Is this 10EE worth saving?

[Donn]

Hello. I've been cleaning out a shop filled with older equipment and came across a 1946 Monarch 10EE lathe. The electrical panel is separate from the machine and stands about 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The tubes are located in it along with the rest of the electronics. The original motor has been replaced with a three phase 3 hp motor, but remains in the shop. The machine is dirty but otherwise in good shape other than the drive.
It has the turret tailstock and the traditional tailstock as well as chucks, steady, and collet closer. Just no original drive besides the big cabinet which I don't want to get involved with. Is it a candidate for parting out or could it live again? opinions? Thank you.

 

[zamboni2354]

If the ways aren't trashed and mechanically it seems OK then it can be save most likely. But if you part it out shoot me a PM on the 5c lever closer please [emoji1303]

Jeff in long beach

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[bsg]

Hello. I've been cleaning out a shop filled with older equipment and came across a 1946 Monarch 10EE lathe. The electrical panel is separate from the machine and stands about 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The tubes are located in it along with the rest of the electronics. The original motor has been replaced with a three phase 3 hp motor, but remains in the shop. The machine is dirty but otherwise in good shape other than the drive.
It has the turret tailstock and the traditional tailstock as well as chucks, steady, and collet closer. Just no original drive besides the big cabinet which I don't want to get involved with. Is it a candidate for parting out or could it live again? opinions? Thank you.
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A lot of good usable parts, I would be interested in parts or the whole machine?

Kevin

 

[Donn]

I guess it could be worse. I haven’t seen many control cabinets this size with these lathes. Is it possible its for a hydraulic tracer attachment or something else. There are a lot of switches on the face of it. I guess I'll try and get it moved out of it's current location and give it some attention.

 

[rimcanyon]

Looks like a winner to me, but I don't know if you like projects or just want something running. The original motor and drive look quite interesting, more photos would be good. This might be one of the very first tube-drive machines Monarch made, and it is the earliest I know of with the electronics in a separate cabinet. If you don't want the original drive, you can install a 5-10HP 3phase motor and adapt the 2-speed gearbox to the motor, there are many threads on the forum. Please don't buy it and part it out, it looks like it is in good condition.

 

[Don's Engine]

Rimcanyon is absolutely right. An AC - VFD repower is a quick and cheap way to get this turning again. The machine itself looks fine. I wouldn't art it out. Don

 

[Kingbob]

A monarch 10EE is such that you could clean and paint it and put a "Barnwood" table top on it and some stupid fucking hipster would pay $10k for it.

 

[jlegge]

That is turret lathe version of the EE that Monarch has several names for. The big electrical cabinet should have switch's and knobs on the back side that control different cycles. Not many have a use of this version of the EE as it does not have a lead screw so can not do any threading. The good news is that (as other have stated) would make a good lathe to part as nearly all of this version had the same parts as the standard EE and could be worth way more in parts than as a complete machine.

John

 

[rklopp]

No, this OP machine has a lead screw, half-nuts, and threading gearbox. It is a genuine 10EE.


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[Cal Haines]

Hello. I've been cleaning out a shop filled with older equipment and came across a 1946 Monarch 10EE lathe. The electrical panel is separate from the machine and stands about 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The tubes are located in it along with the rest of the electronics. The original motor has been replaced with a three phase 3 hp motor, but remains in the shop. The machine is dirty but otherwise in good shape other than the drive. ...
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This was originally a motor/generator (MG) machine. You can see the MG peeking out from the cover under the chip pan. The original DC control panel appears to be sitting on its side next to the spindle motor.

I don't see any tubes in the photos of the electrical cabinet.

Do you have a photo of the original motor? If you have the original 3HP Reliance DC motor and back-gear unit, then you have most of the parts of the original drive. The big Ohmite rheostat pair is the only other thing you would need to account for.

Cal

 

[Donn]

Spent the day moving this machine. As previously stated, it does have a lead screw and half nuts and thread dial. Its serial is EE27728. It did have the tubes in the large control cabinet but someone removed them. The original motor is in a box with the machine and I believe the generator is visible with the end cover removed.
I've taken a few more pics but I think I cracked my camera lens because they are blurry. I also have the safety cover that swings over the chuck along with the other things I mentioned. I'm not sure I'll use the turret tailstock since I also got a Hardinge DV-59 with the turret tailstock with this machine. I'll probably use the regular tailstock. So I guess I'm not parting it out and going to try to revive it. Sorry for the sideways photos, I don't know why it does that. Probably the way I was holding the phone.

 

[DaveKamp]

it's a winner! Those controls probably have something to do with the turret, and whatever purpose it was to serve... probably for producing the same part over and over, where each tool required a different speed.

I wouldn't be surprised if all the original (unrelated to the big cabinet) stuff is operable, that big cabinet wasn't added as a repair. They probably utilized the cabinet as a control basis for a non-MG spindle motor power source.

 

[Cal Haines]

... The original motor is in a box with the machine and I believe the generator is visible with the end cover removed.
...
Sorry for the sideways photos, I don't know why it does that. Probably the way I was holding the phone.

View attachment 344135

Do you have a photo of the original motor?

The photo above is of the generator end of the motor/generator. The belt-drive DC exiter that mounts above the generator is missing.

The sideways photos are a problem with the website. It doesn't recognize the image orientation info that the camera stores with the photo.

Cal

 

[Donn]

Here is the original motor. Not sure what Im looking at with the output shaft attached to the front of it.
I guess this is the DC motor. How would this attach to the generator at the other end of the machine?
OK having re read the last reply, I see 3 points where the exciter would have bolted on top of the generator.

 

[Hobby Racer]

Here is the original motor. Not sure what Im looking at with the output shaft attached to the front of it.
I guess this is the DC motor. How would this attach to the generator at the other end of the machine?
OK having re read the last reply, I see 3 points where the exciter would have bolted on top of the generator.
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That is the original 3hp Reliance Large Frame DC motor with the attached gear box. It does not physically attach to the motor at the other end of the machine. The motors at the other end of the machine work like this.

The large 3 phase AC motor in the center of the machine spins the DC generator that is on the same armature shaft. That generates DC power that is fed to the DC spindle motor to drive the lathe's spindle.

There is also the exciter motor mounted to the top of the motor/generator that creates DC voltage for the field windings in both the generator and the DC spindle motor. As stated previously, you are missing the exciter unit.

I know, three motors to spin one motor, seems crazy but remember these are based on 80 year old technology.

I just got done rebuilding the exact same motor and gearbox. Quite simple, but reliable.

 

[Donn]

Rimcanyon is absolutely right. An AC - VFD repower is a quick and cheap way to get this turning again. The machine itself looks fine. I wouldn't art it out. Don

Probably what I'll have to do since I'm missing parts and just about all of the drive components. Saw your video. Very well explained. Nice work. Now I know thats the back gear on the motor output shaft.

 

[Donn]

Uh. No. Much older.


The turret? Well. It isn't as much in the way as one might first think, either. Don't get overly hasty to shed it just yet.

Keep in mind the long-axis traverse is only 20" .. so ...a 10EE isn't yer first choice for doing tugboat prop shafts. schoolbus driveshafts, or contouring rifle barrels, anyway..

Good advice. Nice small machine is what I need. The turret is nice to have for sure. May wind up keeping it on. I have bigger lathes and a Haas TL=1 for those rifle barrels. Just not up to speed on the 10EE.

 

[Donn]

I don't have the big control cabinet or any of the tubes. Perhaps DC solid state is the way to go. I thank you for the info.
You obviously know your stuff with these machines. At this point I guess I need to inventory exactly what I do and don't have.

 

[Hobby Racer]

I don't have the big control cabinet or any of the tubes. Perhaps DC solid state is the way to go. I thank you for the info.
You obviously know your stuff with these machines. At this point I guess I need to inventory exactly what I do and don't have.

From what I can see in the pictures, looks like you are only missing the exciter DC generator and the Ohmite resistors. Like Thermite says, if you put the OEM DC motor back, rip out all that cabinet stuff, you'll have a great little machine again with all the DC motor goodness!

In fact, I have a spare entire MG unit with exciter and Ohmite resisters right now. I just upgraded my MG era 10ee with a modern Solid State DC Drive system as outlined in the sticky threads section of this forum. Before you decide to go VFD, you should read through this thread first. A better option in my opinion since you have the OEM DC motor and gear box already.

Parker 514C/507 DC Drive Retrofit ('61 Modular)

 

[Phil in Montana]

Worth more in parts and you dont have to make it run...Phil