Last week my lathe wouldn't fire up anymore, it just groaned and I
couldn't jump start it by spinning the sanding disk I had mounted on
it. I've been using it mainly for sanding these days.
I remembered from the instruction book that you need to blow the motor
clean every now and then so I borrowed my neighbour's compressor and
gave a a few good blasts. Nothing doing, durn...
It's only a Canadian Tire jobbie, the one with the ugly yellow
tailstock tightener (brain's taken a nap, forgot the proper lingo).
Phoned around as they often have these lathes on sale this time of
year. Turned out this model is discontinued but I managed to find one
small town store that still had one left. Waddaya know, on clearance
for $99 - cool, probably cheaper than a replacement motor. "I'll be
right there, make sure you put my name on it." Hopped in the car and
went to pick it up.
Before removing the old headstock I figured I'd give it one more try
by jumpstarting it. Waddaya know, it fired up )) Borrowed the
neighbour's compressor again and by this time the bench was clean so I
could see all kind of openings, that I hadn't seen before, where I
could blast the air through. Ran the motor and started blasting. Five
minutes, and one huge cloud of dust later, I had me a lathe that
started up properly again. Meaning of course too, that now I have a
spare lathe (nope, not for sale) with 2 spare face plates.
The moral of the story for this model, and probably others: it pays to
do what the instruction book says - who knew...
By the way, the product number for this 5 speed 37" spindle lathe is
55-4507 and there's still the odd store (as of today, Dec. 13) that
has one left in stock. For 99 bucks you can't beat the price ))
Cheers and a Merry Christmas to all,
Bart.
-
**botox treatments: taxidermy on the living**

Check my most up to date email address at:
www.haruteq.com/contact.htm
awesome banjo bridges, tabs, stained glass:
www.haruteq.com

Hello Bart

Nice to hear from you again, you should drop in more often.
It is good you are still turning and now are set for a longer time.

You and yours have a very merry christmas and a happy and healthy new
year, cheers.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Bart V wrote:
Last week my lathe wouldn't fire up anymore, it just groaned and I
couldn't jump start it by spinning the sanding disk I had mounted on
it. I've been using it mainly for sanding these days.
I remembered from the instruction book that you need to blow the motor
clean every now and then so I borrowed my neighbour's compressor and
gave a a few good blasts. Nothing doing, durn...
It's only a Canadian Tire jobbie, the one with the ugly yellow
tailstock tightener (brain's taken a nap, forgot the proper lingo).
Phoned around as they often have these lathes on sale this time of
year. Turned out this model is discontinued but I managed to find one
small town store that still had one left. Waddaya know, on clearance
for $99 - cool, probably cheaper than a replacement motor. "I'll be
right there, make sure you put my name on it." Hopped in the car and
went to pick it up.
Before removing the old headstock I figured I'd give it one more try
by jumpstarting it. Waddaya know, it fired up )) Borrowed the
neighbour's compressor again and by this time the bench was clean so I
could see all kind of openings, that I hadn't seen before, where I
could blast the air through. Ran the motor and started blasting. Five
minutes, and one huge cloud of dust later, I had me a lathe that
started up properly again. Meaning of course too, that now I have a
spare lathe (nope, not for sale) with 2 spare face plates.
The moral of the story for this model, and probably others: it pays to
do what the instruction book says - who knew...
By the way, the product number for this 5 speed 37" spindle lathe is
55-4507 and there's still the odd store (as of today, Dec. 13) that
has one left in stock. For 99 bucks you can't beat the price ))
Cheers and a Merry Christmas to all,
Bart.
-
**botox treatments: taxidermy on the living**

Check my most up to date email address at:
www.haruteq.com/contact.htm
awesome banjo bridges, tabs, stained glass:
www.haruteq.com

Bart V wrote:
Last week my lathe wouldn't fire up anymore, it just groaned and I
couldn't jump start it by spinning the sanding disk I had mounted on

Before removing the old headstock I figured I'd give it one more try
by jumpstarting it. Waddaya know, it fired up )) Borrowed the
neighbour's compressor again and by this time the bench was clean so I
could see all kind of openings, that I hadn't seen before, where I
could blast the air through. Ran the motor and started blasting. Five
minutes, and one huge cloud of dust later, I had me a lathe that
started up properly again. Meaning of course too, that now I have a


That's why more expensive lathes have a motor that is sealed and cooled
by an external fan.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

Although I'm not Canadian, I tend to
like their bacon.

One of my early lathes didn't have a sealed motor. It caught fire one
time. I got it out quickly and no damage done, but after that I blew it
out religiously once a month. -mike

"Gerald Ross" wrote in message
om...

That's why more expensive lathes have a motor that is sealed and cooled by
an external fan.


Some have that TEC (enclosed, not sealed) motor mounted under the bed of the
lathe where the fan sucks the sawdust. Neatly "portable" - with a hernia -
package and all, but definitely more likely, even given the enclosure, to
pick up crud than the open drip proof type mounted under a table under the
lathe. Will the "mini/midi/maxi" design even allow mounting out of the way
for those who won't be carrying it around? I
have never really examined the angles.

Anyway, enclosed gather dust too, just more slowly, and it's tougher to get
out. It's that centrifugal cutout where the gaps are the smallest that
sticks or shorts, though the poorest seal is generally around the capacitor,
which is why I open that bubble and blast there.

Everyone _does_ remember not to reach in around capacitors until they've had
several minutes to bleed off, right? It might not be bad, and there are
better ways to discover it!