Help on 8X12 Harbor Freight Lathe

[lathe nut]

Hey you all I am going back together with the lathe that a fellow gave me that had been setting in the weather for three years, cleaned up nicely, took it complete apart and painted it and going back together, was wondering if anyone might have a wiring diaghram that can be read, the one on the HF manual is terrible, I know the 8X12 has one so I am addressing him also, that wiring is above my head, guess if I have to can just put a drum switch but did want to leave it orginally, I tell you that machine is leaps and bounds above the HF 7X10, way more quality and close tolerance, any help would be appreciated, thanks, Lathe Nut.

 

[DiegoVV]

My suggestion is to check the Grizzly catalogue for the same model (As you know, most of the imported lathes are sold under a number of different brands). Usually, Grizzly has super nice, detailed manuals for their products, and they are available online.

 

[william_b_noble]

if you can provide basic info about the electrical components, a wiring diagram should be trivial to sketch out. is it an AC or DC motor, for example, variable speed? etc

 

[lathe nut]

DiegoVV, I did check the Grizzly page and yes the diagrahms are better but none like this one but very close, thanks for that tip.​

william_b_noble, I will take a few pictures of the switch "on/Off", "forward/Reverse" that is all that is there and it is 110 volts, simple wiring I can do but that forward reverse switch configuration eats me up, I sure don't think like you guys who can see that.​

I will get picks today and post PM, Thanks, Joe

 

[harborfreight8x12]

Hi Lathe nut. I'm occupied today but I can get you pictures of the wiring from my 8x12 tomorrow. A picture should be better than 1,000 words.
Best regards, Al

 

[lathe nut]

DiegoVV, I did look on there page but did not find one yet without a printed board but will keep looking on there page and you right there diaghram is readable.​

@william_b_noble, here are the picks, cord to the motor, to a on off switch, to a jucntion bar, to capisators, forward reverse switch at the motor, Motor is forward reverse.​

harborfreight8x12, your a sweetheart, take your time, if I have to will put just a drumm switch but really would like to leave it orginal, one more request, how many gears total and the number of theeth, with that poor manual looks like impossible to figure out, sure hope that clown who wrote that manual is working at McDonalds not.​

Ok fellows here ar the photos, hope they show what you need to see.

 

[william_b_noble]

Ok, I think I can start on a diagram, but not tonight. That terminal strip makes things more confusing. We have an AC induction motor, capacitor start, capacitor run. I see green for on and red for off, is there a separate fwd/Rev switch? I presume the switch yiu showed is mechanically maintained?

 

[lathe nut]

William, I will take some more closer details pics and draw a wiring diaghram of what it hooked up, I think someone one had did a wiring job and one of the capisators was missing i got one but the switch I don't not understand, I will get something togehter that might help, thanks, Joe

 

[harborfreight8x12]

Hi Lathe nut. I'm occupied today but I can get you pictures of the wiring from my 8x12 tomorrow. A picture should be better than 1,000 words.
Best regards, Al

 

[harborfreight8x12]

I was limited to 10 but here are the rest that I took. The On/Off safety switch is pretty clear with the black and *********** lines, the incoming green/ground is routed to a green/yellow to the motor. With the Forward/Reverse switch you can see how it's connected to the bar and the on/off switch. The last pic has the labels on the bar for all the wires. Let me know if you need more pictures.
Best regards, Al

 

[william_b_noble]

here is a schematic of how the thing has to be wired if it is a three coil motor (two run, one start), the start capacitor will be electrolytic, the run capacitor will be typically oil or at mylar. the run capacitor will have a microfarad value of single digit or low double digits, the start cap will have a larger value and will be removed from the circuit once hte motor is running. I can't tell from the photos if hte motor has 2 or 3 coils.

 

[HMEL]

Hey you all I am going back together with the lathe that a fellow gave me that had been setting in the weather for three years, cleaned up nicely, took it complete apart and painted it and going back together, was wondering if anyone might have a wiring diaghram that can be read, the one on the HF manual is terrible, I know the 8X12 has one so I am addressing him also, that wiring is above my head, guess if I have to can just put a drum switch but did want to leave it orginally, I tell you that machine is leaps and bounds above the HF 7X10, way more quality and close tolerance, any help would be appreciated, thanks, Lathe Nut.

I recommend you start with the motor. Most of the time you will find the connection diagram for the motor on the shell. If one exists note the reverse terminal and forward terminal. If it has a capacitor start it should be indicated on that diagram. If its not there you will need to get them identified by the motor manufacture. You need that diagram because there will be some sort of start winding and there is more then one type.
After you identify the terminals on the motor the switch is only going to flip the power to the terminals. You need to identify the switch terminals where that occurs. Then its a matter of grounding and proper connection of the neutral. A few times I have guessed some were successful and others not so much just be careful. I dont recommend guessing.

 

[lathe nut]

[COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]harborfre[/COLOR]ight8X12, thanks a bunch for the time and trouble you went through to take all that apart and send the pics, I do think the biggest problem that I have is that small drumm switch not being wired correctly, when I got the lathe there are two capisators on the motor, I did test one and it was bad so replaced it, got a new forward reverse switch wired it just like the other one, run fine on forward when I switch it to reverse got a pop sound, so assuming that the forward reverse switch I wired wrong and I do have a new one, so maybe who ever had it before rewired it wrong, then I followed the way it was, two wrongs don't make a right.​

william_b_noble it does have two coils, it has a start/stop switch, forward/reverse switch and does have to capisators, motor has four wires, goes to that terminal strip, then goes through the on off switch to the round drum swith through capisators, not sure on the electrical could be all wrong but when I did switch to reverse with when it poped.​

HMEL, guess you can tell I am over my head with this, I really get mad at my self, I can doing wiring, welding,mechanic work but this drum switch and what I call a rat nest of wires is over my head and buning switch and capisators is not cheap, for as the wiring diaghram with this machine is usless nothing can be read on it.​

 

[HMEL]

[COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]harborfre[/COLOR]ight8X12, thanks a bunch for the time and trouble you went through to take all that apart and send the pics, I do think the biggest problem that I have is that small drumm switch not being wired correctly, when I got the lathe there are two capisators on the motor, I did test one and it was bad so replaced it, got a new forward reverse switch wired it just like the other one, run fine on forward when I switch it to reverse got a pop sound, so assuming that the forward reverse switch I wired wrong and I do have a new one, so maybe who ever had it before rewired it wrong, then I followed the way it was, two wrongs don't make a right.​

william_b_noble it does have two coils, it has a start/stop switch, forward/reverse switch and does have to capisators, motor has four wires, goes to that terminal strip, then goes through the on off switch to the round drum swith through capisators, not sure on the electrical could be all wrong but when I did switch to reverse with when it poped.​

HMEL, guess you can tell I am over my head with this, I really get mad at my self, I can doing wiring, welding,mechanic work but this drum switch and what I call a rat nest of wires is over my head and buning switch and capisators is not cheap, for as the wiring diaghram with this machine is usless nothing can be read on it.​

Look, sometimes these things are a matter of time and patience. The drum switch is tricky in that there is internal wiring to it that flips current connections at the same time. And to make matters a little more confusing the older drum switches have the ability to change that internal wiring. So by looking at the motor terminals you can determine the configuration of the wiring to run clockwise and anti-clock wise. They will be different. So now you have two different diagrams. The drum switch or reversing switch will reconnect the terminals to give the correct wiring for each run position. Some of the terminals will not change. Color of the wires can help determine to what terminals are connected to. However, recently I came across a motor where the color code was violated because the ground was a red wire which should have been green. So you can use the color of the wires to help understand what is going on but you need to verify it.
I have a diagram of an older drum switch configuration and I will post it if I can find it.
Just dont get discouraged. It ran once it can be made to run again.

 

[lathe nut]

[COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]HMEL[/COLOR], I understand enough about the forward and reverse enough that this little switch is a tiger, all the wires are still colored coated but don't know how to hook them, copied the way it was wired when it was giving to me, had a burnt capisator maybe that is what bunt it wired wrong but here again I don't know, patience is something that I do have so will keep trying to find a wiring diaghram or an electrain who can wire it and going to take pictures and notes in case someone else get in a fix like me.​

 

[HMEL]

[COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]HMEL[/COLOR], I understand enough about the forward and reverse enough that this little switch is a tiger, all the wires are still colored coated but don't know how to hook them, copied the way it was wired when it was giving to me, had a burnt capisator maybe that is what bunt it wired wrong but here again I don't know, patience is something that I do have so will keep trying to find a wiring diaghram or an electrain who can wire it and going to take pictures and notes in case someone else get in a fix like me.​

There is a remote possibility that reversing switch is bad. Are you able to check it.

 

[lathe nut]

HMEL, have a new forward/reverse switch on it, that has not been powered up yet, I did burn one already, I hope they fired that Engineer that drew up the prints for it and the fire drill drawing for the change gears, Joe​

 

[harborfreight8x12]

Hi Lathe Nut. I didn't pull my motor out to see how the motor and capacitors were wired. Is there anything else I can do to help?
Kind regards, Al

 

[lathe nut]

harborfreight8x12​

I would not want you to go to all that trouble, if I only had a wiring diaghram that I could read to see what wire went to the number of the switch, would you do something esay for me just a pic of the door open so I can see you gear arragement, I am assumeing that the two threaded hole below the spindle shaf takes at some point a great to make a threading operation at some time, I would be glad to get it finished and in the closed in shop, will say they are leaps and bounds above the 7X10 models, thanks for your help, Joe

 

[harborfreight8x12]

Here are two pictures of my current gear setup. As you can see, I am not using the cogged belt and my gears are only setup for slow power feed for the carriage. I do not use the lathe to thread anymore because I find it too difficult and time consuming to set up the gears. The two threaded holes beneath the spindle are for forward and reverse. By adding a gear to the second threaded hole and meshing the drive gear to the extra gear you can reverse the rotation of the lead screw.