I found a thread on this forum about reversing motor spin direction, but I found the advice to be a bit incomprehensible:

http://www.routerforums.com/tools-wo...ric-motor.html

I don't know anything about motors. I attached a few pictures of the motor below. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks.

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Phillip, it doesn't look like, at least from your pictures, that motor is reversible. At least with out further disassembly(there is most always a way). Unless you really know what you are doing I don't recommend that. Usually as mentioned in the thread you referenced, if the motor was meant to be reversed, there is a wiring diagram for doing so on the name plate or paperwork that came with it.

One of the reasons the other post didn't give a clear answer, we never got enough info from the original poster to answer his question!

You could take it to a motor shop and inquire if they can/will. "Will" being the most important! May be cheaper to just find another motor. I see them every so often on Craigslist for reasonable prices.

Is there additional information that I might provide to make that a certain yes or no? The motor came from a craftsman compressor.

If the motor is a "universal" one, that is one that has brushes, it can be reversed by swapping a brush and a field coil connection. It can also have a double pole double throw switch so that it can be set to run in either direction. This shot shows a sewing machine motor that I intend to fit a reversing switch to in order to motorise my router lift, all it's connections are easy to get at.

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This motor could be taken to a motor shop and possibly could be reversed. Almost all combination voltage/reversible AC induction motors are 5 lead motors. This may be a 5 lead motor with some of the connections made internally. But if you have the mounting option, you can rotate the whole motor 180* and accomplish the same thing. By that I mean you can mount the motor so the motor base is to the left or right of the driven pulley, effectively reversing the driven direction. . I hope you can understand what I mean.

Philip is working on a project that mounting the motor on the opposite side is not really an option. It is a wooden band saw. Of course it is possible but mounting it on the other side would leave a huge bulge sticking out on that side where as on the other side it is inside the frame.

I am working on the same thing and found some information when I thought I might have to use (reverse) a 1/3 hp motor I had laying around.

"First, to make it easy, label the white wires #1 and #4, makes no difference which one is which. Now label the red wires from the stator #5 and #8. Again it doesn't matter which is which. Connect #5 to #1, and a black lead from the switch and insulate. Now connect the black lead from the capacitor to #4 and the other black lead from the switch. Finally, connect the red lead from the capacitor to #8 and insulate. Now plug it in and check for proper rotation of wheels, toward the base. If rotation is wrong, then swap #5 and #8. "

I did not try this method but perhaps some other members could shed some light on it being a workable solution? I ended up cannibalizing a 1 hp motor from a TS that I got for free. I picked up two from craigslist, one free and the other $25 with the idea of using the motors. The saws were better than the one I was using both for a while but now one is missing a motor.

The best thing would be to find a free saw that the rest of it is in bad shape. Arbor shot or table with 1/4 inch deep rust pits, something like that. Some people might be just wanting to get rid of the saw thinking it has no value. I check all the time for another table saw with a good motor to replace the one I robbed. Who knows might end up another TS upgrade.

I understand that, but to translate to others-- Say you have a motor where the pulley is in the center and the motor to the left.... If you move the mount to the right of the pulley and put it back through that same pulley (through the opposite side of the hole), then the direction is reversed. But this would assume that there is room for it and you would most likely end up making your own mounts and tensioner to do that.

Understood the "motor" connections also... I was in another thread where we discuss this. Here was my post on that:
Router Forums - View Single Post - Reverse Direction on Electric Motor
Like Harry said, it has to do with the brushes and field windings and how they are all connected to each other. A "reversible" motor is one which the field and brushes all have separate connections... So that you are able to change how they are connected (sometimes with a switch to change that). It has to do with which brush is paired to which end of the field windings.

A single direction motor, is internally wired with the brushes and fields hardwired internally, so that instead of having 5 wire connections, there is only 3-4 (for 110v and 220v). These can still be reversed if those hard wire connections were changed (possibly by a motor shop if you aren't sure)... Or split out to "separate" connections, so that it could become a reversible motor. Like someone said- that depends on how much you want to spend on it (if someone else does the work) or how much work you want to put into it.

Mike I believe Phillip said this was an air compressor motor. Most air compressors use an induction motor, not a universal motor. From looking at the photos I am pretty sure it is an induction motor. Some of these terminal strips have the other wires connected on the back side. What makes that bad is they are not numbered or color coded to NEMA standards. A neighborhood motor shop can probably reverse this motor for a small fee. The last one I had reversed cost me $15, and they did it while I ate lunch. Guessing usually fries the motor. I don't guess on motors, they just cost way to much now.

There is a "farmer's fix" for the problem that costs no money. Install the drive belt twisted into a figure 8 shape.

as much as i can see look's like only one field in the motor, not reverseable than, must have to field's for reverse, now a dc motor just reverse the pos. and neg. and it will run the other way, but this is not dc voltage , it is ac voltage