Need a new motor for South Bend

[Tincamp01]

I may fix my motor and hold on to it for something else, then look at the 3 phase set up. Closing in a retirement in a few months and expect to spend more time in my home shop after that. Assuming the Dr’s can get my stroke related balance problems worked out. Funny how we do all kinds of calculating and planning and then life throws us a curve ball. But, it has given me all kinds of time on the internet and inspecting equipment and coming up with new things I need to have.

[Tincamp01]

On the subject of scrap yards, I live in NY State, too many safety violations have to occur to allow an outsider in the yard. I haven’t even tried in years, since the last time they said no.

[Doozer]

On the subject of scrap yards, I live in NY State, too many safety violations have to occur to allow an outsider in the yard. I haven’t even tried in years, since the last time they said no.

In Buffalo NY, I used to take short iron scraps into Horowitz Brothers every other week
and no trouble letting me look around. I brought in barrels of scrap on my 40 foot
gooseneck trailer pulled by my dump truck. Not a weekend scrap bottom feeder.
I used to ride motorcycles with a guy who's
brother owned the Steel City yard on South Park.
Never a problem there either.
You guys with bad luck going to the scrap yard must not fit their description.
You need to establish yourself first. The rules are for the everyday chumps.
Get bonafide.

-Doozer

[RB211]

In Buffalo NY, I used to take short iron scraps into Horowitz Brothers every other week
and no trouble letting me look around. I brought in barrels of scrap on my 40 foot
gooseneck trailer pulled by my dump truck. Not a weekend scrap bottom feeder.
I used to ride motorcycles with a guy who's
brother owned the Steel City yard on South Park.
Never a problem there either.
You guys with bad luck going to the scrap yard must not fit their description.
You need to establish yourself first. The rules are for the everyday chumps.
Get bonafide.

-Doozer

Sounds like way too much work. My local scrapper sells Aluminum and stainless, also sells new stock

[J Tiers]

It is called making friends.
Every time I go to the scrap yard,
the guy who unloads me, I give him
$10 gratuity. Then I ask if he has some
steel or whatever, such and such a size.
I am never refused the opportunity to
look around and buy something out of
their yard. Try it. It works.

-Doozer

No, actually it's a lot of folks who probably pissed them off. Maybe someone sued, no idea. But suddenly all the scrap yards down "scrap row" just cut it off. Didn;t matter if you knew them or not.

There is one big one that's open to the public, or was, but they just had a big fire, and I don;t know what''s up with that place now. But it is more "retail scrap".

[PStechPaul]

It is possible to rewind a single phase motor to three phase. I did it for several scrap motors, although I used way fewer turns of heavy magnet wire (#18 or #16) for nominal 8 VAC because I wanted to run it directly on a 12V battery. I also used a winding scheme that gave 12 poles for a 36 slot stator, and 8 poles for a 24 slot stator. So they ran at 600 RPM or 900 RPM. Some discussion on this:

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-rewin...uld-I-consider

[Jerrythepilot]

You don't want to leave the motor humming, it will burn up, and may have already if you're getting a burned odor. If you disconnect the belt, turn the motor on, and as soon as it starts to hum give the pulley a spin and the motor runs fine then you've pretty much proves it's a bad run capacitor. It's a cheap and easy repair. As mentioned, the start switch is also fairly easy to fix also.

[Jim Stewart]

You don't want to leave the motor humming, it will burn up, and may have already if you're getting a burned odor. If you disconnect the belt, turn the motor on, and as soon as it starts to hum give the pulley a spin and the motor runs fine then you've pretty much proves it's a bad run capacitor. It's a cheap and easy repair. As mentioned, the start switch is also fairly easy to fix also.

You mean bad start capacitor, no?

-js

[Jerrythepilot]

Yep, thanks. Start capacitor.

[Wirecutter]

Without a doubt a three phase motor and vfd would be awesome. The ability to tweak the does on the fly can be invaluable, particularly for parting and facing. 1/2hp would be a good size

A couple of years ago, I obtained a South Bend 10K and rebuilt it. Complete tear down, mask, repaint, replace bearings as needed, and calibrate anything that could be calibrated. When I got it, it was setup with push buttons and relays to start/stop/reverse the 3-phase motor. During the tear down, I noticed evidence of stress and wear due to the sudden start of clicking on a relay and going instantly from zero to full power. Of course, since I don't have 3-phase power to my home, I set it up with a VFD I picked up on fleabay. It just takes my 220v single phase power and turns it into 208 3-phase needed by the lathe motor.
I now have 3 different machines in the shop that use VFDs, and I really like them. By default, all 3 VFDs I have will soft-start and soft-stop (with some kind of braking action). The result is that the motor is much easier on the machine. The speed control and easy reversing are handy.
Anyway, if you need to replace the motor, I'd recommend a 1/4-1/2 HP 3 phase and a VFD. Oh, and a 3-phase motor don't need no stinkin' start capacitor, so no worrying about that.

-Mark

[J Tiers]

........................... During the tear down, I noticed evidence of stress and wear due to the sudden start of clicking on a relay and going instantly from zero to full power. .......................

-Mark

What evidence of stress and wear did you observe?

[Tincamp01]

Re wiring a motor is beyond my skills.
I’ve always run my lathe with flat leather belts, not much stress on the machine. And, although I haven’t crashed anything, I figure the leather belt will slip pretty quickly if I do, hopefully avoiding significant damage. Also, haven’t done any big/heavy work so the setup has worked well to date.

[CalM]

IF I were re-motoring a small lathe, I would SERIOUSLY consider using a clutched motor assembly from a commercial duty sewing machine.

They are available in a variety of HP outputs, at near zero cost (I can supply one from a ConSew to any interested)

The clutch action is sublime. from soft start , to full power ..

The only draw back is forgetting to turn off power to the motor when stepping away from the lathe. They are that silent. (depending on mounting.)

[JRouche]

Since I’m not a trained machinist, just a guy with enough tools and interest to be dangerous, I need a new motor for my lathe. I have a South Bend 9C and the motor (not original) is giving up the ghost. The original reversing switch burned out a couple years ago. At this point, I have a new switch ready to go, but I’m looking for input on a motor. While I can accomplish basic wiring stuff and can likely hook up the switch when the time comes, I’m not a guru on electric motors.

Suggestions on what would be best for this lathe?

Realy? So I found another one that is untrained? I am on board.

I have a SB lathe with a not original motor. It works great. Maybe a 1/2hp or so. You only need 1/3hp for that lathe. The key is a large 1/2hp motor will run cool and not be taxed.. Id stay with the motor tou have.

My SB 10" lathe uses a 1/2hp motor and does just fine.. JR

[Tincamp01]

I hesitate to say I am untrained. On a different forum a few years ago, I was basically snubbed when I mentioned that.

Aren’t sewing machine motors kinda small? Never thought about that as an option. The beast currently on my lathe is the size of a gallon milk jug.