Repairing the Speedy Seeder

I mentioned in a previous post that my seeding machine, the Speedy Seeder, seemed rather loud and was not working in the manner it should.  It turns out that it finally quit on me.  Better now than in a few weeks when I really need to sow seeds in order to have my plants ready for Springtime.  Let's have a look and see what can be done about this.

Flipping the Speedy Seeder over reveals the compartment where the magic takes place.  Actually it's just the housing for a specialized vacuum motor.  The problem can only lie within this compartment so let's take it apart.

First I'll unscrew the 4 Phillips screws that hold the lid on.

Then there are two bolts that screw directly into the motor.  They hold the motor in place so when it's running it doesn't vibrate all over the place.  I'll get these unscrewed and then I can remove the lid.

This is what the vacuum motor looks like.  If there's something wrong with it then I imagine the entire motor will have to be replaced.  That is certainly more affordable than purchasing a new Speedy Seeder which is over $700.00!

I took a photo of the label on the motor just in case I need to order the part.  This is an Ametek Lamb Electric Division vacuum motor.  The model number is right on there making my life very easy.

Upon removing the motor from the housing, I flip it over and the problem is staring right at me.  The disc that spins and creates the suction is cracked in several places.  As far as I know it hasn't been dropped so I can only assume that after many, many years of use it has simply broken down as does anything else with moving parts.  This motor is completely sealed and I see no way of taking it apart and replacing the disc so it's time to start searching for the part number.

What did we do before the Internet made our lives so easy?  Scour through a catalog that I may or may not have or call around and ask for this particular motor?  All I had to do was hop on the +Grainger website, enter the manufacturer and the part number and there it was.  And fairly affordable as well.  Bonus.  It was available for pickup the next day.

This is the underside of the new vacuum motor.  I can't wait to get it hooked up and start sowing seeds again.  I'm already a day behind because I was supposed to sow petunias yesterday!  I hope this goes smoothly.

So on the old motor there was a black wire that went to the power switch and there was a white wire that connected to the white wire on the Speedy Seeder.  On the new motor there are 2 black wires and no white wire.  Challenge #1.  This was pretty easy.  Setting the 2 motors side by side, each of the 2 wires originate from separate sides of the motor.  I could only assume that on the new motor the black wire on the left hand side serves the same purpose as the white wire that was on the left hand side of the old motor.  I use a wire nut to connect the new black wire to the white wire on the Speedy Seeder.  I hope I'm right.

The next step was super easy.  The grounding wire from the Speedy Seeder gets screwed underneath the green screw on the new motor.  I really had to crank that screw in to get it to hold.  I used a bit more elbow grease on that step than I had expected but it's nice and snug now.

The third and final wire is the one that hooks up to the power switch.  On the new motor I only have bare wire whereas the old motor had one of those neat little connectors.  I'm not an electrician (obviously) so the only solution I could think of was to snip the power switch wire off the old motor and hook it up to the new power switch wire.

This involved stripping the old wire with this neat wire stripping tool that my father keeps around.  Very handy.

After twisting the new wire to the old I use another wire nut to hold them in place.

Alright it's all hooked up!  Let's put this baby back together and give it a test run.

So this is just ridiculous.  I'm screwing the bolts in that hold the motor in place and they're not going anywhere.  What the heck?  There's no screw threads in the holes in the new motor!  Who designs these things?  You mean I have to make my own threads?  I have no idea what size bolt this is.  Time to visit +Ace Hardware.  I bring the bolt in with me, show the guy working there, and explain my situation.  After he determines the size of the bolt he shows me exactly what I need to get the job done.

This is a high carbon steel plug tap.  I tighten my vice grips around it and turn it into the holes in the new motor just as if it was a screw.  It begins to make the threads.  I have to unscrew it and screw it back in several times so I can clean the metal shavings off of the plug taps.  Now the bolts fit!  They go right in and the new motor is nice and tight in the compartment.  I turn the Speedy Seeder on and it works like new!  Mission accomplished.