Electric destemmer stops mid crush

[NorCal]

Hit the go button…not happening. Power to the cord, switch is good, and there isn’t any fuse/breaker at the 15(?) year old destemmer. Pretty confident it’s the start-up capacitor, but that didn’t help me with 400 pounds of grapes to go.

I was able to limp through without tearing the head off of the motor bolt.

I will find a replacement capacitor and also weld this nut on so I have a solid back up if I have a problem in the future.

 

[tullamore]

Hit the go button…not happening. Power to the cord and there isn’t any fuse/breaker at the 15(?) year old destemmer. Pretty confident it’s the start-up capacitor, but that didn’t help me with 400 pounds of grapes to go.
View attachment 105738
I was able to limp through without tearing the head off of the motor bolt.
View attachment 105739
I will find a replacement capacitor and also weld this nut on so I have a solid back up if I have a problem in the future.View attachment 105742

thats MacGyer thinking

 

[sour_grapes]

Milwaukee to the rescue!

 

[distancerunner]

Amazed that the drill motor was up to the task.

Kudos!

 

[NorCal]

Amazed that the drill motor was up to the task.

Kudos!

The gearing is such that there isn't such a big load on the motor itself. I was surprised too. I did set the torque release on the drill very low, so that I didn't accidently squeeze the trigger while it was under load, which would have certainly torn the head off of the bolt.

 

[Normand7]

Hit the go button…not happening. Power to the cord, switch is good, and there isn’t any fuse/breaker at the 15(?) year old destemmer. Pretty confident it’s the start-up capacitor, but that didn’t help me with 400 pounds of grapes to go.
View attachment 105738
I was able to limp through without tearing the head off of the motor bolt.
View attachment 105739
I will find a replacement capacitor and also weld this nut on so I have a solid back up if I have a problem in the future.View attachment 105742

I had the same thing happen to me this year, with the same destemmer. My problem was caused by a stuck bearing. After taking the cover off and disengaging the motor I was able to get the rest of the gears etc... moving. The problem may have been caused by water from the power washing I did before putting it away last year.

 

[NorCal]

I'm still working on this and decided to make it a winter project. I changed the cap, which I was so certain it was the cause and it did not fix it. I tested out the switch (which I should have done first) and it was bad. I ordered a replacement switch and it starts and runs, but I have to hold down the go button for it to continue running. I need to see if I got the wrong switch, I wired it back up wrong or there is something else going on.

 

[Boatboy24]

Finishing crush with a cordless drill? That's got to be another WineMaker mag worthy article. Well played!

 

[Nebbiolo020]

Crusher destemmer motors have a way of screwing you over and dying randomly. Have seen it happen like 8 times, hell in 2021 the motor died on the crusher destemmer at work during harvest and we had to have a guy come out and fix it.

 

[winojoe]

My start capaditor blew out on me several years ago with only about three lugs of grapes to go. I was able to get through the rest of the cruch by giving the pulley a little boost. I ordered three capacitors to have two for back-up.