Reviving a 50 Year Old Lathe

[@Machines.In.Action]

Those older machines are true workhorses! 💪

[@nandi123]

Congratulations! I'm sure you'll find lots of uses for your new lathe. I imagine the cat put Fido up to his urinary adventure with the junction box. Glad he survived.

[@Randys_Relics]

It will definitely be nice to do some machining in-house! Thanks for watching!

[@stevenshepherd3209]

Nice video it was nice watching you getting the lathe working

[@Randys_Relics]

Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for watching!

[@plainnpretty]

good video having a working lathe will open up more work for you and you will be able to do work that you couldnt do before. Thanks Randy

[@Randys_Relics]

Always had to do my machining elsewhere, where I couldn't video. This will be nice to be able to include those operations here on video.

[@timmieclark9976]

Nice job Randy. Nice lathe.

[@Randys_Relics]

Thanks for watching!

[@matthendrix5136]

Hey Randy. Was an electrician in the mining industry for over 10 years, wired up many 3 phase motors, we always crimped lugs on leads, glass taped over the connections, high voltage rubber tape over that, then super 33 over it until a nice ball was made over every connection, so vibration wasn’t an issue. In larger connection boxes(we always called them peckerheads) we would even add rubber dielectric to take up space for vibration. Was probably over-doing it, but didn’t have any blow up due to vibration! lol Nice job, love your content

[@Randys_Relics]

Thanks for the information! I appreciate the comment!

[@jerrypeal653]

@@Randys_RelicsMatt is correct. The rubber tape for vibration. If you have to remove it you cut it off , good stuff .

[@garlandhenry6792]

Very nicely done ✅

[@Randys_Relics]

Thanks! It was an interesting project.

[@brandonfloyd6321]

I bought a medium sized wheeled aircompressor on auction and it already had a cord on it so I plugged it in and sometimes it would start and sometimes you had to help it. Turned out someone swapped on a 240 motor and put a 120 end on it. Lol it's a wonder it did as good as it did. Recently a metal shop/gate shop sold its inventory on online auction and everything was 3 phase. Mills, iron workers and lathes probably 3 times that size and last time I looked the lathes were going for $140 each before auction ended.

[@plainnpretty]

scrap metal prices

[@Randys_Relics]

Haven't been that lucky on prices around here. A decent small mill brings several thousand lately!

[@thomaspetroff9117]

💪

[@BCCartman]

You cut the ground wire off the source cable (no ground to the converter) yet you grounded the motor to the converter ??

[@Randys_Relics]

White wire is being used as the ground on the 240 feed from the panel, that's why I tapped it green. Not sure why I did it that way. I scratched my head about it when I was editing this video. It's going to a main panel, so the neutral and ground are bonded at the panel. This converter is straight 240v so there is no provision for the neutral. If I were to do it again, I would have tucked away the neutral and used the bare ground. Again, I don't know why I did it that way. Day dreaming I guess. Thanks for watching!

[@duotronic6451]

Idler motor has to run continuously for the 2 phase to 3 phase converter to work?

[@Randys_Relics]

Correct. It is generating the 3 leg.

[@jerrypeal653]

I’d be curious to know how they got the 110 volt for that motor speed control at 480 volts and what it’s got now at 208 I worked in an industrial environment and typically a transformer was changed out or rewired to accomplish the change.

[@Randys_Relics]

I'm thinking I misspoke there. Especially after switching from 480 to 240 and everything still working correctly.

[@dennyleeds6795]

great video, is your wife looking for her gardening hat?

[@Randys_Relics]

Hey now, don't be ragging on my welding cap! 😂

[@melgross]

I bought a FOURTEEN in 2002. It’s the version before yours, with the D1-3 spindle and the handle for the transmission on the top of the base. It’s a great machine. If it was kept in good shape with proper lube, it will be very accurate. I don’t like phase converters. They waste a LOT of electricity, are noisy, and must be left on while you’re in the shop or you will forget to turn them in and off. Normally, for a 3 horse motor, you need at least a 5 horse phase converters. So you’re running a 3 horse lathe with a 5 horse converter. Very inefficient, I bought a VFD which works very well. A 3 horse model for this lathe (a good one, not some unbranded junk) is around $350-400 (TECO/Westinghouse excellent motors too). I don’t really use it to vary the speeds as you shouldn’t do that with old motors. But occasionally, for short periods, it can be done when you want a really low speed. Bolting wires in some fashion is often done in larger motors. Since you don’t know anything about electrical equipment, you should pay an electrician to do this. A 3 phase motor doesn’t use a capacitor, so stop trying to act as though you know something you don’t. That’s dangerous. I’ve designed a lot of electrical and electronic equipment and I’ve seen people destroy some. Call American Rotary, they’ll help you.

[@Randys_Relics]

The idea behind the rotary converter here was, for $400 (what I paid for the converter) I'm able to power any three phase equipment up to 5 horsepower. If I were to go with a VFD I would have to buy one for each piece of equipment. For occasional use, I don't see that idler motor being inefficient enough warrant spending the extra money on multiple VFDs in the future. As for not knowing anything about electrical work. No one knows anything until they learn, I'm kind enough to show the learning process of this project so others may learn along with me. I hope you were able to watch until the end of the video. Everything is running smoothly! Thanks for watching!

[@TheDrewCharles]

I like your shop Randy and is that in your home or is that some place you're renting? Anyways nice job on that work I appreciate your meticulous efforts.

[@Randys_Relics]

Thanks! I own this shop.

[@yvestressens3990]

🙄🤚👏👍

[@Nick-nw6zg]

Randy, for a second I thought it was the machine that made everlasting gobstoppers😂😂

[@philt214]

Why not use a VFD instead of a phase converter. They are less expensive and pretty easy to set up.

[@Randys_Relics]

This phase converter cost me the same as a new VFD sized for this lathe. With this lathe having two additional twist lock outlets in the back, I will be able to run multiple pieces of equipment off the converter. With the VFD I believe I would need one for each piece of equipment.