kd1yt
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2013
- Location
- Vermont, USA
After some sidetracks of other parts of life, I finished putting a new cord on the Van Norman 1R3 that I acquired a month and a half ago (had brittle insulation in the old cord that was on it), and hooked it up to my 7.5 hp RPC.
The machine is generally all original and very clean. It has tags showing that it was a US gov't machine and then a vo-tech school machine. Doesn't look like it had hard treatment in either.
Runs nicely except for the following strange behavior- in the highest RPM gearbox settings, the spindle turns in a slow and labored way (instead of at the expected high speed) and then in a short bit (I didn't watch time but I would say under 10 seconds) the protectors snap off and it shuts down. This happens all of the time in D-4 (1325 RPM) and D-3 (2000 RPM), and some of the time in C-3 (1150 RPM). All speeds/ gears below that seem to run normally. I noticed also that it seems like the "N" between "C" and "D" is an "un-find-able neutral"- the neutral spot/ locator hole/ marking is there but there is no apparent way to actually get the gearing in neutral- if turned gently by hand while shifting, as soon as it's out of C it is engaged in D, with no neutral/slack in between).
When I bought the 1R3, the seller started it up for me; he mentioned that it did not seem to be able to attain full RPM in the highest gears, which he attributed to trying to start/run the 3hp 1R3 on his 2hp RPC [which seemed credible, and I believe that he was sincere). Since I am running a 7.5hp RPC I don't think my RPC is a bottleneck. I am running things through a 10AWG drop to my shop, which I know is not ideal for large loads, but then again, the shop lights do not dim or flicker when starting the VN, which makes me think that voltage sag is not part of what is going on.
Since bringing it home I replaced the side timing belt drive belts- the ones on the machine had not failed but had signs of deterioration. The drive motor spun freely. The gearbox seems to spin freely without any binding or clashing that I can detect.
The lube in the sight window in the ram is moderately cloudy, and when the machine is run, it gets very foamy, and then even after the machine is stopped, looks sort of milky. I should and will drain and put in fresh lube (first order of business). I am debating whether to do some kind of intermediary 'flush' following the drain out of the old lube and the addition of the new lube and appreciate any suggestions on whether the flush is or is not a good idea, and if it is a good idea, suggestions on what to use to perform the flush. Wishful thinking is that fresh lube could make it run normally, but I don't want to pin my hopes on that- seems implausible that even crummy oil could create that much drag at higher RPMs.
This is my first Van Norman, and I welcome any suggestions from other more experienced VN owners whether there are any known phenomenon in the ram's gear train that could be causing this, or, even if you don't know of any known phenomena that could cause this, any suggestions on systematic ways to begin to troubleshoot & solve/ mitigate. The 1R3 has what I'd call 'clockface' shifting arms, whereas the older machines seem to have different shifting arms, but I would think that VN probably didn't change the core of the gear train a whole lot.
Thanks in advance; I am extremely impressed with everything about this 1R3 and am eager to get it running well at all speeds.
The machine is generally all original and very clean. It has tags showing that it was a US gov't machine and then a vo-tech school machine. Doesn't look like it had hard treatment in either.
Runs nicely except for the following strange behavior- in the highest RPM gearbox settings, the spindle turns in a slow and labored way (instead of at the expected high speed) and then in a short bit (I didn't watch time but I would say under 10 seconds) the protectors snap off and it shuts down. This happens all of the time in D-4 (1325 RPM) and D-3 (2000 RPM), and some of the time in C-3 (1150 RPM). All speeds/ gears below that seem to run normally. I noticed also that it seems like the "N" between "C" and "D" is an "un-find-able neutral"- the neutral spot/ locator hole/ marking is there but there is no apparent way to actually get the gearing in neutral- if turned gently by hand while shifting, as soon as it's out of C it is engaged in D, with no neutral/slack in between).
When I bought the 1R3, the seller started it up for me; he mentioned that it did not seem to be able to attain full RPM in the highest gears, which he attributed to trying to start/run the 3hp 1R3 on his 2hp RPC [which seemed credible, and I believe that he was sincere). Since I am running a 7.5hp RPC I don't think my RPC is a bottleneck. I am running things through a 10AWG drop to my shop, which I know is not ideal for large loads, but then again, the shop lights do not dim or flicker when starting the VN, which makes me think that voltage sag is not part of what is going on.
Since bringing it home I replaced the side timing belt drive belts- the ones on the machine had not failed but had signs of deterioration. The drive motor spun freely. The gearbox seems to spin freely without any binding or clashing that I can detect.
The lube in the sight window in the ram is moderately cloudy, and when the machine is run, it gets very foamy, and then even after the machine is stopped, looks sort of milky. I should and will drain and put in fresh lube (first order of business). I am debating whether to do some kind of intermediary 'flush' following the drain out of the old lube and the addition of the new lube and appreciate any suggestions on whether the flush is or is not a good idea, and if it is a good idea, suggestions on what to use to perform the flush. Wishful thinking is that fresh lube could make it run normally, but I don't want to pin my hopes on that- seems implausible that even crummy oil could create that much drag at higher RPMs.
This is my first Van Norman, and I welcome any suggestions from other more experienced VN owners whether there are any known phenomenon in the ram's gear train that could be causing this, or, even if you don't know of any known phenomena that could cause this, any suggestions on systematic ways to begin to troubleshoot & solve/ mitigate. The 1R3 has what I'd call 'clockface' shifting arms, whereas the older machines seem to have different shifting arms, but I would think that VN probably didn't change the core of the gear train a whole lot.
Thanks in advance; I am extremely impressed with everything about this 1R3 and am eager to get it running well at all speeds.