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bosco555
5th April 2008, 07:50 PM
HI All, I am back after nearly a year of absence, due to the passing of my dad. Last year I embarked on a mission to upgrade my MC-900 to a 1HP 3-Phase motor, Inverter and Electronic speed control. No more belts and pulleys. I also changed the bearings (didn't have to, but put 2 new ones anyway).

The only drawback with this is that when you want to do "between centres" work, you have to mount the chuck and insert the live centre as in the photos. Not a real drama and it works well.

I also bolted the head-stock to the frame with an "L" bracket to reduce the sway that these lathes unfortunately have. The head-stock can still be rotated in case of a large faceplate (> 300mm). Cost +- $200.00. Not too shabby I think??

Best to everyone

gb

Harry72
5th April 2008, 07:55 PM
$200... bargain!
Nice work bosco

Woodlee
5th April 2008, 09:19 PM
Nice sturdy setup .
Welcome back too.


Kev.

DJ’s Timber
5th April 2008, 09:39 PM
Looks great bosco, even the colour of the motor matches :2tsup:.

How have you connected the motor to the spindle? Any chance of a pic from the back?

joe greiner
5th April 2008, 09:46 PM
Nice work. And welcome back, gb.

Except for the colour and speeds (50Hz vs 60Hz), the MC900 is identical to the Harbor Freight 34706. Nice to get the motor out of the working space. The motor bracket hanging slightly below the bed helps to stabilise it I guess, but you'd need to lift the headstock for rotation and be limited to 90 and 180 degrees.

The outboard bed extension seems to be useless now. Did you leave it there just because there's no other place to put it?

Joe

bosco555
5th April 2008, 10:54 PM
Hi guys, thanks for the replies, nice to be back! I knew I had forgotten to include the most important part! Here are the pics...

Joe, the outboard bed extension is virtually useless now. I don't do any large work that requires me to turn the headstock, but if needed, yes, just lift the headstock a fraction and you could rotate it, 30-45 deg.

I left it there as it is a nice lifting/shifting aid. As I don't have a shed yet, I have to move the lathe to clean and reposition it in my over-crowded garage...

Before bolting the brackets I plumbed the lathe so that it was level on both horizontal planes and then measured with a vernier, the distance from the center line of the shaft to the bed extension and worked from there.

I had to adjust the height with thin shims/washers (which are now not visible), under the motor's feet. The joint between the motor and the shaft has 2 interlocking rubber "gears" which take care of any off-center/vibrations.

I must say that it is a pleasure to work now, much quieter (wish I could do the same for the mrs!!), smoothness and the ability to select the desired speed by rotating the dial have made this a cost effective upgrade, shall we say??

thanks to all again

gb

P.S. If I had the money I would go for the Woodfast, I can't justify the $4500 plus for a Vicmarc as I do not use the lathe as my bread-earner.

robyn2839
5th April 2008, 11:40 PM
is there much involved in the conversion?, i want to convert my nova to evs ....and what do i need to buy.bob

artme
6th April 2008, 01:56 PM
Great work!
I'm seriously thinking of converting my Teknatool TL 1200 over to Evs. Will cost me $1200 for 2HP motor. speed control and fan attached to motor for proper cooling. A 1.5HP will cut costs a little

bosco555
6th April 2008, 06:49 PM
Hi All again, 3-phase motor 3-phase 1.5m length of cable Teco inverter Bearings (if you want to, I changed mine because i'm old school) L brackets were from bunnings Rubber joint and motor dampers Not too much involved, really..I did mine in 2 days once I had all the parts in hand. Depending on your lathe, you might have to cut the shaft to suit the new motor and also (forgot to mention, sorry, it was last year) I had to have the key/groove re-cut (milled). I spent some time thinking and planning, scribbling measuring and double checking. I also have a mate who has an electric engineering shop and he explained how to connect the wires (not difficult at all). The best places to source the components would be: Electric motors and pumps outlets Electric goods retailers hope this is of help gb

hughie
6th April 2008, 08:39 PM
Bosco,

Nice job and well done. Just one question how is the torque at the low end of the revs?

I changed my MC1100 over to something similar but also fitted a 4 step pulley system to mainain as much torque as possible at low revs