National 673 brewer jams (new machine)

[Lbfrozen]

I have a National 673 that was never put on location by the prior owner and sat in the warehouse for years. So I installed it for my best customer to replace their very well-worn National coffee machine.

Anyway, it was never set up correctly, and it was National that converted it to a paper filter brewer. After getting the interference filter re-wired and the drive pin in the right place, it has not consistently worked right. I replaced the motor with a new one (I guess the new motor could be weak off the shelf) to try to eliminate that factor. Short story long, the brewer motor gets up the steep part of the cam on the brewer (to clamp the brewer barrel down) and brews a good cup of coffee. However, it often will not move across the level part of the brewer cam to release the brewer barrel. When I manually press down on the brewer barrel, it will move to release from the clamped position. Otherwise, it will never release the brewer to go back up. After it sits a while, I put it in brewer test, and it usually clamps and homes correctly. If the brewer barrel is removed (less force necessary to turn the cam), it clamps and homes every time.

I have not yet checked for voltage drop at the motor, but I have an electrician on site who will go through the entire circuit if I can find the schematic. (Does anyone have a link or pdf of that?) has anyone seen a brewer on a 673 that can do the hard work of clamping the brewer barrel down, but cannot do the easy work of releasing it?

It is so wonderful to try to replace a machine with nice, newer equipment for your biggest account, and then watch it sit there like a lump.

Any help or ideas will be appreciated.

LB

So, I have been mostly silent for the past year. No biggie, since about 75 percent of what I say here is smart aleck long form commentary. We bought everything from a retiring vendor who was multiple times our size. Some interesting stories and lessons learned, most of which were predicted, if not anticipated. All of that, plus a food truck and life in general have kept me away from this community. I have missed it.

I hope to soon follow up on a few posts I started and had answered by some of you guys, so that anyone looking in the future will see what ideas or advice worked on a specific problem.