D.A. Polisher Maintenance

[Tundra5-0]

I was polishing two cars today (pics tomorrow) and noticed that my polisher was becoming sluggish and started to hesitate. My D.A. is a PC but has a different brand name on it. On the second car it just stopped! Luckily I was almost finished. I checked everything but it would not turn on. Here was my fix.

 

After I got home I took the DA apart. I have a pretty good knowledge of electric motors so this was pretty simple. Now I don't know the cause of this but is could be a power cable issue that Junkman is always talking of.

 

Step 1. remove the armature from its housing. Look at the armature it should be bright and shiny as you can see this one is not. Now keep in mind this was not working at all.

 

The black you see is the dirt build up from the brushes. All electric motors have a positive and negative brush.

Here is a pic of a dirty brush its a little blurry

 

Step 2. Get some electric motor cleaner. This is some stuff I got from a hobby store when I used to race R/C cars

Clean all the electric motor parts. (armature, windings, and brushes)

 

Step 3. get some sandpaper. I used 400grit but you dont need anything this heavy. Its all I had lying around.

 

Clean the copper part of the armature.

Just wrap the sandpaper around the armature and just spin it until its clean. Dont push to hard it will only take about 6-7 turns.

 

Step 4. take your sand paper and knock off the carbon from the brushes.

Step 5. reassemble.

 

If you have any screws left do not turn on the polisher.

Do not turn on the polisher until it is fully assembled.

You will find not only will it work but it will have more power.

I noticed one of my brushes is a little worn and will probably need to replaced. If you do not feel comfortable doing this, then dont.

[11chevz71]

Glad you could fix the problem.

[Junkman2008]

A lot of PC will end up in this condition from using the wrong gauge extension cord alone.

[Tundra5-0]

I dont know if this is the problem, but if it is at least theres a fix. This customer was also having alot of electrical problems at his home. I will continue to use my cord and monitor the brushes.

[Junkman2008]

I dont know if this is the problem, but if it is at least theres a fix. This customer was also having alot of electrical problems at his home. I will continue to use my cord and monitor the brushes.

 

Good idea. Another thing to keep in mind is if you plug into a power source that is being split too many ways, that is the same thing as using a power cord that is too small. Your power source has to supply enough current to properly run the polisher and if a dual 500W halogen lamp along with your booming garage stereo is plugged into the same outlet as the PC, chances are that you are starving the PC of current.

[Tundra5-0]

Good thinking.

[jjwvette]

Great info