Hello all,

Well, now I've gone and done it- I bought and loaded up a lathe today.
I won't say what I paid for it, but I could afford it, and I'm a po'
boy.

You might wonder why it's a neener, as we've all got lathes, but this
is a *big* one. Technically, this one's OT because it's an engine
lathe, but this is the only lathe forum going.

What I've got now is a gigantic Forster 6 station turret lathe, with 4
chucks, (at least some of the parts for) a bar feeder, and about
200-300 pounds of accessories, ranging from a box of tool bits to a
couple of boring bar holders bigger than I can recall ever seeing the
likes of. * note * the chucks I'm referring to aren't even remotely
in the class of a woodturning one- the one I'm looking at right now is
15" in diameter, and slightly under 4" thick, and has an eyebolt
threaded into it to lift it into place using a chain hoist. I didn't
measure it yet, but my rough estimate is that it's about 24" deep, and
about 6 feet long with the turret moved all the way forward (it was
locked in place for transport, so I didn't crank it out to see what
the full length capacity is.) The passthrough (also not measured
yet) is about 2" in diameter.

It's a heck of a neat old machine- evidently, it was decomissioned in
1945, and stored since then. There's some surface rust, but as far as
I could tell, everything moves freely and all of the essentials are
there, with the exception of a motor large enough to drive it. It's
one of the old kind that was driven with a 3" leather belt connected
to a series of pulleys (the pulley assembly is largely intact as well,
including the wall mounts for it) There is plenty of stuff that came
along with it that I haven't figured out yet, but I'm sure with a
little time and effort it will all become clear.

My intention is to get it up and running as a functional engine lathe,
but in the event that that is impossible for some reason (though I
really doubt that will be the case) It's going to make one heck of a
bowl turner.

Should be a fun project- I always like being able to restore something
that old and make it work again. I don't know if it's old enough to
be a museum piece, but it's certainly a remnant of bygone days.

at that age, you'd be surprised how little horsepower came out of a pretty
large motor - look for a used 3 to 5 hp motor and run the motor with a VFD
and you will be happy - I presume you have a back gear in it.


"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
Hello all,

Well, now I've gone and done it- I bought and loaded up a lathe today.
I won't say what I paid for it, but I could afford it, and I'm a po'
boy.

You might wonder why it's a neener, as we've all got lathes, but this
is a *big* one. Technically, this one's OT because it's an engine
lathe, but this is the only lathe forum going.

What I've got now is a gigantic Forster 6 station turret lathe, with 4
chucks, (at least some of the parts for) a bar feeder, and about
200-300 pounds of accessories, ranging from a box of tool bits to a
couple of boring bar holders bigger than I can recall ever seeing the
likes of. * note * the chucks I'm referring to aren't even remotely
in the class of a woodturning one- the one I'm looking at right now is
15" in diameter, and slightly under 4" thick, and has an eyebolt
threaded into it to lift it into place using a chain hoist. I didn't
measure it yet, but my rough estimate is that it's about 24" deep, and
about 6 feet long with the turret moved all the way forward (it was
locked in place for transport, so I didn't crank it out to see what
the full length capacity is.) The passthrough (also not measured
yet) is about 2" in diameter.

It's a heck of a neat old machine- evidently, it was decomissioned in
1945, and stored since then. There's some surface rust, but as far as
I could tell, everything moves freely and all of the essentials are
there, with the exception of a motor large enough to drive it. It's
one of the old kind that was driven with a 3" leather belt connected
to a series of pulleys (the pulley assembly is largely intact as well,
including the wall mounts for it) There is plenty of stuff that came
along with it that I haven't figured out yet, but I'm sure with a
little time and effort it will all become clear.

My intention is to get it up and running as a functional engine lathe,
but in the event that that is impossible for some reason (though I
really doubt that will be the case) It's going to make one heck of a
bowl turner.

Should be a fun project- I always like being able to restore something
that old and make it work again. I don't know if it's old enough to
be a museum piece, but it's certainly a remnant of bygone days.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Prometheus wrote:
Hello all,

Well, now I've gone and done it- I bought and loaded up a lathe today.
I won't say what I paid for it, but I could afford it, and I'm a po'
boy.

You might wonder why it's a neener, as we've all got lathes, but this
is a *big* one. Technically, this one's OT because it's an engine
lathe, but this is the only lathe forum going.

What I've got now is a gigantic Forster 6 station turret lathe, with 4
chucks, (at least some of the parts for) a bar feeder, and about
200-300 pounds of accessories, ranging from a box of tool bits to a
couple of boring bar holders bigger than I can recall ever seeing the
likes of. * note * the chucks I'm referring to aren't even remotely
in the class of a woodturning one- the one I'm looking at right now is
15" in diameter, and slightly under 4" thick, and has an eyebolt
threaded into it to lift it into place using a chain hoist. I didn't
measure it yet, but my rough estimate is that it's about 24" deep, and
about 6 feet long with the turret moved all the way forward (it was
locked in place for transport, so I didn't crank it out to see what
the full length capacity is.) The passthrough (also not measured
yet) is about 2" in diameter.

It's a heck of a neat old machine- evidently, it was decomissioned in
1945, and stored since then. There's some surface rust, but as far as
I could tell, everything moves freely and all of the essentials are
there, with the exception of a motor large enough to drive it. It's
one of the old kind that was driven with a 3" leather belt connected
to a series of pulleys (the pulley assembly is largely intact as well,
including the wall mounts for it) There is plenty of stuff that came
along with it that I haven't figured out yet, but I'm sure with a
little time and effort it will all become clear.

My intention is to get it up and running as a functional engine lathe,
but in the event that that is impossible for some reason (though I
really doubt that will be the case) It's going to make one heck of a
bowl turner.

Should be a fun project- I always like being able to restore something
that old and make it work again. I don't know if it's old enough to
be a museum piece, but it's certainly a remnant of bygone days.

My lawn mower repairman has one like that in his shop. It looks like
it weighs more than my house. I keep expecting it to crunch through
the concrete slab and descend into the underworld.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

The pen is mightier than the pencil.

On Sat, 1 Sep 2007 22:55:43 -0700, "William Noble"
wrote:

at that age, you'd be surprised how little horsepower came out of a pretty
large motor - look for a used 3 to 5 hp motor and run the motor with a VFD
and you will be happy - I presume you have a back gear in it.

I haven't dug into it yet, but I know there is back gearing in it, as
well as a big pail of other gears, which I am guessing are used to
manually change the tpi (wild speculation at this point- they could
just be spare gears, or even from something else entirely). As noted,
there is no exisiting motor, so obtaining a 5hp was my plan, though if
I run across a good 3hp for the right price, I may give that a try- I
can always use it for something else if it seems to be underpowered.

Since It's got all the belt pully goodies with it, I'm not too
concerned about getting one that matches the machine, as it could be
almost anywhere (within reason) and does not need to be attached
directly to the lathe. A quick search came up with a number of places
that still make and sell seamless belts, so using the belt feed
shouldn't be a problem.

I'm also somewhat enamored with the idea of making a steam engine for
a second power option- not because it would be very practical or
particularly efficent, but it would be awfully neat on such an old
piece of machinery, and a good project to get to know the tool.

Sounds Like what my wife said when I brought home an old Walker turner
industrial drill press she wanted to know where I was going to put it. I
found a spot in my garage/woodshop
"Gerald Ross" wrote in message
. ..
Prometheus wrote:
Hello all,

Well, now I've gone and done it- I bought and loaded up a lathe today.
I won't say what I paid for it, but I could afford it, and I'm a po'
boy. You might wonder why it's a neener, as we've all got lathes, but
this
is a *big* one. Technically, this one's OT because it's an engine
lathe, but this is the only lathe forum going. What I've got now is a
gigantic Forster 6 station turret lathe, with 4
chucks, (at least some of the parts for) a bar feeder, and about
200-300 pounds of accessories, ranging from a box of tool bits to a
couple of boring bar holders bigger than I can recall ever seeing the
likes of. * note * the chucks I'm referring to aren't even remotely
in the class of a woodturning one- the one I'm looking at right now is
15" in diameter, and slightly under 4" thick, and has an eyebolt
threaded into it to lift it into place using a chain hoist. I didn't
measure it yet, but my rough estimate is that it's about 24" deep, and
about 6 feet long with the turret moved all the way forward (it was
locked in place for transport, so I didn't crank it out to see what
the full length capacity is.) The passthrough (also not measured
yet) is about 2" in diameter.

It's a heck of a neat old machine- evidently, it was decomissioned in
1945, and stored since then. There's some surface rust, but as far as
I could tell, everything moves freely and all of the essentials are
there, with the exception of a motor large enough to drive it. It's
one of the old kind that was driven with a 3" leather belt connected
to a series of pulleys (the pulley assembly is largely intact as well,
including the wall mounts for it) There is plenty of stuff that came
along with it that I haven't figured out yet, but I'm sure with a
little time and effort it will all become clear.

My intention is to get it up and running as a functional engine lathe,
but in the event that that is impossible for some reason (though I
really doubt that will be the case) It's going to make one heck of a
bowl turner.

Should be a fun project- I always like being able to restore something
that old and make it work again. I don't know if it's old enough to
be a museum piece, but it's certainly a remnant of bygone days.

My lawn mower repairman has one like that in his shop. It looks like it
weighs more than my house. I keep expecting it to crunch through the
concrete slab and descend into the underworld.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

The pen is mightier than the pencil.

Damn I hate that, have to do it over again :-(

Hi Jesse
I typed a whole page it seems (I'm a very slow typist ;-) also) and it
went in that black hole again, darn.
Anyway I started turning on a similar lathe, just a few feet longer,
total length over 12 feet long.
My Dad had bought that lathe at a shipyard bankruptcy sale around
1930.
It had a 4 or 5 stepped flat belt pulley, it's been a while ;-)),
there was a split main shaft, that is a inner and outer that could be
locked/unlocked and a secondary shaft with gears on both ends could be
cantilevered in to the gears of the main shaft, so you would get
another 4 or 5 speeds extra low.
If you want to use the old setup, should work just fine, and would
also keep everything original, if you're interested in that.
They used 2 belts one flipped a half turn and the other one just
normal, those would run on 3 side by side pulleys, the center one was
narrower than the 2 other ones and it was the driving pulley, the 2
other pulleys are idler pulleys, the belts have a 2 forked (belt mover
I'll call them) that sit on a shaft and are adjustable side ways, and
there is a handle you could reach that would move the forks both ways,
so one way would be forward drive for the lathe and the other way
reverse.
The original motor that came with the lathe was and still ?? is used
(last time that I was there, was a few years ago) it is a 2 HP 3 phase
380 Volt open cage motor.
The belt from the motor would run to the main power distributing
shafts larger pulley, where the 2 flat belts pulley also was clamped
to, (most of the old pulleys where made in 2 halves so you could add
or remove them from the long shafts that where commonly used), ours
had only the forging hammer connected to it.
Changing of carriage speed was by manually changing/exchanging the
gears around, the lathe did have automatic feed and cross feed, reason
for a couple fixed change gears :-((.
If you don't want to use the old setup, you could use a multi-v belt
to run on the flat belt pulleys, but you might run to fast by directly
going and probably need a jack shaft.
Anyway a nice project to work on, good luck with it.
Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo


On Sep 1, 9:25 pm, Prometheus wrote:
Hello all,

Well, now I've gone and done it- I bought and loaded up a lathe today.
I won't say what I paid for it, but I could afford it, and I'm a po'
boy.

You might wonder why it's a neener, as we've all got lathes, but this
is a *big* one. Technically, this one's OT because it's an engine
lathe, but this is the only lathe forum going.

What I've got now is a gigantic Forster 6 station turret lathe, with 4
chucks, (at least some of the parts for) a bar feeder, and about
200-300 pounds of accessories, ranging from a box of tool bits to a
couple of boring bar holders bigger than I can recall ever seeing the
likes of. * note * the chucks I'm referring to aren't even remotely
in the class of a woodturning one- the one I'm looking at right now is
15" in diameter, and slightly under 4" thick, and has an eyebolt
threaded into it to lift it into place using a chain hoist. I didn't
measure it yet, but my rough estimate is that it's about 24" deep, and
about 6 feet long with the turret moved all the way forward (it was
locked in place for transport, so I didn't crank it out to see what
the full length capacity is.) The passthrough (also not measured
yet) is about 2" in diameter.

It's a heck of a neat old machine- evidently, it was decomissioned in
1945, and stored since then. There's some surface rust, but as far as
I could tell, everything moves freely and all of the essentials are
there, with the exception of a motor large enough to drive it. It's
one of the old kind that was driven with a 3" leather belt connected
to a series of pulleys (the pulley assembly is largely intact as well,
including the wall mounts for it) There is plenty of stuff that came
along with it that I haven't figured out yet, but I'm sure with a
little time and effort it will all become clear.

My intention is to get it up and running as a functional engine lathe,
but in the event that that is impossible for some reason (though I
really doubt that will be the case) It's going to make one heck of a
bowl turner.

Should be a fun project- I always like being able to restore something
that old and make it work again. I don't know if it's old enough to
be a museum piece, but it's certainly a remnant of bygone days.

You might wonder why it's a neener, as we've all got lathes, but this
is a *big* one. Technically, this one's OT because it's an engine
lathe, but this is the only lathe forum going.

Well, rec.crafts.metalworking also has a good bunch of guys who enjoy
stuff like this.

Also, from http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ try the "Antique
Machinery and History" forum...
--Glenn Lyford

On Sun, 02 Sep 2007 19:05:01 -0700, "
wrote:

Damn I hate that, have to do it over again :-(

Hi Jesse
I typed a whole page it seems (I'm a very slow typist ;-) also) and it
went in that black hole again, darn.
Anyway I started turning on a similar lathe, just a few feet longer,
total length over 12 feet long.
My Dad had bought that lathe at a shipyard bankruptcy sale around
1930.
It had a 4 or 5 stepped flat belt pulley, it's been a while ;-)),
there was a split main shaft, that is a inner and outer that could be
locked/unlocked and a secondary shaft with gears on both ends could be
cantilevered in to the gears of the main shaft, so you would get
another 4 or 5 speeds extra low.

This one's got something I haven't quite got figured out, though it
may be similar to what you're describing- there's a big handle that
pulls a ring (maybe the pulleys, but it's still sitting on a trailer
50 miles away, so I can't go check until next weekend when I bring it
home...) over a lever on the main drive shaft. When the lever is
free, the drive pullies turn easily by hand- when the lever is held
down, it still turns relatively easily, but everything seems to slow
down. I thought it was a clutch at first, but it must be to run it
extra low.

If you want to use the old setup, should work just fine, and would
also keep everything original, if you're interested in that.
They used 2 belts one flipped a half turn and the other one just
normal, those would run on 3 side by side pulleys, the center one was
narrower than the 2 other ones and it was the driving pulley, the 2
other pulleys are idler pulleys, the belts have a 2 forked (belt mover
I'll call them) that sit on a shaft and are adjustable side ways, and
there is a handle you could reach that would move the forks both ways,
so one way would be forward drive for the lathe and the other way
reverse.

Yeah, I think I'm going to use as much of the old setup as possible,
just for the novelty of it if nothing else. So what you're saying is
that all three of the steps on the pulley had belts on them? If
that's the case, would you flip the second step pulley the opposite
way to keep the ratios the same? It was my assumption that the steps
worked the same way as on a modern lathe, where you could pick any
pair of steps to get a different range of speeds.

The original motor that came with the lathe was and still ?? is used
(last time that I was there, was a few years ago) it is a 2 HP 3 phase
380 Volt open cage motor.
The belt from the motor would run to the main power distributing
shafts larger pulley, where the 2 flat belts pulley also was clamped
to, (most of the old pulleys where made in 2 halves so you could add
or remove them from the long shafts that where commonly used), ours
had only the forging hammer connected to it.

Assuming that I don't have a three-phase converter (and that's a real
good assumption to make,) what do you think a guy could get away with
using a 220v motor? I'd like to avoid investing in a 3-phase setup,
at least for now when it'd only be used for one tool. Maybe in a few
years if I've got a little extra money or a good opportunity to get a
machining center secondhand the 3-ph converter will make more sense.

Changing of carriage speed was by manually changing/exchanging the
gears around, the lathe did have automatic feed and cross feed, reason
for a couple fixed change gears :-((.

That explains the bucket of gears- I figured that was what they were
for. That should be a bit of goofing around right there to figure out
which combinations correspond to various tpi counts. I'm thinking
that color-coding the center of the gears might not be a bad idea.

If you don't want to use the old setup, you could use a multi-v belt
to run on the flat belt pulleys, but you might run to fast by directly
going and probably need a jack shaft.

Nah, I think I'll stick with the old setup, since it's still there.
Kind of like the oilers it comes with- a guy could probably find zirc
fittings that might be easier to work with, but they just don't look
as neat as the old brass oilers.

Anyway a nice project to work on, good luck with it.

Thanks!

On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:47:41 -0000, "
wrote:

You might wonder why it's a neener, as we've all got lathes, but this
is a *big* one. Technically, this one's OT because it's an engine
lathe, but this is the only lathe forum going.

Well, rec.crafts.metalworking also has a good bunch of guys who enjoy
stuff like this.

They do? Not to be argumentative, but I've never seen more than one
post a month on there when I've looked- and it'e generally an
unanswered post from a new guy. Maybe it's just my news server.

Also, from http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ try the "Antique
Machinery and History" forum...

I'll check that out- I'm bound to run into stuff I've never seen
before as I get into this. Thanks for the link.

--Glenn Lyford

Well, you could always look into phase converting. I know it's
possible using a second electric motor in some capacity. Just do a
google search for "converting to three phase power" and see if you
can find a manufacturer or some instructions on how to do it.

I know it's possible because it's been done on farms where they might
have equipment that needs 3 phase power but the electic company only
supplies single or dual phase.

Jesse the step pulleys (2 of them) have just one belt, and that belt
you do move to change speeds.

No the 3 pulleys I meant are the same size and right next to each
other, 2 outside ones turn freely on the shaft, centre on is solid to
the shaft.

Your lathe have babbit bearings ??, ours had rings hanging in the oil
baths that would turn with the shaft, and continually oiled the shaft,
the oil would come back through the grooves in the bronze bearings
into the oil bath, very good system for slow speed machinery.

If any more questions just ask, I'll help if I can.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

On Sep 4, 2:13 am, Prometheus wrote:
On Sun, 02 Sep 2007 19:05:01 -0700, "

wrote:
Damn I hate that, have to do it over again :-(

Hi Jesse
I typed a whole page it seems (I'm a very slow typist ;-) also) and it
went in that black hole again, darn.
Anyway I started turning on a similar lathe, just a few feet longer,
total length over 12 feet long.
My Dad had bought that lathe at a shipyard bankruptcy sale around
1930.
It had a 4 or 5 stepped flat belt pulley, it's been a while ;-)),
there was a split main shaft, that is a inner and outer that could be
locked/unlocked and a secondary shaft with gears on both ends could be
cantilevered in to the gears of the main shaft, so you would get
another 4 or 5 speeds extra low.

This one's got something I haven't quite got figured out, though it
may be similar to what you're describing- there's a big handle that
pulls a ring (maybe the pulleys, but it's still sitting on a trailer
50 miles away, so I can't go check until next weekend when I bring it
home...) over a lever on the main drive shaft. When the lever is
free, the drive pullies turn easily by hand- when the lever is held
down, it still turns relatively easily, but everything seems to slow
down. I thought it was a clutch at first, but it must be to run it
extra low.

If you want to use the old setup, should work just fine, and would
also keep everything original, if you're interested in that.
They used 2 belts one flipped a half turn and the other one just
normal, those would run on 3 side by side pulleys, the center one was
narrower than the 2 other ones and it was the driving pulley, the 2
other pulleys are idler pulleys, the belts have a 2 forked (belt mover
I'll call them) that sit on a shaft and are adjustable side ways, and
there is a handle you could reach that would move the forks both ways,
so one way would be forward drive for the lathe and the other way
reverse.

Yeah, I think I'm going to use as much of the old setup as possible,
just for the novelty of it if nothing else. So what you're saying is
that all three of the steps on the pulley had belts on them? If
that's the case, would you flip the second step pulley the opposite
way to keep the ratios the same? It was my assumption that the steps
worked the same way as on a modern lathe, where you could pick any
pair of steps to get a different range of speeds.

The original motor that came with the lathe was and still ?? is used
(last time that I was there, was a few years ago) it is a 2 HP 3 phase
380 Volt open cage motor.
The belt from the motor would run to the main power distributing
shafts larger pulley, where the 2 flat belts pulley also was clamped
to, (most of the old pulleys where made in 2 halves so you could add
or remove them from the long shafts that where commonly used), ours
had only the forging hammer connected to it.

Assuming that I don't have a three-phase converter (and that's a real
good assumption to make,) what do you think a guy could get away with
using a 220v motor? I'd like to avoid investing in a 3-phase setup,
at least for now when it'd only be used for one tool. Maybe in a few
years if I've got a little extra money or a good opportunity to get a
machining center secondhand the 3-ph converter will make more sense.

Changing of carriage speed was by manually changing/exchanging the
gears around, the lathe did have automatic feed and cross feed, reason
for a couple fixed change gears :-((.

That explains the bucket of gears- I figured that was what they were
for. That should be a bit of goofing around right there to figure out
which combinations correspond to various tpi counts. I'm thinking
that color-coding the center of the gears might not be a bad idea.

If you don't want to use the old setup, you could use a multi-v belt
to run on the flat belt pulleys, but you might run to fast by directly
going and probably need a jack shaft.

Nah, I think I'll stick with the old setup, since it's still there.
Kind of like the oilers it comes with- a guy could probably find zirc
fittings that might be easier to work with, but they just don't look
as neat as the old brass oilers.

Anyway a nice project to work on, good luck with it.

Thanks!

something is wrong if you only see a few posts a month - I see around 130
per day on the metalworking news group - make sure you found the right one,
there are several with similar names. you want the rec.crafts one, not alt
anything
"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:47:41 -0000, "
wrote:

You might wonder why it's a neener, as we've all got lathes, but this
is a *big* one. Technically, this one's OT because it's an engine
lathe, but this is the only lathe forum going.

Well, rec.crafts.metalworking also has a good bunch of guys who enjoy
stuff like this.

They do? Not to be argumentative, but I've never seen more than one
post a month on there when I've looked- and it'e generally an
unanswered post from a new guy. Maybe it's just my news server.

Also, from http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ try the "Antique
Machinery and History" forum...

I'll check that out- I'm bound to run into stuff I've never seen
before as I get into this. Thanks for the link.

--Glenn Lyford




--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 00:16:16 -0700, wrote:

Well, you could always look into phase converting. I know it's
possible using a second electric motor in some capacity. Just do a
google search for "converting to three phase power" and see if you
can find a manufacturer or some instructions on how to do it.

I know it's possible because it's been done on farms where they might
have equipment that needs 3 phase power but the electic company only
supplies single or dual phase.

Yep, my uncle used to do that in his shop when I was an apprentice
knife grinder, but the problem with that is that I will be needing to
purchase a motor to begin with, which is not very cheap if I don't
find one used, and then I'd still need a second one for the phase
conversion along with whatever else needs to go along with that.

Last time I checked, a 5 hp Baldor motor was going for about $500- and
a phase convertor can be had for around $700. So, if I was going to
go for 3-phase, I may as well spring for the professionally assembled
rig- but I just don't have the capital to invest in either two motors
or a motor and a phase convertor. That's why I'd rather just stick
with a large 220 motor, which will only require a double breaker to
get me in business.

On Tue, 4 Sep 2007 22:33:41 -0700, "William Noble"
wrote:

something is wrong if you only see a few posts a month - I see around 130
per day on the metalworking news group - make sure you found the right one,
there are several with similar names. you want the rec.crafts one, not alt
anything

Hmm... maybe I *did* have the wrong one- I doubled checked just now,
and there are over 130,000 headers. Maybe it was just a temporary
problem- it's been a long while since I bothered to check.

used 5 hp 3 phase motor should cost you $35 or so. maybe less. The phase
converter I built for my mill (6 hp spindle, 2 hp ways) cost under $10 --
one relay, one capacitor, both surplus. It's one thing to buy new parts for
a production run, but if you are building one of an item for yourself, your
costs can be dramatically lower.


"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 00:16:16 -0700, wrote:

Well, you could always look into phase converting. I know it's
possible using a second electric motor in some capacity. Just do a
google search for "converting to three phase power" and see if you
can find a manufacturer or some instructions on how to do it.

I know it's possible because it's been done on farms where they might
have equipment that needs 3 phase power but the electic company only
supplies single or dual phase.

Yep, my uncle used to do that in his shop when I was an apprentice
knife grinder, but the problem with that is that I will be needing to
purchase a motor to begin with, which is not very cheap if I don't
find one used, and then I'd still need a second one for the phase
conversion along with whatever else needs to go along with that.

Last time I checked, a 5 hp Baldor motor was going for about $500- and
a phase convertor can be had for around $700. So, if I was going to
go for 3-phase, I may as well spring for the professionally assembled
rig- but I just don't have the capital to invest in either two motors
or a motor and a phase convertor. That's why I'd rather just stick
with a large 220 motor, which will only require a double breaker to
get me in business.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 22:20:31 -0700, "William Noble"
wrote:

used 5 hp 3 phase motor should cost you $35 or so. maybe less. The phase
converter I built for my mill (6 hp spindle, 2 hp ways) cost under $10 --
one relay, one capacitor, both surplus. It's one thing to buy new parts for
a production run, but if you are building one of an item for yourself, your
costs can be dramatically lower.

The phase convertor was under $10? Any chance you have a wiring
diagram of some sort you could share with me? If I can do it for
under $100, it'd probably be worthwhile- I just don't want to be into
thousands of dollars for a tool that is most likely almost 100 years
old before I make sure it's working well.

I think you may be right about the used 3-phase motors- they seem to
go cheap, probably because of the power supply issue.

I did get it all moved this morning, though- it looked pretty big in
the shop it was in, but I think it grew when I put it my shop...
Going to be a few weeks or months to clean and relubricate it, before
I even power it up, but the very nice thing is that a lot of the parts
I had thought were rusty are simply very dirty. A quick swipe of a
rag on the ways showed that they are still almost mirror bright
beneith the grime and cosmoline- aside from a dinged up section about
6" long right below the chuck, it should still be a pretty accurate
tool.

My only real concern is the turret- I can't get it to feed with the
hand crank or swivel it, but I haven't found as much as a single
seized bolt on the thing, so I suspect there's a lever or combination
of levers that is preventing me from doing it, rather than any actual
problem. I've got my fingers crossed hoping that there will be no
need for me to remove it to get it up and running- aside from the fact
that it probably weighs 300 pounds, there's a lot of stuff going on
under that turret, with the multiple stops and lead screw. It does
seem as though the knob that engages the lead screw is stuck, so that
may be the only problem.

top posted to annoy those that think it's "unconventional"
1. by "turret" do you mean "spindle"? if yes, check that it's not in back
gear
2. there is a UK machinery site that has info on a wide variety of older
lathes - I can't remember the url right now, worth looking for
3. there is a link to the schematic on my web page (www.wbnoble.com) - go to
the vacuum pumps page, I believe it is the first 3 phase vac pump that has a
link to a simple phase converter - it's just a capacitor and one (or two)
relays - you are basically making your three phase motor into a capacitor
start motor.
4. a small VFD (3 hp or so) is $200 to $300 max refurb or less used -

hope this helps -
much more input and knowlege on metalworking stuff on the metalworking
newsgroup (and you'll find me there too just to keep annoying you)


"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 22:20:31 -0700, "William Noble"
wrote:

used 5 hp 3 phase motor should cost you $35 or so. maybe less. The phase
converter I built for my mill (6 hp spindle, 2 hp ways) cost under $10 --
one relay, one capacitor, both surplus. It's one thing to buy new parts
for
a production run, but if you are building one of an item for yourself,
your
costs can be dramatically lower.

The phase convertor was under $10? Any chance you have a wiring
diagram of some sort you could share with me? If I can do it for
under $100, it'd probably be worthwhile- I just don't want to be into
thousands of dollars for a tool that is most likely almost 100 years
old before I make sure it's working well.

I think you may be right about the used 3-phase motors- they seem to
go cheap, probably because of the power supply issue.

I did get it all moved this morning, though- it looked pretty big in
the shop it was in, but I think it grew when I put it my shop...
Going to be a few weeks or months to clean and relubricate it, before
I even power it up, but the very nice thing is that a lot of the parts
I had thought were rusty are simply very dirty. A quick swipe of a
rag on the ways showed that they are still almost mirror bright
beneith the grime and cosmoline- aside from a dinged up section about
6" long right below the chuck, it should still be a pretty accurate
tool.

My only real concern is the turret- I can't get it to feed with the
hand crank or swivel it, but I haven't found as much as a single
seized bolt on the thing, so I suspect there's a lever or combination
of levers that is preventing me from doing it, rather than any actual
problem. I've got my fingers crossed hoping that there will be no
need for me to remove it to get it up and running- aside from the fact
that it probably weighs 300 pounds, there's a lot of stuff going on
under that turret, with the multiple stops and lead screw. It does
seem as though the knob that engages the lead screw is stuck, so that
may be the only problem.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Sat, 8 Sep 2007 22:34:23 -0700, "William Noble"
wrote:

top posted to annoy those that think it's "unconventional"
1. by "turret" do you mean "spindle"? if yes, check that it's not in back
gear

Nope, by turret, I mean the hex-head turret where the tailstock would
be in a more conventional engine lathe. Basically, it holds up to six
tools which rotate into position for each step, and is powered by the
lead screw in a manner similar to a cross-slide. Each station on the
turret has a stop that protrudes from the back side, which you can use
to set the travel- when it hits the stop, the feed reverses. It's
kind of a pre-computer mechanical version of CNC.

2. there is a UK machinery site that has info on a wide variety of older
lathes - I can't remember the url right now, worth looking for

I think I ran across that, but there was nothing on this particular
machine. Very little information about it seems to exist anywhere
on-line.

3. there is a link to the schematic on my web page (www.wbnoble.com) - go to
the vacuum pumps page, I believe it is the first 3 phase vac pump that has a
link to a simple phase converter - it's just a capacitor and one (or two)
relays - you are basically making your three phase motor into a capacitor
start motor.

I understand now- I thought you were talking about converting 220 into
three-phase power, not converting a three-phase motor into a capacitor
start. If I run across an inexpensive three-phase, I'll check into
that.

4. a small VFD (3 hp or so) is $200 to $300 max refurb or less used -

I'm sure I'll find one if I keep looking- things like that always turn
up eventually if you keep your eyes open. It'll be a little while
before it's ready to be powered up anyhow- I want to make sure it's
fully clean and properly lubricated before starting it up. Hopefully,
I'll run across anything that might be damaged or potentially unsafe
*before* I've got everything spinning as well that way- there's a lot
more to it than my wood lathe!

hope this helps -
much more input and knowlege on metalworking stuff on the metalworking
newsgroup (and you'll find me there too just to keep annoying you)

I just posted the same question, with more details, over there.
Hopefully there's an old-timer or two who has fond memories of the
machine in question, and knows what's what with it. I got a text book
with it as well, and it's very good as far as operating the machine
goes, but it's a little light on maintenance and repair- and, it's a
general text about a whole range of turret lathes, not specific to the
one I've got.

On Sat, 8 Sep 2007 22:34:23 -0700, "William Noble"
wrote:

top posted to annoy those that think it's "unconventional"
1. by "turret" do you mean "spindle"? if yes, check that it's not in back
gear
2. there is a UK machinery site that has info on a wide variety of older
lathes - I can't remember the url right now, worth looking for
3. there is a link to the schematic on my web page (www.wbnoble.com) - go to
the vacuum pumps page, I believe it is the first 3 phase vac pump that has a
link to a simple phase converter - it's just a capacitor and one (or two)
relays - you are basically making your three phase motor into a capacitor
start motor.
4. a small VFD (3 hp or so) is $200 to $300 max refurb or less used -

hope this helps -
much more input and knowlege on metalworking stuff on the metalworking
newsgroup (and you'll find me there too just to keep annoying you)

Just a quick followup- I got the turret slide free. Turns out an
enterprising rodent had taken up residence between the ways at some
point, and the shavings and bits of debris it crammed into the gear on
the end of the shaft allowed it to rust just enough to lock it up.
Some careful scraping and a bit of oil got it back in service.

Luckily, the turret assembly comes off in sections, so I didn't have
to remove the entire thing at once.

So, now everything is working, and it's just a big clean-up job. I'm
actually kind of glad it's as old as it is, as the limited features
compared to more modern machines is making it a lot easier to figure
out by following the gear trains.