Thread: New, with Hercus 260

Welcome to the forum Karl.

Hi Karl and welcome.

You certainly got a good deal there, especially if it has been used a little as you suggest.

As far as the motor goes, you will be far better of with a vfd and the 3phase motor than changing the motor over. Not only will the vfd give you variable speed but 3 phase motors are also normally far smoother than single phase ones. The less vibrations the motor produces the better the finish you will get on the machine, especially with a light weight lathe. The biggest problem can be pulling out the star point so you can wire the motor in delta if it is not already in the terminal box.

You can get a cheap Chinese made huanyang of eBay or try to find a new old stock model in a reputable brand. I just bought a 2hp danfoss off eBay USA for $200 posted, you just have to do some searching to find something suitable.

Mal would probably also like your S/N to add to his register of hercus lathes.

Cheers,
Ew

Thanks guys, I will get that serial number soon. Its still hard wired into 3 phase and SHE being a big deal here I have to wait for the next visit by our sparky and I also have limited access to even look at it. The business is scared of the equipment and that is why they are letting it all go.

As far as I can tell, the workshop was purchased new and installed in the building in the 80's when it was built. The building was a printing works and I think it has been mainly used for maintenance and certainly had very little use since we took over the building and the presses moved out.

BTW, there is a Deckel FP1 universal mill, with all the fruit going too. At 750kg, its a little big for me....

Originally Posted by karlxx

BTW, there is a Deckel FP1 universal mill, with all the fruit going too. At 750kg, its a little big for me....

Pick me, pick me. I've sent you a pm. If you can move it and keep it though they are good machines. The working envelope is pretty small though.
Ew

Hey mate, I replied to your PM but nothing in my outbox so you may not get it (sometimes they have restrictions on newbs doing PM's etc). K

There's not a lot of space on a 260 to fit a single phase motor with its attendant capacitor/s and terminal box.
I managed to fit a Teco 240V 1ph on mine, only after modifying the terminal box so it wasn't so high.
3ph motors are more compact, so check for fit if going single phase.

I see you have the switch mounted on the head lid, which looks like a good place for it.
Mine was ex-TAFE, and had press buttons next to the left thigh - not the best location.

I got an electrician to retain the contactor, so it still has No Volt Release as a safety feature. He had to change something in it to run on 240V.

If the Deckel is still available, lemme know!

Jordan

Nice lathe . I see everyone's getting worked up over this Deckle myself included

Thanks again for advice and replies. With the motor, I guess I will open it up and see how easy it would be to delta wire it. I get the feeling that the VFD and 3 phase is the best option, even if I need to get the motor modified.

Yeah, I would like the Deckel too (just no space for it). Not sure what their real intention is, I get the feeling that if I did not offer to buy the Lathe, it would all sit there indefinitely. Next time I get allowed in there I will get some more pics and try to figure out what else they want to sell and for how much. There is a big bandsaw (broken blade), 2 pedestall drills, Granite table, Work benches and another bigger mill (that I can not figure out what it is, its not connected).

K

Interested in Deckel Mill !
Bruce

G'day Karl and welcome to the forum.
Looks like you got yourself a nice lathe with all the toppings.
I would recommend keeping the 3 phase motor and fitting a VFD.
Having a VFD on a lathe is very handy because it gives you access to a much larger variety of speeds and greatly reduces the number of times you will have to change belts etc.
It also allows you to do things like jog and brake the spindle which you can't do with just the motor alone.
I fitted a VFD to my 260 and sort of covered the process in this thread:

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f189/finally-finished-260-a-116004

By all accounts the cheap import VFD's are good value for money, if however you want to go for a better one (Lenze, Siemens, etc) you can pick them up on German eBay, often for not much more than the Chinese ones, even including the postage.

As far as the mill goes, there are only three machines you really need in this hobby, a drill press, a lathe and a mill. An FP1 is as good as it gets in a small home workshop so if you can, grab it and hang on to it, even if you have to keep it in storage somewhere for now.
Mark my words, it's only a matter of time before you will want a mill and your chances of another opportunity like the one you have now are virtually nil.
Trust me, you will kick yourself later if you let this one go.
Good luck mate,
Cheers,
Greg.

Again, the advice has been awesome.

My serial number is ATHN 17000 with matching tailstock.

Hi Karl,
I have the same lathe with the same motor. I would DEFINITELY fit a VFD. Best thing I ever did. The ability to tweak the speed on the go to stop chatter is fantastic. Belt changes become rare rather than common.

Here's a thread on my VFD project:

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...=172572&page=7

Thanks Jack,

I have the lathe mostly disassembled. I have the chuck, tailstock, carriage, leadscrew and gearbox removed as well as the covers. Now to pull the motor and see if I can manhandle it home (with a friend of course).

I need a new brass cross slide nut. The compound nut has a little play as well, not sure if it is too much, about 0.2mm. I have also found a pretty big crack in the top compound housing, running from the top to the dovetail. Hopefully that is about it for the fixes.

K

Originally Posted by karlxx

Thanks Jack,

I have the lathe mostly disassembled. I have the chuck, tailstock, carriage, leadscrew and gearbox removed as well as the covers. Now to pull the motor and see if I can manhandle it home (with a friend of course).

I need a new brass cross slide nut. The compound nut has a little play as well, not sure if it is too much, about 0.2mm. I have also found a pretty big crack in the top compound housing, running from the top to the dovetail. Hopefully that is about it for the fixes.

K

Here's a link to an interesting thread on the cross slide nut question; https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...ross+slide+nut or http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/thr...ghlight=acetal