> Your motor is certainly a big beast!
> I suspect this reflects it age and the weight will be the mix of
> conservative design of that era and lots of cast iron.
Actually, the body of the motor is stick welded mild steel, which I
think was rather unusual for the period. Only the end bells and fan cowl
are cast iron. The rotor is stick welded too. It has a passage for air
through the centre, with a soldered cage of copper bars around it.
> I also suspect the use of thicker wire and hence the low resistance.
> Yes it is unusual to see this as 400v delta. Maybe for star/delta
> starting perhaps?
Possibly that was the designer's intention, although it wasn't wired in
a way which would permit star-delta starting when I acquired it. I think
star-delta starting would be unusual for a motor of 2.5 hp.
> My motor is relatively modern and so I suspect similar to the one JS has
> stashed away. Hopefully when he next trips over it he can let me know
> the resistance. If you been to John's workshop you will know there are
> lots of things to trip over - lol. It makes Aladdin's cave look empty by
> comparison!
I haven't had the pleasure :-).
Did you ask the eBay seller about the motor's history? They might be
able to tell you what kind of machine it came from, and from that you
might find the specification.
I have a very old commutator motor sitting around which doesn't have a
data plate. Probably about 3/4 hp. It runs without any problems through
a variac. It has quite a distinctive case design. I saw another motor on
eBay with the same case design (but definitely a different model). It
was labelled "Batwin" but I haven't been able to find any further
information.
Best wishes,
Chris