Hoover electric motor/Denford Educator

I have just bought a Denford Educator in order to learn how to use a lathe for making parts for my vintage m/bikes. If successful I will progress to a bigger lathe. The problem I have is that the Denford came in large lumps. The Hoover 3/4 hp single phase motor has one cable coming out of the side of the motor. There are no other cables. The wires in this cable are RED WHITE & BLUE.

Very patriotic,but what is their designation ? Any advice will be appreciated.

Hello Roger,

Is there a plate on the motor itself to show if it is single phase or not; is there a capacitor strapped to the side and what are the terminal arrangements where the cable goes into the motor? Photos of the terminal couplings in paricular will help us sort it out.

My first guess is that this has been wired with continental cabling where white will be earth, red and blue live and neutral respectively, but until we are SURE don't test that theory!

Regards

Brian

Is it out of a school? Most ex school kit is three phase, and it sounds very much like this is too. I will wait for the pictures, can you take the motor terminal box cover off and see if there is a diagram inside, and take a pic of the inside as well, also the motor rating plate if it has one. Red white and blue were used in uk three phase flex in the same era as the lathe is from. Is there any control gear, like a starter or isolator on the lathe? looking in there would give a clue too.

Phil.

Thankyou for your replies. I looked inside the end casing,there were three terminals. Two terminals led to the capacitor,two to the motor. The blue went to earth. RED and WHITE were the "working" cables. I wired them up to a 16amp socket and perfect. Thankyou.