Harrison 16x60

Hi Guys,

I picked up an 16x60 Harrison lathe a couple years ago. Bought it sight unseen, kind of an impulse buy, should have looked closer at it. At any rate I have it and haven't managed to get it running.

It has the 3/5hp 2spd motor. I'm hoping to run it on my 5hp phase converter in at least low speed. The first time i tried running it the phase converter growled pretty hard, the lights dimmed and the electrical box on the lathe let out a good bit of smoke.. I blew the transformer under the rotary switch.

Seams like I need to replace that transformer, but if I'm going to cook another one.. Im thinking of other options.. Replace the motor and re wire? Bigger phase converter? Overall the lathe is pretty beat up and it might serve me well doing bigger rough work but since I haven't run it, I'm not in love it with it yet.. Unsure of how much work I should put into it.. Let me know your thoughts..

The 2 speed motors are a pigs. You will need a 10 or likey a 15 hp rotary converter to run that.

I’m considering swaping the motor to a more efficient one and using 480v to 480v vfd to start the motor a bit easier. Should be pretty easy to wire the apron switches into the vfd. I haven’t tackled a project quite like this but I have a decent understanding with what’s involved. Just looking for feedback to see if it’s a reasonable plan before I start gathering parts.

Edit
My only concern is the apron has a fwd, reverse and stop button. I assume the reverse is geared? Electronically activated? This is where I loose my understanding on how this lathe works.. It would need to have a quick reverse for tapping and what not..

raccoonreg said:

Seams like I need to replace that transformer, but if I'm going to cook another one.. Im thinking of other options.. Replace the motor and re wire? Bigger phase converter? Overall the lathe is pretty beat up and it might serve me well doing bigger rough work but since I haven't run it, I'm not in love it with it yet.. Unsure of how much work I should put into it.. Let me know your thoughts..

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If you've got single phase 220V or three phase 380V then simply buy an appropriate 4Kw inverter ( or larger ) and that's ALL.

raccoonreg said:

I’m considering swaping the motor to a more efficient one and using 480v to 480v vfd to start the motor a bit easier. Should be pretty easy to wire the apron switches into the vfd. I haven’t tackled a project quite like this but I have a decent understanding with what’s involved. Just looking for feedback to see if it’s a reasonable plan before I start gathering parts.

Edit
My only concern is the apron has a fwd, reverse and stop button. I assume the reverse is geared? Electronically activated? This is where I loose my understanding on how this lathe works.. It would need to have a quick reverse for tapping and what not..

Click to expand...

Your apron and buttons will be tied into the relay logic that controls the motor contractors. Typical spindle reverse is simply achieved by swapping any two of the incoming phases via a contractor.

You will not get "quick reverse" (i.e. equivalent of "plug reversal") with a vfd. You can integrate the existing (assumed) brake to stop it quickly.

Lakeside53 said:

You will not get "quick reverse" (i.e. equivalent of "plug reversal") with a vfd. You can integrate the existing (assumed) brake to stop it quickly.

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Surely, you must be joking.

A properly sized VFD with a properly sized load resistor will stop that machine on a dime and having S shaped acceleration will get it going again faster than anything else.

It won't on this machine - there is way too too much inertia on a big lathe; maybe somewhat acceptable at low speed when geared down, but certainly not at any reasonable spindle speed. Plug reverse of the normal three phase (no necessarily RPC derived) is a good as you can get, but a VFD lags in comparison. IF you use an real braking unit AND DC injection it's possible to get decent braking performance, but DC injection is not something to be used without experience and thermal protection of the motor. Without DC injection braking effectiveness falls with rpm effectively removing the immediate stops.

I use many VFD's and love them, but they have limits of acceleration, deceleration, and braking. Grossly over-sizing a VFD can help but that not a cost effective option for most.

WRT to sizing the vfd for the motor in question - it's likely Dahlanger wound and has miserable efficiency. I wouldn't attempt to run that on a typical 4kw/5hp vfd - a VFD really doesn't care about HP, just current, so oversize. The FLA will be on the motor name plate, but to avoid over-current trips (unless you can live with long acceleration times) time to get up to speed has to be considered on large inertia devices. Connect it only in the high speed winding configuration (you will get 2.5hp at the equivalent low speed).

Who impulse buys a 16x60 lathe? lol.

GregSY said:

Who impulse buys a 16x60 lathe? lol.

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ME !! 10 characters

I did with a 17x60. Never regretted it

Hey no kidding, To be short I was moving (slightly remote) and did not want to be without a lathe, I had bigger was better, everyone wish's they had a bigger lathe on my mind. What I really need is a slightly smaller lathe preferably with a collet chuck and a bit more tooling included. I should have waited it out and found a better machine but it was all i could afford at the time.

So it looks like upgrading my phase converter or getting a smaller lathe are my options.

At the end of the day Im unsure if this lathe is worth investing money into this lathe is wise. I have not run it, so I'm not sure how well it preforms. Granted now I see I will indefinitely need a bigger phase converter regardless.

I have many 3 phase tools so even buying one vfd seams like a waste to me unless it would cure all of my problems with this lathe as the old wiring is a bit scary to me.

Anyone have any experience with this model of Harrison, I have found little on this year/model.

every harrison i've run had a clutch/brake for the spindle. i'd look there first.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/harrison/page10.html