Member postings for john fletcher 1

We lived in Lincoln 50 odd years ago and NSU quickly were all the rage. When the works closed at 5 0'clock and the traffic light were RED there was a cloud of blue haze in the air when the light went GREEN.

Remember Ruston, Ruston Bucyrus, Robey's, Smith Clayton, all gone. I also notice Ruston Turbines are now Siemens, strange old world. John

When I fitted my pre-owned inverter ( originally supplied by RS, no push buttons just DIP switches for programming)several years ago I was aware of the possible cooling problems at slow speed, such as when screw cutting. I monitored the motor temperature and it didn't seem to get any warmer. Having taken lots of small motors to pieces I have never noticed any difference on the size of the cooling fan 2 or 4 pole, I think the manufactures make one size of rotor for both, same with the centrifugal switch a cheap way out, the cost of small motors couldn't justify changes. John

A few years ago one of my friends bought an inverter and was in my opinion was messed about for nearly two weeks before the programming was sorted. When I got involved ( and by the way I'm no expert here) I was told phone after 7 O'clock, then to be told we don't want evening calls, day time only. When my friend call during the day he was told we are too busy to answer queries during the day as we are busy packing parcel and have no time for gossiping. Eventually I got the lathe working, a minor error, but not the back up as the advert said., just sales. Since then I've recommended Chinese made inverters to my friends and all are very happy, especially at the price. John

Hello Graeme I think I have what you are after. I have a SANTON rotary switch which I remove from my Fobco drill several years ago when I fitted a 3 phase motor and inverter. Please send me a PM with a phone number. John

When I joined the Scouts in 1947 we didn't have a meeting place other than "SKIPS" house. So to start thing off, raising funds for a HQ we collected 1 Lb & 2 Lb jam jars washed them out and sold them to a small jam factory. The local tip was about 4 miles away and unbeknown to all, us lad made a raft and floated around the gravel pits/ tip on a Saturday afternoon when the site was closed collecting jars from around the reeds. When "Skip" found out that was stopped, to dangerous even in those days. However, we eventually raised £125 which was more than enough to buy our own HQ. The fathers built the HQ using corrugated iron sheets. The building is still there but now unused as we didn't have a toilet or other washing faculties, just one 40 watt bulb and a slow combustion stove. Nearly forgot, 1 LB half penny and 2Lb one penny.Happy days

Now you have your motor dismantled it might just be very easy to bring out those three extra connection to convert to Delta. Look in the stator for a lump/bump like connection, and see if you can see three thin wires going to the lump/bump. This lump/bump is often opposite end to the other output wires. Should you be lucky, then part the three wires, then carefully attach three individual insulated wires, one at a time long enough to reach the terminal box. You must find a safe route within the stator for the new wires to run, they must not rub on the rotor when its revolving. and each connection must be carefully insulated. When completed, get your friendly electrician with his 500 volt DC Megger to carry out an insulation test. There was an excellent article on "HERE" some time ago about the same thing. It can be done and many have already done it, nothing complicated, just be careful. John

As john Baron has said, cheque out the 3 set of winding connections with an ohm meter. You may need to put the wiring back in star so that you can identify the TWO ends which would be the star point. Then automatically you have the ONE ends as well, then configuration the three windings as you have done with the main motor. Once in Delta the motor will run from a 240 volt single phase supply. by connecting a capacitor across any pair of connections. Connect line and neutral to any pair of terminals, then connect the 4 micro farad capacitor to the third terminal and one other either neutral or live. An ex fluorescent lighting capacitor from a 4 foot is ideal or use two 5 foot 8 micro farads, wired in series. Opposite to resistors. I have done this lots of times for my friends who have Harrison and Colchester lathes. I suggest you forget about running the pump via your inverter. John

Has anyone actually had a chuck unscrew itself from a Myford lathe. Its so often referred to, but I have never spoken to a person who has actually witness the event. I have had a Super 7 for more than 30 years and it's never happened to me and I do run the lathe in reverse especially when screw cutting. The lathe is fitted with a very early inverter from RS and on reverse I wind up the speed and has been well so far. John

I have a Myford Super 7 and have recently been helping for a friends with a Harrison M250, no comparison. If I had a bigger workshop I would be on the lookout for a Harrison or Colchester Bantam with bigger bore.. My lathe does all I ask of it as I get around the bigger bored problem some how or other. Also,compared to a Harrison or Colchester Bantam Myfords are expensive. John

For those of us who had the misfortune to waste time doing National Service, how about using the first or last four numbers of your service number or even the centre four. You can also use a mixture of upper and lower case. John

You can set the inverter parameters to suit your motor name plate details. John

Regarding safety, if you have access to a Harrison 245 manual get the young man to read the pages on Operating Safely in my opinion they are very sensible, not over the top. Also EITB used to issue some excellent training manuals. Maybe some one HERE may like to donate and has MichaelG.has said the South Bend book is good, I think is obtainable from Camden Books. John

Having seen the picture I think Neil is correct. If you unplug the saw, then open up the box with the knob on the front and you will see what looks like a volume control and on the back of it (if you are lucky) will be its value in Ohms. For example 10K Lin. You can buy a replacement from several suppliers on line RS, Farnell, Rapid or ESR., it must be a Linear type (Lin ) Or, if you know of an electronic repairer a quirt with their RS switch cleaner might solve your problem. John

I'll go along with Ian above. Exchange the motor and fit an inverter. Usually it easy to fit a capacitor arrangement to run the coolant pump on 240 volts, if that is to be considered, or leave it on the inverter. The inverter will do all the speed changes you need. Regarding running the main motor on slow speed and cooling, yes an ex computer fan will Ok. All I can say I have 3 pre owned inverts and have checked my motors many times out of interest when the motor is been run slow speed and non of them have overheated, or even got hot. Not saying it doesn't happen. I think people are making reference to industry where a motor failure is very important, loss of production. My friends have fitted Huanyang 2.2KW 10 amp inverters to their lathes, you can adjust the setting for small motors. Some came from Germany and others from Leicester, like many things we think they made in UK or Europe but are made to Europe standards in PRC.All paid within range £90.40 to £115 for the same thing, never heard any of the moaning, all happy swarf makers. Apparently you can buy 240 in and 415 volt out inverters but at a price, I am told its not to difficult to modify others as well, for 415 volts.John

OK Brian well that is understandable. I don't like driving at night either and so get a lift with a friend. to club meetings . I don't like those modern blueish head lights to much glare. Members come from far and wide, not every member turns up at every meeting, nor do I for that matter. John

Hello Brian,Phil and Chris. Phil and Brian in particular being sort of local Have you ever thought of joining PEEMS at Pickering, a mens metal working club in its broadest sense. In November we have a talk on the Field Marshal tractor later we have CUP Alloys talking about Silver Soldering, later still, a talk on a home built aeroplane. We had a good visit to JCB factory and to ARC at Leicester. John

Be sure it is intended to work on 240 volt mains, there was a lot of specials made. Have a look on VARIC or Regavolt or Claude Lyon site, there used to be wiring diagrams on them Buck/Boost. Don't forget they auto transformers, NO ISOLATION and do check that the common connection is the NEUTRAL. You may also find details on Vintage Radio site.For clues, please give us the height and width. A very handy piece of kit. John

Off the topic, but after reading Gordon W above it brought back a few memories when my mates had Ford POP car fitted side valve engines. One mod was to fit a cylinder head from another model increasing compression ratio. making the car to go a bit faster Next do a full12 volt conversion, change polarity, but leaving the 6 volt starter in place. Now that 6 volt starter when on 12 volts really whipped the engine around, it couldn't fail to start. Happy days

Both are correct but most if not all will flash the field coil. If when pressing the contacts together I always slacken off the drive belt and you can see/hear the dynamo pulley revolve as a motor.For Ed, left hand rule for motors and right one for generators. All to do with residual magnetism, hysteresis is for transformer energy loss loop. Same with car tyres. Incidentally a 12 volt dynamo make a good powerful DC motor when run on 24 volts, we used one for years lifting in/out heavy objects from a paraffin de greasing tank, the field was wired via a double pole double throw switch for up /down. Don't suppose it would be allowed today.John

Relating to the above, how parallel are new pieces of tool steel as used for lathe tools, as that is what I use, but never had any practical means of test them for accuracy. Never had any reason to complain as they seem to work OK for what I do.John