Electrical Fire Hazard.
 

For those of you who are fortunate to own machine shop equipment, this was a lesson learned. The other day I was outside the house on the rear deck and smelled smoke. It smelled like electrical, I traced it to the the basement where there was a drift of smoke up near the ceiling. I could hear a humming noise coming from the 220 drive motor for the lathe which was the source of the smoke. I flipped off the CB, and the noise stopped. Put my hand on the motor, and it was plenty hot. After disconnecting the wiring to the motor, I opened up the forward reverse switch to see If could spot a problem. The only thing I saw that was unusual was one of the 3 contacts in the switch was showed severe arcing. I went to electric motor shop that rebuilt the motor a year or so ago to see what they thought. What I was told is that as the the spring contacts in the drum type switch loose tension over years of use. What had happened was the 1 side of the 220 line, 120 volts was being fed to motor start winding, but was not enough current to run the motor so it was stalled. I have a disconnect switch for the forward reverse switch for the 220 line to the Bridgeport, but not one for the lathe. I will install a disconnect switch for the lathe and compressor. Dodged a bullet on that one.

Re: Electrical Fire Hazard.
 

WOW. Glad you were home and caught it.

Re: Electrical Fire Hazard.
 

You certainly got lucky ,glad it didn't short out while you and your family were sleeping, I turn the power off to all machine circuits while they are not in use, (an old habit ) I have the lights wired to work separately , my compressor motor starter is series wired to a wall switch next to the lights so I can conveniently turn it on and off as I enter and leave the shop .

Re: Electrical Fire Hazard.
 

You might want to replace that breaker with a lower amperage rating because it should "pop" with a load light that.

Re: Electrical Fire Hazard.
 

From the picture, it looks like you have the red and white wire under one terminal. Is there a reason to hook it up this way?
If the motor is of any size 1/2 hp and above. I would suggest, a starter with a set of properly sized overloads to protect the motor.
But that's just the sparky in me.

Re: Electrical Fire Hazard.
 

Yes, why are the red and neutral together. Shouldn't it be BK to WHT 120 vac, RD to WHT 120 VAC.. ?