I bought an HLV-H and it is noisy

Dweed144 · Dec 11, 2018

I recently managed to get hold of a metric HLV-H and have just wired it all up.

It had been stored for an unknown amount of time in a relatively dry but unheated barn. There was surface rust on some of the bare metal but it was very light as most of it came off when the lathe was rubbed down with paraffin and rags.

When the machine is running it is making a racket from the motor cabinet. The sort of noise that could be squeaky belts or bearing or bushing etc. It changes with RPM and almost goes away at some speeds.

The sound seems to be more in the cabinet than up near the spindle.

Other than a quick spray of wd40 on the belts to eliminate belt squeal what should I be looking for?

This is replacing an HLV which ran whisper quiet so I'm a little anxious.

I've linked to a video of it below:

Thanks in advance for any tips!

BugRobotics · Dec 11, 2018

Just some ideas: The two pulleys appear to be moving axially along the shaft (the shaft may be moving as well) in the video and I'd imagine that isn't normal but I've never owned an HLV-H. Have you eliminated the motor bearings from the equation by spinning it without belts?

Richard King · Dec 11, 2018

I would replace the belts as they are old and setting a long while got hard and probably cracked. The machine is designed so the center pullies float back and forth, so the movement is normal. Also the belt in the lower motor plate has a rubber shock absorber washer that also maybe hard or cracked. The bearings are packed with grease and depending on how long it has set, it may have gotten hard. But replace the belts, spraying them with WD40 will make it worse I suspect. Wipe the pullies off with brake cleaner and spin them checking the shaft bearings and as the other fellow said, run the motor with-out the belts.

rons · Dec 11, 2018

Remove intermediate pulley drive and just run motor. Does any noise come from motor?
Inspect and rotate pulley drive shaft on the two end bearings. Any noise?
Does the pulley arrangement move or is it stuck in a set position?
Is there any set in the belts?

Dweed144 · Dec 14, 2018

Thanks for all your tips.
The belts feel sticky to the touch, and when I sprayed a quick burst of wd-40 on the upper belt and it silenced the lathe.
If I am to replace the belts do i approach Hardinge direct or is there a UK distributor or suitable belt supplier here in the UK that people use?

I will inspect the carriage and clutches etc soon too.

FredC · Dec 14, 2018

It has been mentioned in other discussions here that belts that did not come from Hardinge have caused problems. The only one I have replaced came from Hardinge and had no issues afterward so my experience is limited. Hardinge did have a large facility in the UK, I think they still do. If so that is where I would start looking for belts.

rons · Dec 14, 2018

Spraying one of those belt dressing liquids on a belt will mask the real problem. A temporary fix is all you get. I would not use WD-40 as you did.

Paul Babin · Dec 14, 2018

Hello,
I would try 2 simpler things:
Loosen the tension on the belts by raising up the motor plate a bit.
Secondly, I think the intermediate shaft support brgs should be changed.
It is amazing how much noise they will translate through the system.

Does the sound and issue remain the same running in reverse?

Speaking of factory belts, I have had hit or miss with them over the last 3 or 4 years.
We use Gates Multispeed belts 1626V384 and 1626V597
No cost savings thought from factory belts believe it or not.

Good luck,
Paul B

Dweed144 · Dec 17, 2018

Thanks all.

Paul -
Would raising the motor plate loosen both belts or just the lower one?
I will investigate the condition of the bushings, and also the noise in reverse.

Rons -
I'm not spraying the belts to eradicate the problem, it is a technique to isolate belt noise in the attempt to identify the issue. In this case it has shown that the upper belt is what is making the noise. Had it been a noisy bearing or bushing, the noise would have continued unabated.

Paul Babin · Dec 18, 2018

Dweed144 said:
Thanks all.

Paul -
Would raising the motor plate loosen both belts or just the lower one?
I will investigate the condition of the bushings, and also the noise in reverse.

Rons -
I'm not spraying the belts to eradicate the problem, it is a technique to isolate belt noise in the attempt to identify the issue. In this case it has shown that the upper belt is what is making the noise. Had it been a noisy bearing or bushing, the noise would have continued unabated.

Raising motor plate will loosen both belts

Peter. · Dec 18, 2018

My machine was not noisy when I saw it working but I have it stripped bare and last night serviced the intermediate pulley. The centre sheave was very stiff on the shaft and tended to bind at the ends. A quick clean out with degreaser and lubricant spray flushed whatever gunk was in there and now it's smooth as silk. To get most of it out I had to stand the pulley on end on the bench and 'pump' the slider up and down. Got quite a lot fo crap out of it.

If I had a degreaser tank I would say that was a good way of flushing it out, dump it in the tank and pump that sliding section up and down until it's flushed out clean.

rons · Dec 18, 2018

Remove motor plate nut.
Use piece of wood to raise motor plate several inches.
Remove clip on one end of pulley drive shaft with a pin wrench. A small mirror helps locate where the holes in the clip are.
Push pulley shaft towards the side where the clip was removed.
Pulley shaft will come out of opposite side bearing and will drop into your hand.
Inspect/lubricate Reaves drive and two bearings.

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