Member postings for hugh mcwhinnie 1

I had to drive to London for the lathe, it was 815 miles or there abouts, me and the misses left on thursday night 8pm and got back friday night about 7 ish pm. It was worth the drive but sitting in the combo van that length of time really hurt my lower back 'before' i had to lift the lathe! i think its about 23 stone or there abouts and not easy to hold on to anything when lifting, i'm still recovering.

I am humbled by the level of support from all you guys and amazed by how quickly the responces came from my initial question. I apprecciate all the input you guys have given me and would like to thank everyone for there thoughts and for taking the time to respond to me.

If i win the lotto tommorow i'll send you all a £5 note

On a serious note once i or someone else figures this out i'll let you guys know right away what the challenge was!

Grip tru chuck............wow, so expencive i had no idea!

Yes Norman if you could forward that would be apprecciated

Bear i didnt notice that until you pointed it out, i had a look in the myfords book on installation and maintenance and they have it different, i have no idea who wired the lathe, i took a picture of that before taking the 4 wires out the top to move the lathe (my back still hurts, me and the misses had to get it from the sellers house round and into my combo van) then i had to get it to my shed with my son, not easy! I should have given the misses the heavy end lol.

I got the 4 jaw indipendant chuck as well with lots of tooling and milling attachement, clamps and lots of extras the 4 jaw hasnt been on the lathe at all so its brand new it needs the preservate cleaned off it, I need to get used to the 4 jaw again !

Or does anyone know the normal operating temp of the motor?

Sorry to be a pain the rear guys, does anyone have the same motor on there myford lathe? If so would it be too much for me to ask if you could run the lathe 10 min to see how hot the casing goes on the motor?

Thanks for the link Norman, i have the blue myford book that came with the lathe i'm sure its the same.

I have run the lathe now on and off for a while without any load, i also put wd40 in the motor ports, when my hand is under the motor while running i can feel air coming from the holes on the casing at the front of the motor closest to the pulley but on the other end where the wires and things are there is no air blowing out those holes, the motor is still heating up, not so much the shaft but just the casing and its taking quite a while to cool down. Not sure if there is two fans or just one on these motors. I have attached a few pictures

Just nipped in for a second, motor is running now i put wd40 in the 2 motor ports the motor is 3/4r horse power. i need to go out and keep an eye on it, im giving it short 5 min runs and keeping an eye on the temprature!

I used aeroshell flued 3 (its all i had lying arround) for the motor on the back end i didnt notice one at the front. All good advice and suggestions and comments thanks guys i'll keep you posted and up to date on progress!

I assumed grease nipples were for grease not oil thats why i used the grease gun with castral grease. i'll need to do some reading thats for sure!

Where near greenock will i be able to get it checked? any ideas?

Right i let it running for 10 minutes without belts on, the casing on the motor does go hot but the pulley stays cold and the shaft goes hot but no where near how hot it was with the leed screw, you can actually feel hot air coming out the motor vents as it spins.

I'll go out and try it now without anything attached to the motor

I have the myford book i had a look in that but it doesnt tell you much about the motor and i found this link to one being stripped and cleaned: **LINK**

I just plugged it in, i did see an earth on the actual motor itself if i remember its at the back of the housing.

Laughing! you got in while i was typing

1 question, how hot should the motor go with no load whatsoever? should it go warm after 5 minutes continuous or?

or should it stay cold?

thanks

I'm in Greenock, I'll do as you suggest and see how it heats up, see if its warm or really hot, how long do you suggest letting just the motor run on its own?

A'm still afraid of burning it out! it cost a small fortune and i dont want to go looking for an original motor to replace this one.

One thing i completelly forgot about (i just remembered) is that when i greased the nipple at the right hand side of the leedscrew with the gun the brass or oilite bush poped out, i had to take the nipple off to relese the pressure and grease to push the bearing back in again, thats the bush on the leedscrew at the headstock side that goes through the leedscrew. I used a spanner over the shaft and tapped it back in and as i did that grease came out the nipple hole (obviously too much grease went in with the gun). The bush didnt come all the way out and it went back in with relative ease so that should be fine. The grease gun i'm using is a really good one not a cheap version i'll need to watch that in future!

I meant to say also that the carrage moves really nice and smooth with the hand wheel, there is no obstructions or tight spots at all so i have eliminated that out of the equasion altogether.

I have slackened both belts and run the lathe for a short time on high speed then felt the pulley it was cold but the outside of the motor is hot, is that usual? that was the motor just turning the chuck without cutting anything on it.

The bearing behind the chuck is cold thats not heating up.

I have the leaver that engages the gears in the middle setting so the lead screw isnt turning its still hard to turn from the had wheel on the right of the lead screw even though its set not to spin when the chuck turns. I havent taken any gears off to try it yet that will be my next move but there is play on the lead screw gear so im not sure if that will make any difference.

When i changed the belt that drives the clutch to the outer pulley for faster speed there is a right screatching noise, its not the belt slipping, not sure where its coming from?

I can use the lathe without the leadscrew but i would have to keep checking the heat on the motor and alu pulley just incase its overheating before i'll feel comfortable.

I was going to make a wee video but ill need to get my son to hold the phone while i twiddle things! he's not in just now.

I think the next step is taking the gear off the leadscrew to feel the tension as i turn it by hand, it could be a combination of both belts being tight as well as the leadscrew being tight just putting too much stress on the motor before the cutting tool even touches the work.