Im currently trying to fix a faulty/damaged? Heljan terminal crane that I recently purchased. These cranes are wicked old and long discontinued, basically impossible to find. Unfortunately for me I got a bad one of the bunch as it was claimed to be new.
The crane had a few previous issues which I was able to successfully fix but I’m now completely stuck on something that might be more sophisticated than my skills.
The one function on the crane that doesn’t work is the lowering and raising of the hoist. When I initially took the crane apart I found that one of the gears for the mechanism had cracked and was actually a common issue for the crane. I purchased a similar replacement gear from NSWL and the mechanism runs smoothly by hand but when putting the crane back together it still wouldn’t work.
The only culprits I believe to be left are the motor and what I believe to be the bridge rectifier that both the motor and container magnet mechanism connect to.
I don’t believe it’s the motor because when I test it outside the crane using a 9v battery it spins perfectly fine. When testing it just hooked up to the crane and without the hoist however, it only spins in one direction. When it does spin it it sometimes is jerky like losing power or even weirder it activates the swivel of the gantry function. The motor for the gantry swivel is not connected to the bridge rectifier or motor in anyway. The only place they meet is at some type of other electrical board where the leads from all the mentioned mechanisms connect.
This leads me to believe it might be a failing bridge rectifier (if that’s even what it is), or now that I mentioned it, the other board where the connections meet. I have no idea how to test if that’s what my issue is or the board itself. I can’t get a replacement so is there a way to buy a similar one or make one myself?
Any help would be greatly appreciated from the super technical/electrical folks.
For photo reference:
Red tab: Orange wire connects directly from the other board
Blue tab: where the gray wire from the motor tab
connects to.
Black tab: black wire connects directly from the other board
White tab: Gray wire connects directly from the other board
The other black wire from the inside of the gantry connects to the other tab on the motor which comes from that other board.
The photo for the other board is the one with the just plugs. The top occupied plug is the hoist and the bottom one is the gantry connection
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