New (novice) owner of Schaublin 102-VM with a couple of questions

Hi all,

I'm the new owner of a Schaublin 102-VM (1953 model) which I've inherited. It seems to be in good condition and is very complete with many accessories, including a vertical milling attachment.



I'm a novice to lathe work so my plan is to just get to grips with it and see where I go from there - I would imagine that any projects I do will be on the smaller scale for the foreseeable future.

I'm just in the process of cleaning it up, changing it's oils and generally getting to know it and now have a couple of questions that I hope others on this group may be able to help me with.

The first relates to the coolant bath - is there an easy way of pulling the bath out of the stand's right hand leg so that I can empty it and give it a clean-up? As far as I can tell, I'd have to disconnect the flow pipe from the the top of the motor and an extension piece that is on the return pipe which should then allow me to pull the bath out a little although the motor will still be connected to the power.

It seems a bit of a cumbersome process and I wondered if I'm just missing something really obvious?

The second question I have relates to any recommendations for converting my single phase supply to 3 phase. I've spoken briefly to Dave at Drives Direct (all links seem to lead to his website!) and by the sounds of it a digital phase converter is the way to go but there are a couple of options I have on this....

1. a 'plug and play' solution which uses a more expensive, higher capacity converter that would allow me to just plug the lathe into a 3 phase socket. This would let me utilise the lathe's inbuilt controls, and the auxiliary drive and coolant motors would also work in the original way intended. I'd also be able to run other 3 phase machines from the same converter in the future should I need to (one at a time though).

2. a smaller dedicated converter wired directly to the lathe. The main benefit of this would be that I'd gain soft-start and speed control via the converter itself but with the caveat that the speed control would then affect all 3 motors.

Given that I'm unlikely to ever need to run the main and auxiliary motors at the same time (as far as I'm aware anyhow) and I suspect that I can just manually apply coolant from a bottle as required, it seems like option 2 might be my best choice.

I'd be grateful for any feedback anyone can provide on these two topics!

Cheers, Ross.

Ross,
Just one caveat: your second option (i.e. a VFD) could appear cheaper at first sight, but VFDs do not tolerate anything between them and the motor (singular!). And a VFD could run only a motor at the time (except for very special cases (e.g. multiple identical motors with same load, like on conveyor belts).

Having coolant capabilities is very nice and I wouldn't give it up. And, if the wiring is sound, I wouldn't mess up with the original wiring of the machine either.

I would therefore suggest getting/making a rotary phase converter.

Paolo

Thanks for those tips Paolo.

My (very limited) understanding at this point had led me to believe that a 'Digital Phase Converter' was the way to go rather than a rotary phase converter but so far most of my knowledge on this topic comes from here:-

Drives Direct - Digital Phase Converters - How To Choose

From that info it sounds like a digital phase converter is 'the perfect solution' but I'm obviously aware that the info comes from a site that sells them!

The three motors on my lathe are:-

Spindle motor: 420V, 2.7/3.4A (approx. 2 hp?)
Auxiliary motor: 230/400V, 1.2/0.7A (approx. 0.7 hp?)
Coolant motor: 400/230V, 0.21/0.36A (approx. 0.2 hp?)

I think the 3hp digital phase converter that Drives Direct were pointing me to was this one:-

3HP DIGITAL 24V to 415V 3 PHASE INVERTER CONVERTER for LATHE MILL DRILL SAW etc | eBay

And the alternative solution Direct Drives were recommending was to go for a 5hp one which comes out at twice the price:-

5 HP 24V to 415V DIGITAL PLUG & PLAY 3 PHASE CONVERTER INVERTER LATHE MILLING | eBay

As far as I understand, the bigger unit would have the capacity to cope with the lathe’s own motor controls being used while the converter is on (ie. plug and play) but in that case I wouldn’t have the benefit of a soft start and speed control that wiring the 3hp one directly to the lathe would provide.

Cheers, Ross.

Lucky you, the 102VM is a beauty.
If you need extra backplates for chucks, I believe they are the same fit as for the EMCO MAXIMAT COMPACT 3100, which might be a donor for some other parts too.
I have a MAXIMAT COMPACT 3100 but not parting from it. I just know some of the parts are compatible with the Schaublin 102. They come from the same era and same region of the world (Switzerland & Austria); they might have tried to define some standard at the time. I know I can use W20 collets which are often found on Shaublins..

Mine is also with a 3-phase motor, and the solution I found was to get a petrol based electric generator and plug my lathe on it. It worked great. I could put you in touch with the shop that sold me the generator if you want. I am based in Switzerland.

Best regards

Laurent

I'd go with the VFD - get two or three if you want to run more motors. They are inexpensive in the smaller sizes, are compact and work perfectly. Power is there when you need it, no walking across the shop to start an RPC or generator and, best of all, no droning noise in the background. That's a lathe that deserves to be used with peace and tranquility lol. I have an RPC but for small HP's, because the cost is so low, prefer a VFD for convenience, silence etc.

Digital 3P, like a Phase Perfect, would be the ideal solution, but they're several thousand dollars vs hundreds for a VFD. I'm not familiar with the one you linked to, but make sure its generating 3P and can have multiple motors hooked up....it looks like a VFD and has speed control so maybe suspect, but I confess that's more guessing than knowing.

I agree its best to wire directly from VFD to the motor, but its not too difficult to use the original controls - just hook them up using the low voltage control terminals on the VFD

Beautiful lathe btw.