft isn't even making it up to the top O ring. any suggestions for getting it there? could the new spring be too strong and keeping it from moving up?

Thanks.

[drew571]

also, can i just not put the spring in there? wouldn't gravity just force the motor down? it is vertically mounted with the slow motor on the bottom. Maybe add a cut piece of another spring to the other side? I don't know. just throwing ideas out there. The way the motor is mounted, the spring serves to push the motor spindle back down away from the o ring, not towards.

[torea]

I think you just need to adjust the spring. You have to play with it to get it just right where it'll move freely but still turn the O-ring. We finally tested the 2-speeder in our 31 yesterday and sometimes it wouldn't move, or it'd need a push. Looking at it we could see the lower motor was barely catching the O-ring. So it'll need adjustment.

[jdoc]

PITA when it goes wrong cut, stretch, compress, change, weaker, stronger, smaller, bigger, longer, shorter etc. make sure everything is clean lubed an moving freely.
It is a Leslie thing, sometimes they run for years no issue, sometimes hours to get the spring tension just so.

I ended up getting it working with a pen spring but I ruined a lot of pens, the spring is very light and different one required for push up or 180 degree flip iirc

When I switched entire rotor 180 degrees for another project the original spring worked even though it was for a vertical spinet originally...don't give up, playing with the motors , read the instructions and you will find the sweet spot.

[drew571]

got it! just had to keep cutting the spring down until it wasn't putting any downward pressure on the motor shaft at all. Got both motors working nice and quiet, both speeds. Thanks for all the help!!!

[torea]

got it! just had to keep cutting the spring down until it wasn't putting any downward pressure on the motor shaft at all. Got both motors working nice and quiet, both speeds. Thanks for all the help!!!


Awesome! Glad we could help =)

[jdoc]

Awesome! Glad we could help =)
me too!? 1/2 the fun is the figuring part

[torea]

me too!? 1/2 the fun is the figuring part

Until you get pissed at figuring it out and just want it done so you can have the other half of the fun: PLAYING! :->

[drew571]

the end game is definitely the playing! it is kind of fun to figure all things things out and it will be great knowledge to have in maintaining this thing, but I just can't wait for it to be done! :)

[torea]

the end game is definitely the playing! it is kind of fun to figure all things things out and it will be great knowledge to have in maintaining this thing, but I just can't wait for it to be done! :)


I know the feeling. I've got two Leslie 31s sitting here right now, but I can't enjoy either one fully. One has a nice, fully working amp. But the AC plugs I have for the motors are polarized and won't fit in the sockets on the amp (until they're filed down). The other has a (hopefully) functioning amp that's going to be recapped, but I have no 122 connector for my A-100 (yet!). It's great to know I know how these things run because I was a part of the work that went into making them run.... but on the other hand I want to play through a Leslie with a horn! :'(



It'll just be that much better once everything is running smooth and clean =D

[jdoc]

Until you get pissed at figuring it out and just want it done so you can have the other half of the fun: PLAYING! :->
nobody ever learned much by doing everything right....but yes I had a major computer issue and finally found a burnt cap on the video card the 10th. time I pulled the computer apart, after running every diagnostic program and test I could think of. 1 crappy little cap NVida should spend a penny or 2 more. hours of work. My ex wanted me to just buy a new computer... oh yeah now I see, she wanted a new computer...oh well this one is 110% now and it left with me................:devil: