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Monarch 60

farmtruck1

Plastic
Joined
Nov 22, 2021
Picked this up from a retired toolmaker who was moving. Went to look at a different lathe and found this lurking in the corner. $500 was too good to pass up and I hauled it home with some help.

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One selector knob was broken at some point and the taper clamp seems to have gone missing, but otherwise it looks to be in very good shape. Looks like it was oiled up and just left to sit. Going to get it cleaned up and under power over the next few weeks. Have found a lot of good info on these machines here and figured a few pictures might be appreciated.

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You guys and your free machines, $500 machines. . .make me sick ! Drag some down to Texas please. :D

That's a toolroom lathe with taper attachment and lead screw reverse.

Original 60's had an open qcgb, you have the newer closed qcgb which I like.

I've got pretty much the identical lathe in a Series 61. What's your spindles top speed rated ?
 
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Actually this machine started it's life in Texas. The Hughes (Howard) tool company in Texas ordered it in 1951. Was bought at auction and ended up in Windsor VT with a toolmaker. Kinda neat that Monarch still has all the specs down to who originally bought it. Anyhow this one runs from 12-700RPM. Does your 61 have rapid traverse?

Got the machine fully level today and adjusted a range shift fork. Looking forward to putting it under power and taking a few test cuts. The machine's got a monster 20HP 3 phase instead of the 7.5 it came with, but the RPM is close enough so I'll leave it alone. Derating won't be an issue, but need to sit down and work out a larger static converter, thankfully it starts unloaded.

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I don't have rapids, nor do you in case you were unsure. But on our length beds that fine. Rapids would be more useful on the longer beds.

You may have found the manuals already, if not here's some links in posts #3 and #5:
monarch series 60\61 parts

My spindle speed is rated at a 1000 rpm, which yours can do too. If someone changed the motor to higher hp, they might have changed a pulley diameter too. If you're ever curious and want to raise or lower the speed, this calculator could help:
Pulley Calculator. RPM, Belt Length, Speed, Animated Diagrams

You no doubt have your own plan, but if it were me, I might yank out that 20hp motor and use it as the idler in a rotary phase convertor. Then stick a 10 or 7.5 hp motor in the lathe.

I don't think he has the handle you're missing, but Mike Thomas still has other parts. Might try this thread, or pm him. If you can't reach him, pm me and i'll shoot him a text:
Parting out Series 60/61 16 by 54 lathe
 
With the lead screw reverse, threading on those 60/61 Monarchs is a dream!

Wish mine had the bed length and SWING yours has!
 
Yeah I know I don't have rapid traverse, does seem like a cool feature though. I actually found this forum looking for those manuals! Looks like you beat me to those knobs. What size is the motor pulley on your 60?

It does appear that running the 20hp in the lathe off a static converter will be rough. Will be a great idler for a rotary though. Looks like I'll be buying yet another motor.

Going to call Monarch tomorrow to ask what size motor pulley this came with/see what speeds the headstock can safely handle. Can afford to lose a little on the low end to bump the high end. Gotta say I'm leery about overspinning a large chuck. I'm more familiar with HSS, but the machine came with lots of carbide tooling so I have some reading to do before selecting a motor.

With the lead screw reverse, threading on those 60/61 Monarchs is a dream!

Wish mine had the bed length and SWING yours has!

I think it's going to be a fun machine to run. I very much appreciate you digging out a spare for the broken knob on my machine!
 
Great find! A twin to my old girl. Mine came from the factory with a 15 horse motor which I believe was as big as Monarch installed in that size machine.
 
What size is the motor pulley on your 60?

My motor pulley OD is 7". Headstock pulley OD is 11.5". 10hp rated at 1750 according to the tag on the door frame. I didn't climb on top of the motor to confirm yet, but feel pretty sure mine is original, all the interior paint matches.

Assuming all numbers are right, and assuming top spindle speed is 1:1 with headstock pulley, then my top spindle speed would be 1065rpm. But headstock chart shows 1000 even. When it runs I'll shoot it with a photo tach.

Not sure if you removed the base doors for transport or not. I know Mike Thomas was missing a small door, but he has the rest I believe.
 
Some years back we purchased a model CCB, it's an early 1940's model.
It came out of a lumber mills machine shop in Oregon, they were the original owners having purchased it new just before the outbreak of World War II, aside from being very dusty it was in near new condition.
It's equipped with a 15 H.P. motor that was factory installed.
These Monarchs will last forever.
 
My original pulley is 5 1/8 for a 700 top end. Either the ratio isn't 1-1 or there is some slip. My other lathe with a 1-1 has an rpm of 1627 at 60hz with a 4 pole motor. Dave
 
My original pulley is 5 1/8 for a 700 top end. Either the ratio isn't 1-1 or there is some slip. My other lathe with a 1-1 has an rpm of 1627 at 60hz with a 4 pole motor. Dave

At 5 1/8" on motor, and if you have 11.5" headstock pulley, and we'll guess 1750rpm motor. That equals 780rpm of the top pulley.

We'd really have to shoot with a tach to know exact numbers. But I'm wondering if its like the lathe's rated vs actual swing, where a 16" actually has 18.5" swing. Maybe the same on speeds. . .
 
My motor pulley OD is 7". Headstock pulley OD is 11.5". 10hp rated at 1750 according to the tag on the door frame. I didn't climb on top of the motor to confirm yet, but feel pretty sure mine is original, all the interior paint matches.

Assuming all numbers are right, and assuming top spindle speed is 1:1 with headstock pulley, then my top spindle speed would be 1065rpm. But headstock chart shows 1000 even. When it runs I'll shoot it with a photo tach.

Not sure if you removed the base doors for transport or not. I know Mike Thomas was missing a small door, but he has the rest I believe.

My original pulley is 5 1/8 for a 700 top end. Either the ratio isn't 1-1 or there is some slip. My other lathe with a 1-1 has an rpm of 1627 at 60hz with a 4 pole motor. Dave

Thank you guys, this is very useful info. Mine has 11.5 at the head and 5.125 at the motor @1800rpm. Should give like 800 RPM on spindle, so top speed is .875 reduction. Will likely count the gear teeth when I refill the head. Pulled the 20HP to use as a rotary, waiting on a used 10hp 1800rpm to arrive along with a rotary panel. Likely won't be much more progress until wired up in a couple weeks.

I have all the doors minus the small front one sitting in a pile.

If anyone has a taper clamp would they take measurements along with a couple good photos? Monarch wants an arm/leg/left nut/firstborn for one.
 
Nice find! You stole that machine for $500. With a taper attachment.
I pulled the 20HP out of my 612 to make an RPC and replaced it with a 10. Plenty of HP for any use in my experience.
I have the rapids, not really sure it's a plus on a 50" ballpark bed given the added complexity.
 
Well finally found a good salvage motor for the lathe, same motor frame as the old one which was nice. Not very nice removing the old motor and installing the new one...

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Used the old 20HP lathe motor as an RPC and into a 3phase subpanel. Might just get the lathe up and running next weekend! Will also now be able to get rid of several VFD's.

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Not sure why my photos are sideways...
 
Well the salvaged motor turned out to be a real POS. Smoked after 10-15 seconds, took out the lathe contactors too. Guess I should have bench tested it, shop smells just great now.

Going to buy a NEW 10HP motor and guess I'll rewire the start/safety stop w a new contactor. What fun.
 
Well the salvaged motor turned out to be a real POS. Smoked after 10-15 seconds, took out the lathe contactors too. Guess I should have bench tested it, shop smells just great now.

Going to buy a NEW 10HP motor and guess I'll rewire the start/safety stop w a new contactor. What fun.

Sorry for the bad break. I'm guessing the 20hp rpc is up and running ? Just out of curiousity, have you used it to run anything else ? Checked the voltage etc ?

For motors, especially used, unknown motors, I like to check resistance across all the leads. I open the connection box on it, and separate all the wires so they are not connected to anything or each other. Setting my meter to ohms, I check each wire for resistance to the motor housing itself, then to every other wire. On some you may read something, but it should not be a hard, low resistance reading, like 0.0 or 0.1 . And on most you'll see OL anyway.
 
Well the salvaged motor turned out to be a real POS. Smoked after 10-15 seconds, took out the lathe contactors too. Guess I should have bench tested it, shop smells just great now.

Going to buy a NEW 10HP motor and guess I'll rewire the start/safety stop w a new contactor. What fun.
I have a 10hp motor listed in the for sale section in case you're interested.

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...on-10hp-inverter-duty-motor-lenze-vfd-397773/

Jeff in long beach ca.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
 
Sorry for the bad break. I'm guessing the 20hp rpc is up and running ? Just out of curiousity, have you used it to run anything else ? Checked the voltage etc ?

For motors, especially used, unknown motors, I like to check resistance across all the leads. I open the connection box on it, and separate all the wires so they are not connected to anything or each other. Setting my meter to ohms, I check each wire for resistance to the motor housing itself, then to every other wire. On some you may read something, but it should not be a hard, low resistance reading, like 0.0 or 0.1 . And on most you'll see OL anyway.

Yeah I should have taken a better look at the motor before hooking it up. It looked clean and I rook their word that it came off a running machine. After some griping I got my money back at least. Motor is scrap, not worth rewinding.

RPC seems to work. Legs are 124v-124v-216v. ~246v line to line. Ran another slower 10HP, and the surface grinder without issue.

I have a 10hp motor listed in the for sale section in case you're interested.

FS: new Leeson 10hp inverter duty motor and Lenze vfd.

Jeff in long beach ca.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

Possibly, but shipping cross coast might no make sense. Will shoot you a message!
 
Ok, the damn thing is running. Swapped in a 1200rpm 10HP, and moved the pulley size to 9". Correct oil for the headstock isn't available locally, so waiting for a shipment. Should be taking a few test cuts next week before I clean it up any further and deal with a few cosmetic issues.

 








 
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