10EE Spindle Motor Mounting Options

I'm almost to the point of installing the spindle motor and gearbox into my project 10EE. It's a 57 square dial but missing all the original WIAD components. After discussion with Monarch, they sold me a 5HP A/C motor that came from one of their rebuild cores. It's on a rectangle base plate that supports both the motor and the gearbox, it must have been from a later model. My lathe had a triangular base plate that had mounts for the motor but not the gear box. The newer base plate would not fit in the base, the hole in the bottom is to big.

Given the background info: I would like to hear options from your experience. Do you think I would have problems if I mounted the rectangle base plate to the triangular one? Belt length, gear box control etc...

thanks,

Jim

The old base plate should work . However, you may have to make long spacers out of 1x2 or 3/4 x 2 stock between the motor/gearbox and the base plate. The heights may also be different. (Bottom of gearbox tabs to base plate and motor base to baseplate). The holes in the 1x2 or 3/4 x2 stock will need to be counterbored to mount to the the original base plate. shimming may be necessary. I have done several conversions using this method. Also be aware that there may be little room at the rear of the motor compartment. Hope this makes sense. Paul

I just checked my conversion, I used 1x2 CRS Rails front to back. Also, With the motor I used, I had to reverse the motor pecker head to the other side. That involved dis-assembly of the motor and rotating the field 180 degrees. I also have an encoder mounted to the end of the motor. Things are a little tight in there. like a said earlier, I had a height difference to deal with.

Thanks for the suggestion. So you had the rails perpendicular to the motor shaft?

Jim

Yes, here is a picture showing the gearbox mounted to the the 1x2. You may need to replace the belts with a shorter length. It' been a while since I have done a conversion. Paul

I wouldn't worry about it, mock it up with clamps, transfer the hole pattern over and drill (and maybe tap...)

I don't know if you have a target lower-sheave centerline to go with on your lathe, seems like I might have that dimension somewhere from a stalled project.

Its pretty flexible though, the main thing is that the idlers will be able to adjust to place a bit of mid-tension on the long unsupported spans of the belt to avoid harmonic-slap and that you have a way to tension the belt by lowering the plate (guessing you do with the original design).

The B-series v-belts are available in 1 inch circumference increments. I would not sweat making a change there if you had to customize.

The back gear linkage could need a bit of tweaking if you went too far, but its just a bent push-rod and fork design as I recall it in my mind's eye.