grain mill can it be fixed?

[DownHome]

I have a grain mill by Lee engineering. The other day I went to use it and and when I put the grain in, it sounded like it really bogged down and then it started smelling like burning motor. It kept turning just sounded overworked and the smell. I tried it one more time just to see if it was a fluke, but it did it again. HELP

Did I do something wrong and is there anything I can do to fix it? Will an electric motor person even be able to fix it or do I just have to buy new.

[rambler]

Well.....

The electric motor could be worn out, & needs to replace (or repair) the electric motor.

Or, a bearing or some such could be shot on the mill, which pulls too hard & makes your electric motor work too hard.

If you have a fix-it place, maybe they can look it over & see where the problem is & if it is worth replacing.

Do you have a fix-it type of friend, could look itover for free just to look it over to determine if it is the motor or the machine itself that is the problem?

--->Paul

[hotzcatz]

When things with an electric motor bog down and start to smell, turn them off immediately. Pretend it is the same thing as seeing the oil light come on in your car. Electric motors can burn themselves out if they are allowed to run in that sort of condition.

Check to see if there is anything clogging the mill's burrs or anything which would keep the motor from turning. Then see if there are any blackened wires anywhere or if anything is burned such as the switch. If it doesn't seem to have anything wrong with it and it doesn't smell too terribly much like a burnt wreck, then test it without any grain in it. If the burrs turn without anything in them then it may have just been something stuck in the burrs. If it still struggles and makes smells, then find an electrical appliance repair person.

I couldn't find much reference to the Lee Engineering mills online anywhere although there was a reference to it having a shut down option to keep the motor from overheating. Hopefully it had that and it was working?

If you do decide to get a new one, don't throw the broken one away. I would pay to have it shipped over to here since we have very few grain mills around here. We can usually cobble something together to get things to work again although sometimes there is more cobble and wobble than one would want but half way working is better than none at all.