Thread: mc1100 overheating

Originally Posted by pommyphil

Just got my first lathe. Playing around making cylinders,tool handles and such, but after half a hours gentle turning the motor is hot, almost too hot to touch, is this normal ? The motor seems to be running smoothly, with little noise or vibration. Took the fan cowl off to blow it out and the motor is sealed,no air flow so not sure what the fan is for ?
What do I do ? send the motor for a service ? ignore it ? wait 'til it melts then buy another? Any advice would be appreciated.

G'day Phil

You'll notice that the outside body of the motor has a series of aluminium fins (cooling fins) all around it. The fan moves air across these fins and draws the heat away from the motor. Well, it's supposed to anyway. Yours seems to be getting hotter than it should. I actually do most of my sanding while standing at the back of lathe ( also an MC1100) and beeing left handed I rest my right arm on the motor. Haven't burnt it yet Maybe you should contact the people you purchased it from assuming that you got it new.

Cheers
Shorty

Thanks Shorty
I got it second hand (here on the Forum) and no fins aluminium or otherwise, Just a smooth black cylinder, maybe an earlier model or a replacment ?

Originally Posted by pommyphil

Thanks Shorty
I got it second hand (here on the Forum) and no fins aluminium or otherwise, Just a smooth black cylinder, maybe an earlier model or a replacment ?

So it seems the cooling fan is doing very little after all. No fins, no effective cooling. Having said that; some motors do run quite hot and never have any problems. Probably start worrying if it stars to smoke. Otherwise it should be OK I reckon.

Cheers
Shorty

My old MC1100 is a steel cased motor, sounds like the same and it always ran hot.

Now being used as a slow speed grinder since I got my VL300

my mc900 doesnt have the cooling 'system'...it is always runing hot after a bit of use. most times you can barely touch it. there doesnt seem anything wrong with it.

Mine used to do the same, run hot and the fan was near useless. The grill is very thick and slowed the air movement.

I cut my grill away and achieved a better air flow, then fitted a extra cowl that ran full length of the motor body and wrapped about 60% of the body, mainly on top. This forced the airflow to flow over the body as I noticed that it did not do so before. All in all it did add more or better cooling but eventually went to a three phase motor and an inverter.
If yours burns out I still have my old motor some place.

Thankyou gentlemen, I'll ignore it until meltdown.
Good things lathes, I'm now amazed I've gone so long without one.

PS It's also perfected my " Vulcan Deathgrip " on a skew.

My Lathe runs the same motor as yours.don't worry about runing hot
The manual that came with the lathe warns you not to touch motor "IT COULD BE HOT"
Cheers Tony.

Are you running it off a thin and long extension cord by any chance?

No Groggy, just the 1m cord into the power point which I had wired heavy for 15amp.

My MC1100 used to get so hot that I worried about it setting fire to stuff, so (after unplugging it) I'd squirt it with water from a spray bottle to bring the temp down before I'd leave it alone in the shed.

Never had any problems with the motor, and it was a nice heater in winter

Cheers,
Andrew