Testing a motor...

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Just an update mikefromlondon

I decided to opt to check if there was any slack in the coil rather than the crimp method. I managed to disassemble the motor quite easily in the end (I just needed a much slimmer torx screwdriver to squeeze past the fan blades). Luckily I found that the snapped turn of coil was on top/free and loose for another turn. So it was quite simple in the end. I just undid one turn, scraped off some of the enamel insulation with some fine sandpaper (it was aluminium underneath as you suspected) and securely re-attached that uninsulated area to the terminal, snipping off the excess. I checked all the other connections, all of which were fine. It was just a quick re-assemble of the mower a quick test without the blade or fan and using an RCD and hey presto, one perfectly working lawnmower. A quick test in the garden after giving the blade a quick sharpen and it works as good as new.

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Once again, many thanks for all your advice and assistance. It was a nice easy job in the end and no more involved than changing carbon brushes really.
 
Dishman, glad to hear that you managed to repair this simple fault pretty well, and safely, and that you have just proved it did not require any special skills, or what was not beyond your skills, despite your lack of knowledge about motors, the fact is you were not repairing a motor but a broken wire, repairing a motor would be more like rewinding coils and replacing bearings. Which may be beyond skills of many. Well done and enjoy gardening and use RCD and stay safe.

BTW, that is exactly the point where my flymo wire broke as well, 3 months after purchase I was also lucky as it was the outer turn, so I unwound one turn and did exactly as you did, then a month later the wire terminated on the other post also broke, so this one I had to extend using a home made sleeve as I could not tug any slack or unwound a one full turn to reattach, so my home made sleeve crimped joint worked very well and hasn't failed so far now about 2 years.

you may find the same may happen to your 2nd post, so be ready to repair it again.
 
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Just an update mikefromlondon



Once again, many thanks for all your advice and assistance. It was a nice easy job in the end and no more involved than changing carbon brushes really.

You are welcome mate, and Thank you so much too for your help in offering me your expertise in sorting out my PC boot up problem via PM, next time you have any issues with your lawn mover or other electrical stuff, I will help where I can , just PM me to save yourself being abused instead being offered any help. I really appreciate your time to write that lengthy procedure to set up my Bios and System Config details, my PC is now booting up nicely, I have also changed the BIOS battery now. Its working a treat now. thanks.(y)
 
Its not time for a new PC, but time for a new Engraving machine may be, that can run on modern computers, but then again, 10 to 15 years later it will be back to square one. Technology is pacing very fast, soon all the rotary cutting machines will be thing of the past, laser engravers and cutters are already out there now quite for some time.

I use mine for routing and machining parts from plastics and aluminium, at various depths, using a rotary cutter, I wonder if laser can cut to certain required depth into the plastic material and not cut through completely., so i think there is still long way for rotary cutters yet.
 
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I am used to running against the flow,that happens everywhere, where people have different opinion as oppose to yours, but i have left them all behind and got somewhere. Many times with the help of others who share the same opinion, That is a fact.
 
Some can be printed yes, but majority of jobs I do consist of ABS sheets of 3mm thickness that needs to be cut into various sections and rebated edges to glue together to form bespoke instrument cases, etc, some RFID sensing pads which require routing sections to fit electronics and run other cable routes and then covered with a 2mm thick ABS cover and edges chamfered, and routed clean to give a very professional look and finish.I am sure they can be printed, but may take much longer and probably work out more expensive and consistency may suffer as the printing nozzles gets blocked, or temperature variation may cause minor imperfections. .
 
Just a final update.

Did a long mowing session of the lawn yesterday in warm dry weather and I had no trouble with the machine at all, it is working perfectly.

One thing I have noticed while repairing the machine is that this model from Flymo may have a bit of a design flaw. This is also supported by some poor reviews of this mower from Amazon users who describe the machine packing up after a very short time. It is a Glidemaster 340.

When I had it opened up I noticed that the filtered air intake was not anywhere near the motor housing itself. In fact is behind lots of plastic structures internally which nearly block it or reduce/restrict the volume of the air intake. Not only this but the external openings for the intake are so small and low down that they immediately get blocked by grass cuttings from even light mowing. So one must ensure these are cleaned regularly while using the machine

My older and smaller flymo has a filtered air intake that is much larger and which directly surrounds the motor housing itself. The motor in this older machine is smaller than the one above too so will be putting out less heat presumably.

So it may be that the poor air intake, while not a direct cause of the initial fault, may be a contributor.Thought that may be useful information to anyone else having problems with this model

Other than that, if cleaned regularly, it does a decent job.

Thanks again Mike.
 
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Yes like vacuum cleaners and lawn movers all need through free flow of air to remove heat and keep armature and field coils cool, overheating is the main cause of enamel or insulation breakdown and that can cause premature failure, and those air intake grill needs to be kept clean and unblocked, the cutting fan on these movers also has a turbine fan that generates more air pressure to allow it to float over or glide over like a hoover craft above the grass as it is being cut
 
I've seen and used Flymos that have been full of grass etc that has got past the foam filter. None have failed. However I'm glad Mike from London and dishman have bonded over a common love of bodging motors!
 

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