Thread: New toy

Originally Posted by Quickchip

Paul,

If I hook the vfd to the low speen and run between 50 and 125 percent of speed as you suggested that puts me at about 860-2300 rpms. Is that a reasonable range? Havent done a lot of lathe work, so I dont know.

The other option is to go through the original switch as a two position after the vfd to switch between high and low ranges. You would have to stop the machine to change the range of course. That would givw me a low range of 860-2300 and a high range of 1900-4750. Does this seem like it would work to you?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

For what I do the low speed would do fine. If you were going to do small spindles like pens, you might want to go higher. There is lots of conversation about turning speeds on the forum.

I would not run the motor faster than its original highest speed. Do you know if it has ball or roller bearings or plain bearings? Plain bearings means shaft running in bronze or Babbitt with oil supplied by a well and felt or an oil cup.

It would be good to remove everything from the shafts of the motor, file off any big burrs, then using 400 grit paper like a shoe shine rag and light oil slick up the shafts protruding from the bell ends of the motor.

Then remove the ends and check the bearings. If ball or tapered roller clean out with varsol, kerosene, diesel fuel, and and repack with grease.

If plain bearings, clean with above solvent and put a little shine on the shaft with the 400 grit and oil. Very carefully wipe off the shaft with a clean rag and oil 2 - 3 times to be sure no grit gets on the bearing surface.

I have one of the versions of the Teco Westinghouse VFDs below:

Compact Micro AC Drive<BR>1/4 to 3hp, Single or 3 phase <BR>TECO EV/JNEV Series | Search All AC Drives | Marshall Wolf Automation, Inc.

You want the Sensorless Vector version which maintains the rpm selected under varying load. I have one on a 1 hp motor that I have tested but not run much. I have seen others recommend them.

Several firms have them at various prices.

Note the admonition by the admin added to your first post. If you are not comfortable doing your own electrical work get some competent help.

As I mentioned above, if you kill one of those motors it will be expensive to repair.

Make sure the motor frame and lathe are grounded. Stray 240 volts can give you a good whack, and under the right circumstances kill you.

I am adding the cautions as I do not know how experienced you are, you may be an electrical contractor or totally inexperienced.

I have been messing with motors, transformers, and wiring photo studios, darkrooms, houses and shops for around 55 years.

I'm looking forward to seeing the lathes together and working.

Heres a small update on the progress.


As you can see, one of them is together and I have way too much **** in my garage. There is good news and bad news.

Good news:

Looks like all the necessary pieces are present for both machines. There also seems to be a fair amount of tooling as well.

Bad news:

The motors are burned up and will require rewinding before they will work. The price of this is out of my reach for now. I do however have a plan. I intend to mount another motor to the frame and drive the out board side of the original motor with a v belt. This will allow me to use the lathe and keep the unit in tact until I can afford to rewind the motor. My boss at work has allowed me to take what is needed to do this from the spare parts area of the factory. Because of his generosity I will have a working lathe at no cost.

Its not the ideal solution. I would much rather it work in original order. I think there is something cool abiut restoring and old (1930's) machine back to original working order.

Ill post more pictures as I get further along.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

Quickchip,

The motors are burned up and will require rewinding before they will work. The price of this is out of my reach for now. I do however have a plan. I intend to mount another motor to the frame and drive the out board side of the original motor with a v belt.

Good solution. Be sure the wires in the sick motor are capped so that any residual magnetism does not make it into a generator and give you a tickle.

As there are several windings in the motor, when you get to having it rewound, ask if it could be wound as a 120 or 240 3 phase. You could then put a variable frequency drive on it and have a modern variable speed lathe for far less than buying a new one of that weight and rigidity.

I am still interested in the extra one if you wish to sell it.

You do not have too much stuff in your garage until you can't see the floor.

I once helped an auctioneer friend dispose of an estate. When the basement door was opened, the opening was filled with boxes of stuff to the ceiling. The basement was packed solid. THAT is too much stuff.

The second lathe is my uncles. Make me an offer and ill see if he wants to sell.

In regards to the amount of stuff in my garage, im forwarding your comments to my wife. Haha

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

Originally Posted by Quickchip

The second lathe is my uncles. Make me an offer and ill see if he wants to sell.

Check your private messages