# Motor Wiring - Help



## Rozlo (Mar 16, 2018)

I have a small Atlas 10F lathe and I was told that you can wire in a reversing switch and make it go in reverse even if it is not a reversing motor.  I think they were barking up the wrong tree, can someone help me on this one.

Thanks

Bill


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## Blogwitch (Mar 16, 2018)

Hi Bill,

I had reversing on my Atlas 10F, but I did it when I remotored the lathe with a 4 pole 1/2 HP motor, so I don't know if it will work with the original motor.

One thing you must look out for when stopping from reverse. If going fairly fast, the chuck can unscrew and chase you around the shop, if you are lucky, instead it could cause a lot of damage to not only the lathe, but to yourself as well. That is why I went for a 4 pole motor rather than a two pole. Two pole runs twice as fast as a 4 pole.

John


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## Wizard69 (Mar 16, 2018)

Rozlo said:


> I have a small Atlas 10F lathe and I was told that you can wire in a reversing switch and make it go in reverse even if it is not a reversing motor.  I think they were barking up the wrong tree, can someone help me on this one.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Bill



Is this a single phase or 3 phase machine?   If a 3 phase machine, motors are reversed by swapping two leads to the motor.   You can get switches dedicated to this sort of switching as it is so common in the 3 Phase world.

If your motor is single phase the discussion is a bit more uncertain as most single phase induction motors can be reversed.   Some motors make this easy by bringing out the required lines.    Other motor make getting to the required wires very difficult and some don't break out the required connections at all.    So in a nut shell the man is right in that it is very likely that the motor can be reversed.


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## xpylonracer (Mar 17, 2018)

The motor can be reversed if you have access to the ends of the Start winding, just swing the ends around to reverse the direction.
If you want to have fwd and rev function wire them to the centre poles of a DPCO centre off switch, link across the outer pole one side to the outer pole on the opposite side, do this for both outer poles, the wire links will form an X shape. (DPCO = double pole changeover)

This switch is additional to your push button starter and overload protective device, the starter has to be used for every direction change.

*Always allow the motor to stop rotating before selecting the opposite direction of travel.*

xpylonracer


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