Problems with the Clay Boss Pottery Wheel

Heartbreak set in when my Clay Boss Pottery Wheel stopped spinning. What was the problem? Long story short - rusty magnets in the motor. I wish I had taken pics along the way but I didn't so I will explain. I had not used my pottery wheel all winter. Finally, the clay cave warms up and I throw a bowl. It turned out great. I leave it spinning for a few minutes. I walk away and when I returned the wheel had stopped. What the heck!? Did I blow a fuse? No. I spin the wheel by hand in the reverse way, it catches, spins a couple of revolutions and then stops again. I'm sick. I can not afford to replace my wheel right now. $500 + if I'm lucky. I call Creative Industries. I spoke with Debra. She was really nice and helpful. We come to the conclusion that my circuit board needs to be replaced. $75.00. Not bad. I'll take one. I wait patiently for it's arrival. It gets here. Feverishly I take off the old circuit board and replace it with the new one. No change. The wheel is still doing the same  thing. I can spin it in the opposite direction, it finally seems to catch and then only spins a few turns, then stops. I must have appeared really pitiful because now my son has joined in to help me. Together we decided to just go ahead and take the motor apart. I have nothing to lose because this is the next thing I am going to replace. I do not claim to to be an electrician, maybe I should have gone to school for that instead of nursing because they charge $60/hr for labor, but it really was not that hard to see the problem once I had the motor apart. There was a fine layer of rust on the magnets. I take a toothbrush and clean off the rust. Then I carefully put everything back together. It runs like a champ! Apparently there is much more humidity in my basement than I realized. I will be moving the pottery wheel to a much drier place today. I hope this article helps others who have had this same problem. Just be careful and remember to unplug your wheel before you work on it. A  $2.00 toothbrush could be all you need to keep from replacing a $500+ pottery wheel.