Recommissioning lathe size of hole to cut for belt

I know this may sound a little naive but wow, they've got to be one of the most well made machines i've seen...

Michael W

I've had that model on my lathe for a few years now and had no problems. My only complaint is that the fan is rather noisy and runs continuously when the inverter is connected to the power.

Russell.

Martin

PM sent.

Keith

Michael , yes this machine is impressive seeing it was made so long ago . I love it and am so excited to see it run first time. Hi Russel yes i think they all need a big fan as get really hot. Have you got the inverter totally upright. as know this can make fans noisy also do you have the duct on it which is extra like this plastic bit on top please?

https://inverterdrive.com/group/Accessories/ABB-Drives-ACS150-355-R0-R2-Wall-Mount-Cover/

Have been wondering what to do about the belt hitting the side of the lathe. I bought some 3/4 Plumber blocks and thought i would get a 19mm spindle and pulley . which is overkill, lol well my stuff usually is! . I thought about this but realised it would involve creating a bracket to hold it.

I spent some time in my mess of a workshop today clearing it up as winter had given me a lot of small metal fillings. I suddenly had an apple fall on my head and thought about the cheap Chinese bearing which I had bought 10 of would bolt under the angle iron from underneath with a small 40mm pulley to pull it away from the lathe . This was by far much simpler, really do not know why i did not think of it before i brought the other 3/4 bearings. So I just need t o find a 40m v- pulley . Have found one which is 6mm bore but am hoping it can be drilled . If not I have a good friend who said he might make me one from billet to go on the 12mm shaft. Wont get this sorted till next week . Will go ABB i think with inverter reliability and working on a domestic supply is important

I have a similar size Mitsubishi unit on my mill and it is convection cooled. Fan cooling should improve the reliability though. I just wish it would only come on when needed!

I don't use the duct as I have the ABB unit mounted on the wall above the lathe and it is clear of any flying debris.

Russell

Unfortunately Russel . Have zero spare space so intending to box lower frame up below and put the inverter in there on a frame or on the door front so its all integral I was a bit worried about the vibrations and thought about rubber mounting it . Although frame is heavy and solid now.

Just on another thought is it in warranty as if not you could put a thermister switch inline to trigger it when it gets to hot

i have been trying to make a pulley to clear the body of the lathe I was waiting to see how much space i had underneath

Well it was sunny for a bit  and well decided to go for my big 3/4 bearings as the Chinese 12mm ones were to small and thought it looks more period with English bearings. Welded up the plate under the top surface to have another layer of angle to support the blocks. The main reason for this was that it covered the holes which it bolts to the Surface with. This new surface will provide room for the blocks to mount free of the mounting to the plate bolts . I could have bought spacers to do this but as I hate buying parts for something I can make I went for more angle iron which i already had spare.  Its a bit rough welding as not welding very well today for some reason . But its solid and that is the main objective..

Edited By Martin Newbold on 26/03/2016 16:45:13

Well have a got a bit further mocking it all up on the lathe . Still have to obtain a few parts like the pulley The new plate is great as it seems to give me enough location travel for the blocks to take a good size pulley

Hi everyone . Finally received my small pulley today which was supposed to be 19mm 3/4" , hmm had a struggle with this to enlarge this initially to make it the same size as my 3/4 " shaft. Tried everything and eventually wrapped sandpaper around a drill until it was tight and rotated it until it was large enough to just fit. Mounted all of this onto my frame

.I then mounted this back onto the bottom of the table and put the belt back on.

My inverter had arrived and I had wired it up to the motor and already had it running the motor. I tried this with the lathe connected and started hearing a wine and the lathe was hunting in speed. I ran tech and they changed my amps set in the drive from 1.9amp on the motor to 20amp. This then stopped the hunting.. The tech then asked me for my chuck size which is 3.5 and the size of my drive pulleys which are both around 4" . I get the impression they was saying this drive is not powerful enough to run this lathe. Its a 0.37kw drive and motor. Does anyone have any knowledge of this as they said this should be ok?

Seems to be running smoother now . Think the headstock bearings were not getting oil as it had not been run for more than 50 years seems prety good now as oil has got back into bearings Would post a vid but not sure how to

Hi i don't know if this works but here is a video of the lathe running first attempt on inverter and hardware

**LINK**

Looks very neat, Martin

MichaelG.

Thanks Michael am really pleased with it . First two jobs was creating a washer for one of the gears which had some slack ,and the other was a head scratcher. My tail stock chuck was held on with a taper only so managed to thread the end that went in to the chuck and drilled through it to put a machine screw in the chuck to hold it on This was a bit difficult with one lathe but managed to do the work with it on the tail stock so very pleased. Now looking for a lightly bigger chuck and some small 20T 5/8 bore 14dp pin gears. There was a lots on eBay but seems now none lol

Martin

Martin,your lathe is a pre 1908 when the B series was introduced,is the nose thread the same as the B and if so I have a converter that I made which fitted over the drummond nose and has a thread above which carries a Myford thread.I used a ER collet chuck with a Myford thread and this made the lathe more useful.I also have a fine feed that attaches to the rear of the spindle and walks the gears over on an eccentic I think I have a a chuck with a B backplate ,The fine feed the adapter and the chuck you can have if you want them .I also have a Drummond taveling steady but I would want the same as I paid for it £70

Frank

Hi Frank do you have any photos please as am not sure what you have, thankyou

Martin

Nice job, good to see old stuff running again. Just as an aside, and it shouldn't really make much odds for intermittent home use but I was wondering about the effect of taking the belt drive downwards instead of upwards on a lathe with split bearings. If the belt tension was pulling the spindle upwards as per overhead flat belt drive system the major wear would be on the caps which are the adjustable part. Removal of shims would reset the bearing clearances and the lower journals being unworn would maintain alignment and height with the tailstock. Taking the drive down should put the majority of the wear on the lower journals and cause more of a permanent alignment issue. I can fully see why Martin's arrangement has been chosen as it makes for a very neat and compact machine. My comment is more of a theoretical muse than anything else. What do others think? maybe it never was an issue.

regards Martin

Hi Frank, Is the travelling steady the same as on my table?

.

Martin ... It shouldn't be

That's a fixed steady, on your table.

MichaelG.

Thanks Michael