First lathe, tool bits

It has grease zerks so i'm assuming its grease lubrication. Motor plate picture is attached.

If the motor is still in good condition; bearings/bushings/windings etc, I would suggest replacing the seals. If you have an ammeter check to see if it's within the rated amps when running under load. There are some features of older motors that are better than the newer ones today, even when you step into the industrial quality. Without knowing how many hours or the conditions in which the motor operated you're guessing. A good motor repair shop could help evaluate what's needed. If the varmish on the windings is breaking down they may be able to recondition those too. Take photos into a motor shop and see if they will give you a ballpark estimate.

PS. New grease seals don't tolerate over greasing and old ones are worse.
 
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Your location gives you lots of resources for the motor repair and I'm pushing the repair angle for a couple of reasons, cost and keeping the machine close to original if possible.
 
If the motor is still in good condition; bearings/bushings/windings etc, I would suggest replacing the seals. ............Take photos into a motor shop and see if they will give you a ballpark estimate.

PS. New grease seals don't tolerate over greasing and old ones are worse.
Old motors do not have seals. They are open bearing with dust caps that are designed to keep trash out.
Replace bearings with modern sealed bearings for motor application.
Take pictures to the motor shop??? Never heard of doing that. Pull the motor and take it to the shop and have them do a general cleaning, inspection, and replace the bearings. If the windings need help, they will suggest what to do. Other than that, for less $100 maybe even $50, you can get a cleaned up ready to go motor.
Nothing wrong with older motors, most will produce a bit more HP than the nameplate rating says, especially with the bigger name brands, without over heating and burning out a motor if not continuously run at a over rated condition. Ken
 
Old motors do not have seals. They are open bearing with dust caps that are designed to keep trash out.
My comment was a general description. My old lathe motor has oil sumps with bronze bushing and slinger rings, yes rings, not sleeves. I wasn't referring to a sealed bearing and the comment was inclusive. It's common for the ball bearing to be outside the rotor, stator winding area of the case with a seal/sheild/flange to keep the oil/grease out of the winding area. If the motor is leaking oil/grease then the shield/seal is probaly worn out or the wrong type of grease was used.



Take pictures to the motor shop??? Never heard of doing that.

It's easier than taking the motor out and driving a 40 mile RT into OK City.
 
Old motors do not have seals. They are open bearing with dust caps that are designed to keep trash out.
Replace bearings with modern sealed bearings for motor application.
Take pictures to the motor shop??? Never heard of doing that. Pull the motor and take it to the shop and have them do a general cleaning, inspection, and replace the bearings. If the windings need help, they will suggest what to do. Other than that, for less $100 maybe even $50, you can get a cleaned up ready to go motor.
Nothing wrong with older motors, most will produce a bit more HP than the nameplate rating says, especially with the bigger name brands, without over heating and burning out a motor if not continuously run at a over rated condition. Ken

I have never taken a motor to a shop for evaluation. I am surprised to hear how reasonable an inspection and general cleaning costs. Good to know.

Many motors have a plug 180 degrees from the grease zerk, be sure to remove the plug when greasing. Allow the old grease to come out the plug-hole. Whoever serviced my VanNorman didn't know to do this and grease is everywhere. If I can get a professional cleaning for $50-$100-I think that would be a deal.
 
If the motor is still in good condition; bearings/bushings/windings etc, I would suggest replacing the seals. If you have an ammeter check to see if it's within the rated amps when running under load. There are some features of older motors that are better than the newer ones today, even when you step into the industrial quality. Without knowing how many hours or the conditions in which the motor operated you're guessing. A good motor repair shop could help evaluate what's needed. If the varmish on the windings is breaking down they may be able to recondition those too. Take photos into a motor shop and see if they will give you a ballpark estimate.

PS. New grease seals don't tolerate over greasing and old ones are worse.

Your location gives you lots of resources for the motor repair and I'm pushing the repair angle for a couple of reasons, cost and keeping the machine close to original if possible.

Old motors do not have seals. They are open bearing with dust caps that are designed to keep trash out.
Replace bearings with modern sealed bearings for motor application.
Take pictures to the motor shop??? Never heard of doing that. Pull the motor and take it to the shop and have them do a general cleaning, inspection, and replace the bearings. If the windings need help, they will suggest what to do. Other than that, for less $100 maybe even $50, you can get a cleaned up ready to go motor.
Nothing wrong with older motors, most will produce a bit more HP than the nameplate rating says, especially with the bigger name brands, without over heating and burning out a motor if not continuously run at a over rated condition. Ken

Thanks all!

I've never had an electric motor repaired. What type of shop would I look for? Any specific keywords to look for in the local google search?
 
Thanks all!

I've never had an electric motor repaired. What type of shop would I look for? Any specific keywords to look for in the local google search?

"electric motor repair" should do it. My experience is that most shops will give you a free estimate. Call around. I like the shops that have been around for a few decades.
 
"electric motor repair" should do it. My experience is that most shops will give you a free estimate. Call around. I like the shops that have been around for a few decades.
I don't recall any that have not been around a few decades....:D
 
[My first post in a long, long, while. It may be lathe envy (I've been hankering for a bigger, heavier lathe). I'm still on my first: a very nice but pretty light 10" Logan.]

I'm still a comically incompetent beginner, but there are a few things I wish I'd known when I first got my lathe. Top of the list is all about tool bits and grinding: nothing will detract from fun on a lathe faster than a poorly ground tool.

The most useful (and most used) lathe tool accessory is a bench grinder. [The second most useful lathe tool, IMHO, is a vertical mill, but good ones aren't cheap and while you're hunting for a bargain you can get an awful lot done with a four-jaw chuck, faceplates, and centers. Work-holding and tool-holding creativity is the second most useful skill after grinding, and nothing teaches you the former better than the lack of a mill!]

Grinding an HSS lathe tool properly is not hard (usually). It can be done freehand (with practice). A few degrees difference in rake or clearance angles won't make a difference (except when it does). Experienced grinders know the reasons behind all the angles and can troubleshoot and correct troublesome tool bits. Unfortunately, a clueless newbie has about a 0% chance of offhand grinding a tool bit correctly to begin with, and only a minuscule chance of correctly diagnosing problems. Problems are exacerbated on a light lathe with any flex in the machine (ask me how I know).

Apprenticing with someone would get you over the hump, but I suspect most of us hobbyists are alone in our shops, so the best options forward are one of the following:

1. You can forego some of the pain (or at least exchange it for much more pain in your wallet) with carbide inserts and tool holders. Perhaps surprisingly, though, carbide inserts will never be as sharp as a well honed HSS tool (meaning you can't take as fine a cut with them) and you still need to know an awful lot about cutter geometry to select appropriate inserts (there are a lot of choices). You guessed it: the best way to learn about those geometries is by grinding your own HSS bits.

2. You can take my route and begin a "YouTube apprenticeship." If you accompany watching videos and reading forums/blog-posts with actually grinding bits and making chips, you'll eventually become reasonably competent. I took the longer route of always grinding freehand, but if I had it to do over again I know it would have gone a lot faster if I'd taken the time to build a decent jig or grinding rest. It's a lot easier to figure out which changes help when results are repeatable and exact rather than random (and once you can grind a decent RH turning tool for mild steel you can pretty much just lock down the jig settings as that's all you'll need 90% of the time). I've just started building the Acute tool sharpening table from Eccentric Engineering. I'd also considered building Harold Hall's sharpening rest. I can also highly recommend the advice from Conrad Hoffman though I've not tried building his jig for honing.

Unfortunately, you'll need decently ground tools and modest skill to build any of these, which can be a bit of a chicken and egg problem for an absolute beginner. If you've got deep pockets, you can go the buy vs. build route with a tool and cutter grinder like this one. That would be an awesome investment for the shop. Even a rank beginner could grind perfect HSS lathe tools from the start (buy two while you're at it, and send one to me!). A used Deckel T&C grinder off of eBay might be a better choice, but probably won't cost any less.

3. You could build or buy a tangential tool holder and grinding jig like the Diamond Tool Holder from Eccentric Engineering. Like most people, I initially thought the diamond tool was just a gimmick, but if there was just one thing I could go back and tell myself right after acquiring my lathe it would be to go out and buy one of these to get started. Sharpening a bit could not be easier: just insert a tool bit into the grinding fixture and push it into the grinding wheel. You only need to grind a single face! Once you set the height on center in your toolpost, you're immediate set up for all turning and facing tasks (without needing to swing the toolpost around to switch between turning and facing). While it won't completely eliminate the need to grind your own HSS tools for special tasks, it will satisfy the all important need of demonstrating how a properly ground tool behaves on your lathe. Seriously, I now use a tangential tool for almost all of my lathe work — it rarely comes off my toolpost.

I suspect many beginners go through these options roughly in this order (1, then 2, perhaps never getting to 3). I know starting out, I just wanted to start making chips, so insert tooling seemed attractive. The sheer number of insert options was intimidating, though, so I started learning how to grind my own HSS tools freehand. The experience gained was incredibly useful, but it was definitely tedious and frustrating — I went a long, long time before I could reliably produce a reasonably performing result.

So my advice is to keep all those tool bits you acquired (never throw away any bits of decent HSS) and learn how to grind them, but start by acquiring a tangential tool and use that to build the parts for a grinding jig/rest/fixture as an early project. That is, 3, then 2, and perhaps eventually 1 as required. Treat those rusty old bits you have as a source of HSS stock. Often the trickiest part of machining is figuring out how to get a cutting edge where it needs to be (clever work holding and tool holding). Some of those weird offhand grinds make a lot more sense when you see them applied to their specific situation. Don't be surprised if you eventually find yourself rooting around in that pile of bits looking for something close to what you need, then taking one to the grinder for just a light touch up.

Have fun.
 
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Really enjoyed your post, Rex. Well written and based on experience.

Thanks!
 
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