Fast Forward

[Magicman]

Brucer, your concerns are why I visited with the technical support technician at WM.  He told me the proper leads to splice into (violet and red) and assured me that nothing bad would happen.

[Brucer]

 

There's many ways to wire a potentiometer into a speed control circuit, which is why I mentioned it. Sounds like WM uses one of the bullet-proof methods.

[Magicman]

UPDATE

As Brucer pointed out there was a problem with the original wiring.  A single pole double throw (SPDT) switch was required to remove the shunt that the potentiometer was adding to the circuit.

The red center potentiometer lead was cut and connected to the common terminal on the Fast Forward switch.  The normally closed (NC) switch lead was then connected to the center potentiometer terminal.  The normally open (NO) switch lead was then bridged to the violet/purple potentiometer lead.
 


Now, the Fast Forward switch works perfectly.

[Brucer]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking you'd want . It's pretty much bullet proof wired that way.

[Magicman]

The Fast Forward worked better than I could have ever expected or imagined.

I found that it was better to stop with the forward/reverse lever because it places a shunt across the power feed motor terminals and stops you immediately.

Radio Shack has the momentary SPDT switch for less than $4.00.

[Bandmill Bandit]

I used to deadhead to measure alot too, till got my GREEN line laser installed and working.

Now I walk down, measure to center of pith  on the big end com back and position head to the measurement and raise toe board under the close end (small end) till pith centers and proceed to cut. love that green laser it works pretty good even in direct sun. Will be adding a bit more powerfull laser though to make it brighter.