Ok it didn’t blow up but sparks shot out twice.
I have a 20+ year old craftsman freestanding bandsaw and recently I was cutting out a shape and something sparked from the side of the unit. I shut it off looked around and under at the motor and didn’t see anything obvious. I turned it back on finished cutting out my shape and it arced again with a blue flash. Once again I looked around, didn’t see anything but it would not turn back on.
The next day I started inspecting suspecting the motor was done but luckily I found a spot in the wires that goes to and from the ON switch that had rubbed against the bandsaws lower blade wheel, wore through the rubber coating and contacted the live wire! ZAP There is a burn mark on the wheel.
What is weird is the saw hasn’t been moved in years so how did that wire get jostled enough to contact the blade wheel?
I fixed the wire by splicing it together then ran it on the outside and up through the dust collection pan well away from the spinning blade wheel.
I’m so glad this was a easy fix and just in time for Mik’s build challenge. To anyone that has a craftsman bandsaw check the routing of that switch cord.