New motor for my 11" Logan

[gbritnell]

I bought my Logan lathe about 7 years ago. It came from the widow of the fellow that originally purchased it. I'm assuming by the model number it was made in the late 50's. It has, or should I say had, a 3/4 horse, single phase, cap start, 1750 motor.
Not long after I got it every once in awhile when I turned it on (drum switch) it would really growl and if left on after about 30 seconds it would trip the breaker (20 amps). I had it looked at and the fellow said it was an excellent motor but just needed cleaned and checked out. I reinstalled it, real son-of-a-gun, with the weight and being under the lathe in the cabinet.
Over the years it has served me well but every once in awhile it would do that growling thing again. You couldn't pin it down to anything, hot start, cold start, multi starts.
About a month ago I started acting up again but this time it wouldn't go away. I took it to a new motor shop to have them look at it. After a week the fellow said that he adjusted the starter points but because of it's age and lack of parts he couldn't guarantee anything, but it was running good. I picked it up, put it back in, ugh, and fired it up. Everything seemed great, for three days, then back it it's old tricks.
I called the repairman up and explained the situation to which he said "well because of it's age there's not much I can do". I said " but don't you think is should have lasted more than a week"? He said to bring it back in and he would have another look with no charge.
When I got it there he put it on the bench and turned it on, bugger, it ran fine!! I thanked him for his time and took it home and put it back in. I'm getting pretty good at it. Well two days later, you know what!!! I started it repeatedly with no success so I took it out and pulled it apart. All the wiring looked good, no hot spots, kick out switch was operating.
At this point I didn't know what to do. My dilemma is that it's an old 3/4 horse motor so it has a .75 dia. shaft, the center height is higher and the Logan bracket is made for a 66 motor frame. The new 3/4 horse motors have 5/8 dia. shafts with a lower center height and a 56 frame.
I knew I could pick up a new Dayton motor quite reasonably on Ebay but didn't want to go to the extra work of making an adapter plate and bushing for the pulley, not to mention rewiring the drum switch.
Being as the motor was out I called the repairman one last time and being the accommodating fellow that he was he said bring it back in. I waited almost two weeks and then called. He said that he tore it all apart and could find nothing so it must have an internal short. I couldn't get too upset with him but I had to ask myself " if someone has been working on these things for many years wouldn't a resistance check have shown if there was a short in the windings"?
Anyway it was time to move on. I took the relic home and left it in the garage for trash day. I then ordered a new Dayton 3/4 horse, TEFC, sealed ball bearing, capacitor start motor, reversible motor from Ebay for $127 including shipping. I got the motor Saturday and after measuring and making a drawing I started making the adapter plate and bushing. With that out of the way it was time to sort out the drum switch/motor connections. After one unsuccessful hookup I got it right. The motor is now in place, humming along nicely and should last well into the next owner's lifetime. If it doesn't at least it will be easier to install a new one. I think the old one weighed about 55 lbs. and the new one is about 35 lbs.
gbritnell

 

[ieezitin]

Hello George.

I love reading your posts please don’t take this the wrong way try to put your writings into paragraphs. Its hard on the eyes if its in one block I think people miss a lot on what you are trying to convey through straining to read your message.

With all due respect. Anthony.

 

[Stan]

You said you took your motor to a new motor shop. If he can't test a motor, he will never get to be an old motor shop. Did anyone think to change the start capacitor. An open in the cap is much more likely than a short in a winding. Winding shorts show up with Hi-pot testing. Intermittent connections show up on load test.

 

[Philjoe5]

Well George, I'm glad your story had a happy ending. Nothing more frustrating than the intermittent electrical issue. :'(

Cheers,
Phil

 

[gbritnell]

Hi Anthony, no offense taken. I went back an changed it as best I could. These days I have enough trouble with periods and commas no less paragraphs. My only recollection was that the paragraph changed when the subject changed. I'll go online and search out some grammar information.
Thanks,
gbritnell

 

[mklotz]

George,

It is true that you should start a new paragraph with a change in subject but that doesn't mean that you can't introduce paragraph breaks to improve readability. IMO, it's author's choice.

Separating these paragraphs with a blank line really improves readability. The blank lines provide "anchor points" for the eyes so they can maintain registration when they move from the end of one line of text to the next.

I don't understand the neural basis for this phenomenon but, regardless, it's true and many people have reported difficulty in reading a solid, unbroken block of text, myself included.

My personal rule is to try to never have more than five sentences in a paragraph. Given that I often write long complicated sentences when trying to explain a complex topic, I often have paragraphs of only one or two sentences.

 

[black85vette]

I agree with Marv. Not so much a proper grammar thing as it is an ease of following with the eyes. I don't adhere to strict subject changes but break up thoughts, ideas or sections logically. (at least logical to me).

Glad you got your motor sorted out. My buddy had a similar problem with a big Bridgeport mill and went to the trouble of making an adapter plate so he could use a generic off the shelf motor. Much cheaper than having the original rebuilt and now much easier to replace. I think you went the right direction.