New lathe arrived today : The ongoing saga

The lathe is not on ''an uneven substructure'' but I get the point. I will check to make sure that the nuts are not too tight.

I opened up the case to have a look inside. The micro switch on the door (photo 1) did not seem to be lining up correctly. I made adjustments to this but it did not help. (The magnets are not very powerful in these micro switches.) You can see the other micro switch in photo 2 (black box with two nuts which is controlled by the chuck guard shaft. The shaft is to the left in the photo. I have not attempted to fiddle with this yet. 

What is that thing in photo 3...connecting two loose ends ?

Edited By Brian John on 31/08/2015 13:17:44

Edited By Brian John on 31/08/2015 13:19:43

Edited By Frances IoM on 31/08/2015 13:28:51

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It looks rather like a Magnetic ReedSwitch, doesn't it ?

MichaelG.

...

Reminder: For the benefit of those following Brian's adventures with this lathe

... here is the user manual

Edit: The not-very-informative Wiring Diagram is at 8.9

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 31/08/2015 14:15:56

I will not be touching any live wires I was somewhat reluctant to even open this up to have a look. It was the lathe company who suggested I do so to check the micro switches.

Photo 2 is not good but it is the best I can do now to show the micro switch on the chuck guard. I may take the back off the lathe tomorrow and this will let me get closer. To do what, I have no idea ?

Edited By Brian John on 31/08/2015 14:57:19

OK I'll ask the obvious - has the emergency stop switch been pushed (maybe by accident). You reset that by twisting the red knob which will then pop-up slightly resetting the contacts inside allowing current to flow. Very obvious when you know what to look for but can be bafflling if you're new to the game - and just by looking at the knob not always clear that it is depressed.

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Frances,

I think we may be at cross-purposes ... This ^^^ is the switch I had in mind.

MichaelG.

I have released the emergency stop button many times.

The belt cover is fully home ; it is held in place with a screw which cannot be inserted unless the cover is fully closed.

I have checked the chuck guard many times.

The power socket is good ; I have run other devices from it.

I will check the fuse tomorrow ; it is held in by a screw.

Edited By Brian John on 31/08/2015 16:19:11

If the lathe has been turned over and the electrics not disturbed that sort of thing must be well worth checking before getting too excited about the fantastic range of possibilities including it's just decided to break.

Looking at the wiring diagram the main isolation seems to be via a no volts release switch or relay, probably as switch. The ones on the motor are fwd/rev plus a reverse speed reduction setting as brushed motors don't like being reversed after the brushes have worn in.

The other switches are simply looped so break the circuit with one and the machine will stop. This includes the emergency stop and the "safety" trips. I believe the stop switch should completely isolate the machine but it clearly can't if the live and neutral were miss wired as that needs 2 poles. I'd guess it might fail TUV approval due to that. The nvr does do what it should - break both.

What I would do is to use a meter to find out what volts are on them or simply forget that, disconnect from the mains and short the wires going to the ones that aren't wanted. Trouble is that safety ones are shown normally open and the stop switch normally closed which doesn't make much sense at all so it would be best to check what state they are in with a meter / dvm while the machine is operable. I suspect they will be found to be normally closed when the chuck guard and door are closed. If there is a magnet in the part that uses the odd looking switch it is very likely to be a reed switch. If electronics is involved maybe not. It might be a simple micro switch and have a short pip sticking out of it that contacts a guard. Can't see from the photo.

I suppose showing them normally open is ok as they are - until the guards are close.

John

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Edited By John W1 on 31/08/2015 16:22:20

The micros switches are operated by magnets ; there are definitely no pips.

I did ask before about the power of this motor ( I quoted 500 HP ! ) but it is 500 W. I would have thought a motor of this size should be capable of cutting steel but it does not seem up to the job...something I was warned about before purchasing it. I was also considering a SIEG C2 lathe at the time which is a much bigger lathe but only has a 250W motor. But the C2 will cut steel easily so why is that ? I thought the determining factor would be the power of the motor.

It is amazing what you learn once you actually have a lathe in your hands for a few days ie. what works and what does not and which features are desirable on the lathe. Even if I can get this lathe running again, I don't think it has the grunt to do very much...brass and aluminium only.

Sure looks like a reed switch to me? But then again I haven't got 40 years of electronics under my belt. Like this?

**LINK**

Andrew

Potentiometer for the speed control isn't it?

Oh ye of little faith. Google around a bit and you find fellows doing a fine job of machining steel on the very same machine. IT looks like quite a good little unit, once you have it sorted.

Check out http://minilathe.net/ for a guy making all sorts of steel goodies on his.

Okay, I will reserve judgement for a while.

UPDATE : The company has said they will try to locate all the necessary electrical spare parts such as the reed switches and a main mother board. Once these have arrived, they will arrange for a local electrician to come and repair it as we should have all the necessary parts to do so. This will save the electrician having to come out twice ; once for diagnosis and the second for repairs.

I hope they find someone good, most of the electricians I've met (quite a few) wouldn't have a chance with this. They don't seem to be able to think things through on their own, unless it's in appendix 15 then they don't understand it!

This is probably an electrical problem rather than a mechanical problem. I am curious as to how many lathe owners would go poking around their motherboard with a multimeter Most people do not fix their own TV's, fridges or sewing machines if it develops an electrical fault and I do not see the lathe as being much different.