Member postings for ronan walsh

Thanks les. I hope a manual will shed a bit more light on this problem. Something was suggested to me before, and that is one of the old electrolytic capacitors might be breaking down. I'll do what you suggest and then i might replace these caps. The option of running the motor until something smoulders or burns worries me, as i don't want to do even more damage.

Yes John, i just copped that.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have contacted lenze via email and requested a manual, hopefully they will have one on pdf. The fact there is nothing obviously charred is confusing to me too, but as someone said the machine is from 1981/82 so something is getting tired. With the brief bit of research i have done on this board, it appears to have been around for a long time and been used widely, so it must be reasonably reliable. The motor is a swiss kemo unit, but there is no voltage info on it, just amperages.

My tom senior mill has a dc motor with reduction gearbox at one end of the table to provide power feed in the x-axis. Ever since i bought the mill a few years ago, when using the power feed, especially with a heavy cut, there was a strong smell of something electrical burning and copious smoke from the electrical box on the base of the machine.

I know its nothing to do with the main motor drive as i removed the drive pcb to make room for a vfd to power the main motor. All i left was the pcb that powers the dc motor. I have examined the board and cannot see anything burnt, and i do not have access to a thermal imaging camera to see whats getting hot. The best thing i can do at this stage is buy a new dc board so i can once again use the power feed, getting tired cranking the handle.

Does anyone know of a company that makes or supplies drive boards for this type of application ?

Edited By ronan walsh on 24/03/2015 01:16:36

Thanks for this, its something i might build. Are files available ?

That looks well oompa lumpa. Did it warp or move at all with all that heat ? I used to have a .410 similar to that one, mine folded in half and you could secret it under your coat if there was a gamekeeper around

I have sent emails to several sellers about items too, and they appear to have disappeared into a distant blackhole. If people post adverts, you would think they would have the good manners to reply to inquiries.

Looks like good kit. Do a search online and you may find a manual for it.

Yes nick , they were heavily built of good materials too, and made to last. You often see in older workshops, old pillar drills that must be 50 or 60 years old , and still going strong.

Looks nice and light keith. I have a triple engine i am putting in a norton featherbed frame. It was going to be a cafe racer, but i think i am getting too old and full of aches and pains to be on a bike that has clip-on handlebars and rear set footrests.

No way ady, the sten would move you that much , it was only a 9mm after all. I always found the 9mm snappy , but its not something thats going to hurt you. Inaccurate, certainly , but probably sub-minute of german. if i was being attacked by a swarm of the enemy, i'd rather a sten to a bolt-action rifle.

http://youtu.be/jt70ilN_PgU

I have a huge interest in the sten gun, as it was great example of design engineering in difficult times. No or little skilled labour available, specialist machine tools scarce, materials in very short supply and needed elsewhere for more pressing items, during the wartime panic after dunkirk.

The sten was a design masterpiece imho. It ticked all the boxes, simple to manufacture with unskilled labour, mainly housewives drafted in, in any videos or photos i have seen of production. It didn't need any fancy machine tools to make, a lathe, horizontal mill and some gas welding equipment seems to be about it. The materials needed were nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing difficult to make, plain old mild steel mainly.

It was churned out in the millions by a company any of us of a certain age will remember and be familiar with, namely Triang toys made by lines brothers in merton, london. This was the largest toy factory in europe at one time i believe.

Have you seen the video below ? Peter Laider is an expert in most british military firearms , and i think can be contacted on some of the military firearm forums.

http://youtu.be/NMqSsvqjJ2E

P.s, isn't discussion of naughty things like firearms banned on here like it is everywhere else by the politically correct nazi's ? 

Edited By ronan walsh on 05/03/2015 00:26:04

Is that a royal oilfield single cylinder engine on the floor keith ? I have a progress drill too, it needs work after damage caused by people changing the gears without stopping the motor first. I'll get around to it when the weather warms up a smidge.

I have heard Clive that if there are dual belts coming from the main drive motor into the headstock input shaft, if one is slightly longer than the other, that this can lead to noise. I might try by removing one belt to see if there is any reduction in noise. But i doubt it, the noise sounds like gear slap to me.

I don't expect a silent lathe Jens , but this colchester makes twice the noise of the massive harrison we have at work, surely this can't be correct ? Any , or most mechanical devices make some noise, but this is excessive. Also if the lathe was over worked or abused the bed would be worn too, but it doesn't appear to be.

Hmmm, sorry Jens but my opinion of colchesters has always been low due to the amount of bed wear i have seen on many of them (induction hardened bedways my foot) and the noisy headstocks, happily the bed on my lathe isn't worn , or worn badly, but the headstock does indeed sound like a mechanical disaster.

I would never buy a colchester , but as i say i was given this one free and so went with it. If i could reduce the amount of din coming from the headstock i would keep the machine for a few years.

Edited By ronan walsh on 12/01/2015 23:43:08

So is it just general gearbox wear or is there any specific gears that wear ? I have asked this question on the professional engineering forums and never got a concrete answer, apart from people telling me how soft and crap colchesters were, except for a few models.

Edited By ronan walsh on 12/01/2015 22:48:38

The noise is hard to describe Alan, but a clattering whine, i suppose is the best way to describe it. What the chap in the german website says is the shaft and gear behind/beneath the clutch shaft is unhardened, this shaft and gear takes the power from the clutch shaft and transmits it to the rest of the gearbox. When the shaft wears the relationship between gears is lost and slap and whine make themselves noisily known.

I know it will never be rolls royce quiet , but if this was the cause of the trouble i'd attempt to sort it out.