Australian Facetors' Guild Limited

Repairs to Gemmasta controller

  • 06 Apr 2018 3:48 PM
    Message # 6031512

    Our club has a GF4 machine with a 240v brushed motor. The controller is burnt out. This controller has a reverse and forward switch with a delay of 6 seconds on change over.

    We do not want to convert the machine with another motor.We would like to repair or replace the controller.

    Shellys say this controller is not made anymore.

    I had problems with my machine 18 months ago and Shellys charged over $500 for my new 180v DC controller.

    Is there any where I can send the club controller for repair.

    Hope someone can help

    Bob

  • 07 Apr 2018 8:24 AM
    Reply # 6051252 on 6031512
    Anonymous member (Administrator)
    Robert Webb wrote:

    Our club has a GF4 machine with a 240v brushed motor. The controller is burnt out. This controller has a reverse and forward switch with a delay of 6 seconds on change over.

    We do not want to convert the machine with another motor.We would like to repair or replace the controller.

    Shellys say this controller is not made anymore.

    I had problems with my machine 18 months ago and Shellys charged over $500 for my new 180v DC controller.

    Is there any where I can send the club controller for repair.

    Hope someone can help

    Bob


    What Club are you in bob
  • 07 Apr 2018 10:04 AM
    Reply # 6051331 on 6051252
    Edward Allison wrote:
    Robert Webb wrote:

    Our club has a GF4 machine with a 240v brushed motor. The controller is burnt out. This controller has a reverse and forward switch with a delay of 6 seconds on change over.

    We do not want to convert the machine with another motor.We would like to repair or replace the controller.

    Shellys say this controller is not made anymore.

    I had problems with my machine 18 months ago and Shellys charged over $500 for my new 180v DC controller.

    Is there any where I can send the club controller for repair.

    Hope someone can help

    Bob


    What Club are you in bob
    Illawarra lapidary club
  • 07 Apr 2018 10:30 AM
    Reply # 6051354 on 6031512
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    You will probably find it is cheaper and better to change the motor. I just converted our club GF4 to a 12V DC motor (from Motion Dynamics), using a speed controller from the same company and an off the shelf 12V power supply bought on Ebay.

    Paul Sabolta can give you more information on these conversions - he put me on to the DC motors originally.

    The cost of the whole job was less than $250. The motor I used is high torque and runs up to 4500 rpm - silently.

    One additional benefit is that all 240v power is divorced from the wet area at the machine. I used an Anderson plug to connect from the speed controller to the machine, with heavy duty wiring to avoid voltage drop.

    Finally, you also get away from what appears to be a continual problem with Shelleys - inability to supply parts.

  • 07 Apr 2018 5:24 PM
    Reply # 6051574 on 6031512
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Usually the motor has a short circuit in the Armature which blows up the controller, so get the motor checked first. It's probably due for a service anyway, new brushes, bearings and a good clean should see it go for another few years.

    This happened to my GF4, I had the armature rewound new brushes & bearings then built a new controller using 2 SCR's  & diodes in a  H pattern for the main driver circuit, also added FWD & REV switch. Motor now runs smoother & quieter. (can now hear the noisy bearing in the 2 speed belt splitter)

    The old controller was a pain, had to wait for it to power up when first switched on and  the motor always had a high pitch squeal because it was being pulsed on & off at high frequency. My new speed controller fixed all that.

    Paul

  • 08 Apr 2018 6:50 AM
    Reply # 6052137 on 6031512
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Noisy 2-speed pulleys must be a feature - ours sounds horrible now we have a quiet motor (even after removing the second drive belt, because we no longer need the high speed, due to the faster motor).

  • 01 May 2018 5:33 PM
    Reply # 6127485 on 6031512

    Good news the controller has now been repaired, rebuilt is closer to the mark. Thanks Paul the machine working great.

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