Good Lathe Deal from Enco

[rake60]

We needed a decent tool room lathe at work.
There is just NO precision left in the Old South Bend Fourteen there.
The problem has been the power in the plant is 480V or 208V 3 phase.
Every lathe I have found is 220V single phase.

When I clicked on Enco's site this morning, I thought THIS was interesting.

Not a bad price, it can be rewired to 110V and we had a 10% off corporate discount code.
So I emailed Enco to ask about the motor rewiring. They said the rewiring could be done by
them on request at the time of order.

With the 10% discount, we got the lathe with cabinet stand and $200 worth of tooling for
about $100 less than the advertised sale price for the lathe/stand combo.
It will be delivered in about 15 days.

Review to follow...

Rick

 

[video_man]

There's a 12x36 lathe group on Yahoo where a lot of the guys have this lathe. One thing they don't like is the control handles, no knobs to protect your hands....one guy stuck golf balls (!) on the ends. Others, I think, have bought the plastic ball-ends that Enco sells for not a lot of money and threaded the handles to accept...

 

[Mike N]

We needed a decent tool room lathe at work.
There is just NO precision left in the Old South Bend Fourteen there.
The problem has been the power in the plant is 480V or 208V 3 phase.
Every lathe I have found is 220V single phase.

When I clicked on Enco's site this morning, I thought THIS was interesting.

Not a bad price, it can be rewired to 110V and we had a 10% off corporate discount code.
So I emailed Enco to ask about the motor rewiring. They said the rewiring could be done by
them on request at the time of order.

With the 10% discount, we got the lathe with cabinet stand and $200 worth of tooling for
about $100 less than the advertised sale price for the lathe/stand combo.
It will be delivered in about 15 days.

Review to follow...

Rick

You can get single phase power from a 3 phase circuit, just use the 2 low voltage legs from your 3 phase power. We do this all the time. You can get single phase 110V or 220V from the 3 phase circuit. You shouldn't need to have the lathe modified at all!

 

[rake60]

You can get single phase power from a 3 phase circuit, just use the 2 low voltage legs from your 3 phase power. We do this all the time. You can get single phase 110V or 220V from the 3 phase circuit. You shouldn't need to have the lathe modified at all!

I did talk to our electrician about using 2 legs of the 208V 3 phase for 220V single phase.
He suggested we not do that with the power we have coming into the plant.
We're at the end of the line on a distribution trunk.

Rick

 

[JorgensenSteam]

Don't forget, you can always add a single-phase buck-and-boost transformer to go from 208 to 240 volts. Probably cheaper to just get the motor at the right voltage if you have that option, but for used equipment, this is a handy solution.

 

[Mike N]

I did talk to our electrician about using 2 legs of the 208V 3 phase for 220V single phase.
He suggested we not do that with the power we have coming into the plant.
We're at the end of the line on a distribution trunk.

Rick

If you wire it up with 2 legs of your 208 3 phase power the little motor on your lathe won't care. Our 3 phase power is 240 volts at our plant. Have you put a volt meter on your 208 volt circuit to see if it runs real low? I sure wouldn't be afraid to try it. If Enco sets up your control panel for 110 volt single phase power the low voltage will still be a bigger problem!

 

[lathe nut]

rake60, I got that HF 14X40 Lathe a while back and its 3 phase, that is a fine machine, very accurate, Lathe Nut

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Rick,
It looks like a very nice machine. It says you can get a Baldor (American made) motor installed on it but for an extra $600.00 I would use the original and then replace it if it ever failed. Seems somewhat pricey to me.
gbritnell

 

[rake60]

I'm anxious to see what we get out of it.

It probably won't be used every day, just when someone breaks a machine part that can be
made in-house.

I saw something interesting else on Enco's site today.
CHECK OUT THIS DISCOUNT!

And then, the promo code: SUPERP will get you 20% off until Sunday Feb. 5th on orders
over $150 Machinery Excluded.

Do the math on that one!

Rick

 

[Steve J]

Rick
I believe the 20% enco code is SUPERC. I ordered some stuff friday and thats what I used. Quite a savings and also ordered it out of the sale catalog and got a double savings.
steve

 

[rake60]

The lathe and stand were delivered at noon today.
I did get it unpacked, stand assembled and lathe mounted to the stand.
(Thanks Vern, Butch and the forklift for your help!)

Now the dreaded cleaning off the dragon grease begins.

It was shipped with no oil in the headstock or apron. I will open both of them
up to check for chips, filings or any loose debris before adding the oil.

It may be a couple of days before it is under power.

Rick

 

[lathe nut]

rake60, WOW, that is a good looking lathe, looks better in the shop than it does in the Picture, hope to get to use it first, Lathe Nut

 

[rake60]

It would have been nice if the paint on the stand matched the lathe but I guess
that really doesn't matter.

Rick

 

[rake60]

I got the lathe all cleaned up today.
Oil reservoirs are filled and all the lube point are oiled.

Hit the power button and it will not start up.
Enco was supposed to have rewired it for 110 volts.
A quick check of the control voltage from the transformer reads 13 volts.
That is supposed to be 24 volts. They had not rewired it.

I rewired the the transformer to the specs in the manual and connected the Z2 wire
from the motor to the Z2 on the connector bar. Now the machine will power up but the
motor heats up and kicks the breaker.

I called Enco and they faxed me a diagram for the jumper locations in the motor.
It doesn't match any of the jumper location diagrams that are on the motor it's self, but I
do what they suggest anyway. Still popping breakers any I'm out of time for the day.

Tomorrow I'll try the jumper locations that are on the motor to see if any of them will work.
If not, we'll find out just how good Enco's warranty is.

I may have smoked the motor but I had assumed it was wired as we had requested and listed on
the packing slip. Even when I called their tech support today they said,
"that was supposed to be rewired here".

Uh, Yeah! :

Now I'm wondering if they did they rewire one for 110 Volt and ship it to someone who thinks
it's wired for 220 Volt?


Rick

 

[ShopShoe]

Been there, done that. Can you take photos of the relevant connections/terminal boards to send to them? Perhaps the motor they used was slightly different and the tech that did it just assumed that the terminal locations were just like the last one he did when they weren't.

--ShopShoe

 

[Mike N]

The motor heats up and kicks the breaker.

Rick


What amp breaker is kicking out 15 amp or 20 amp. You may be under rated in amperage with the 110 circuit. I would still wire it up 220 single phase a 15 amp circuit would be plenty, you may need a 30 amp circuit wired at 110 volts!

My China lathe would keep tripping the heater relay in the control panel until I turned up the amperage to its highest setting. My lathe came in wired with the forward & reverse relays wired backwards. The wire size they use in the control panel & motor is very marginal for a 110Volt 20 Amp circuit!

 

[rake60]

It is tripping the breaker/heater in the electrical box on the machine.

I did take some fuzzy cell phone photos to show them what I had done to rewire it.

They never got back to me today, but I'm pretty sure I know what in going on with it.

When I first hooked the power to it, it would start but heat up immediately.
Then it would not start with any load at all on the motor pulley.

With no load, it will spin slow for a few revs then jump to speed when the centrifugal switch
in the motor breaks contact. I'm thinking that switch may have been sticking shut at first.
That would have kept it running on the start windings. That would also burn the contacts
so they may not be connecting now to run on the start windings.

Or it could be a bad start capacitor.

I want to rip into it but if I do that before Enco gives me the OK, I'll void the warranty.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Rick

 

[Mike N]

Did you check to see if the Heater Relay is set to its highest possible setting?

The knob will turn a full 360 degrees so you need to play around with it until it works!

I had this happen on 2 machines already. I don't see the heater reply in the pictures you posted.

 

[rake60]

I didn't take a picture of the heater.
I believe it's tripping is more of an effect than a cause.

After I do get it running we will need to change the breaker for that outlet circuit.
It has a 10 Amp in it right now. It hasn't been a major yet but know that won't hold
up to a rough cut power drain for long.

Rick

 

[Don1966]

Rick the heater as you call it is a klaxon probably with a reset on it. It the Motor was connected 220v and you are changing it to 120v the new connection take this into consideration and rewire the klaxon for the added current of the parallel windings, so if this extra winding has not been rerouted into the klaxon it will trip. In other word if both windings are going through the same path as original set up you now have twice the current and it will trip.Do you have a connection diagram on the motor?

Regards Don