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Converting LineShaft to direct Electric Motor

Food for thought. Mounting the drive assembly to the floor or wall and not directly to the lathe will usually give you a smoother running machine.
Mike
 
converting to motor

Food for thought. Mounting the drive assembly to the floor or wall and not directly to the lathe will usually give you a smoother running machine.
Mike

I like the way you think Mike. After fooling around with different setups that vibrate pretty good, I will attach the motor with countershaft (cone pulley) to the floor and the 16" concrete foundation wall.

Thanks much
RickinMt.
 
The picture shows a really simple and effective way of setting up a countershaft with horizontal drive from the flat belt cone. Be better if the upright(ish) plank was hinged from floor level and if the motor were on a hinged platform to make belt tension adjustment a doddle. So long as the motor is reasonably hefty (but not too hefty!) a simple hinged platform with the weight of the motor doing the belt tension bit works well. Just the job for me when I needed to set-up a two speed V belt drive with pulley sizes such that the shaft centres had to vary between the two speeds to keep the belt tensioned. A fence wire strainer is a cheap source for a left and right hand threaded adjuster turnbuckle if you want to copy the neat and effective system SouthBend use on the bench lathes. Being a cheap type I simply arranged things so the weight of motor and countershaft gave enough tension. But that wasn't for a SouthBend.

A good way to make nominal zero clearance pivots which don't shake or rock and have a bit of anti vibration effect is to force thick wall rubber hose eg car heater hose into steel tube and run a pivot pin through. Weld a suitable fixing flange onto the tube first, I usually put a flat one on one side so the whole thing is P shaped. Around an inch long works fine, much more and pushing the rubber in gets real hard. Rubber needs to be a bit longer so you can put a washer or collar up against it to stop sideways slide. Vary the pin diameter to get anything from easy swing to moderate heave to move. Use two or more as appropriate.

Clive
 

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I appreciate the response Clive. Do you think I'd have any problems with chips getting inside the motor??...it is very open. The adjustable strap in my case could go under the bed with a fabricated bracket as I don't have a chip tray on this ole girl...not saying I couldn't fabricate one.

again thanks
Rick
 
Dude, did you nail that plastic switchbox to your apron??
Bad, bad,bad.

--Doozer

2385971300039077051eDAOCh_th.jpg
 
Rick

If you fancy doing something like the picture I guess the sensible way to protect the motor is to put it behind the plank and hang it under a flat hinged plate. Put reasonable size sides on plank and plate so they are sorta U shape and it should keep the chips out OK. Common sense and Eyeball Engineering will do just fine here. Basically if you can see the holes in the motor case from oop top then chips will get in. Don't hafta use a plank for the main structure of course, battens , angle, tube or whatever you can "obtain" will do just fine although if you use a frame structure you will obviously need to add covering material for chip shielding.

I don't especially like the suggested screw clamp bar for belt tension adjustment. If you don't go the over-centre lever way consider a closed end slot in the bar with a fixed pin running through it and a screw projecting into the slot from the outside end to set how far things can swing back. If the weight of motor and countershaft doesn't give enough tension add a spring or bungee strap.

Do remember to build things so you have a bit of twist n'tilt adjustment on the countershaft to get the spindle and countershaft pulleys exactly aligned. I know a guy who carefully engineered a bench mount system without such adjustment provisions in a manner that made it virtually impossible to add them afterwards to adjust in situ. When persistent belt throwing underlined the error the language was, I'm told by a horrified listener, impressive in volume and content. (Its hard to listen and curse simultaneously.)

Clive
 
SB Lathe

Dude, did you nail that plastic switchbox to your apron??
Bad, bad,bad.

--Doozer

2385971300039077051eDAOCh_th.jpg

Good eye...that's quite offensive to me also. I don't know how it's attached. I like the idea of having the switch there for obvious reasons. My plan is to switch a magnet starter (relay) for motor control. Anyway the plastic has to go...do you have any suggestions?

Thanks much for the reply
Rick
 
SB Lathe

Rick

Do remember to build things so you have a bit of twist n'tilt adjustment on the countershaft to get the spindle and countershaft pulleys exactly aligned. I know a guy who carefully engineered a bench mount system without such adjustment provisions in a manner that made it virtually impossible to add them afterwards to adjust in situ. When persistent belt throwing underlined the error the language was, I'm told by a horrified listener, impressive in volume and content. (Its hard to listen and curse simultaneously.)

Clive

Thanks for taking the time and trouble Clive! !

My present design will be to use two 2-5/16" OD pipe (price is right), attach them hellfer stout to the concrete foundation and have 90 bends outward for mounting the countershaft and motor assembly above the headstock. I'm thinking a prototype to get belt tension and alignment correct, provisions for tweaking. It wouldn't surprise me if I need more support for the pipe and possibly use some anti-vibration connection to wall. But hopefully the only thing touching the lathe will be the 2 inch flat belt. I can pull down on a lever to loosen the belt and also have mechanical limit stops just in case belt comes apart.

I hope I've put it out good enough for you to vision

Regards,
Rick
 








 
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