M-Head Decisions

S

Shiseiji

Avid destroyer of many materials.
H-M Lifetime Diamond Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2014
Messages
438
I have a Causing 8511 with an M-head B&S #7. They are a little unusual as there isn't a right side table handle. My best guess it was a price point compromise.

I was ignorant and taken a little advantage of, it came with a Hitachi 3hp 3ph 56 frame on a poorly made angle plate adapter. In my ignorance I didn't think to just remove the motor or the head and paid for another lesson that resulted in a broken belt housing. The eBay replacement housing had been repaired and the stud isn't square with the housing. The replacement "Maybe it will be OK" metric motor shaft isn't and the step key for the pulley I had to make is getting worse (better??) at working it's way out.

So it's time to bite the bullet and do something about the motor.

Along the way I picked up another M-head, also B&S #7. I suspect it may have been one of the precision drill heads because it was being used as a drill press and the housing is taller with one more step in the pulley than my M-head. It also came with the original 1ph motor with a really heavy close tolerance cast iron integral base. Getting it on the belt housing isn't fun. And it won't go over the out of square stud on my belt housing.

I just hate the thought of grinding up the motor base, as easy of a fix as it would be. I'm not doing a good job convincing myself otherwise.

I can go through the spindle it came with, and just replace what I know works well M-head and hope. Being used as a drill press hopefully means it never saw any lateral forces and may be fine.

Or I can try again with a replacement motor. Finding one with the shaft length needed didn't go well last time, I'm not holding my breath this time will be any easier.

Thoughts on my rambling "Can't make up my mind?/ I'm still ignorant of a lot of things and am tired of expensive lesson."

I honestly don't care if the motor is 1 or 3ph. I figure people did good work with the pulleys, not going to get wrapped up about it. I have a RPC to live with the pulleys or I have a VFD if I decide to go that route.

Thoughts? And a last question. I have an original housing gasket and some bearings, purchased when H&W closed out their M-head parts. For proper oil flow, can someone tell me how the gasket is oriented? If there are oil flow holes in addition to the bolt holes, I'm not seeing them. I drip enough oil I known some is passing, but I've always had a nagging fear it's not as much as it should be.

And for what it's worth, I have figured out a simple jig and technique for getting the counter balance spring back in the well.
 
You’re talking about this one?IMG_2160.jpeg

Why do you not want to grind the motor base again? You said that would be an easy fix, but that you hate the thought. Why do you hate the thought?
 
Yes, that's it in my old shop, with the too big motor because it was the only one I could find with a long enough shaft.. The stud on the right is the one the original motor base won't drop straight down on and the base is too thick to cant and slip on one at a time.

The why is a known OCD fixation on not doing ham-handed amateur "fixes" someone will look at later and and ask "What was going on in this person's mind?" I already have a housing in the foot locker of shame.
 
The motor seems oversized to me- I would think 1.5 HP would be a better fit overall
These are/were light duty units- you have to consider the weight on that light alloy belt housing
I guess my advice is don't butcher it up if you can avoid it
 
Yes, it is way over size. But it was the only one at the time I could find with the shaft diameter and length that was close to what my best guess was at the requirements. It's at least 15# lighter than the Hitachi that had been thrown on. Once I got over the excitement of finely finding the 85XX I realized that just couldn't stay.

First task this morning is to pull the pulley off the original 1/2 hp motor and pull known factory measurements. I was guessing last time.

Thanks for your opinion. I've done enough damage to this mill during my time as it's "custodian." I cringe at the idea of doing more.
 
jwmay said:
Why do you not want to grind the motor base again? You said that would be an easy fix, but that you hate the thought. Why do you hate the thought?
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Sorry, I missed the "again?" The motor base is as shipped from BP.
It's the pulley/belt casing that was re-welded by the infamous, and I am now in that crowd, previous owner.
 
I suppose you could fixture the too thick housing perpendicular to the lathe spindle, and mounted to the cross slide of the lathe. Then mount a boring head in the lathe spindle to trim the appropriate amount of material off to give it a more professional appearance, and guarantee a correct mating surface. This would take a long time, but it ought to come out pretty good.

Or you could mount the bell housing of the motor in a 4 jaw, to thin it instead. I don’t expect there’s much extra.

The “again” was nonsensical I guess. I was just probing for more detail on why grinding was something you didn’t want to do, if it would be such an easy task.
 
jwmay said:
The “again” was nonsensical I guess. I was just probing for more detail on why grinding was something you didn’t want to do, if it would be such an easy task.
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Absolutely no worries! You are talking to the "Not always real good about expressing themselves." guy with several tee shirt awards. Someone has to try really hard, not a simple misunderstanding, to get me going. I hope we're all here to offer what we can to help others. I choose to believe that, so we just amend our statements and move on.

If I decide that's really the best option, I may as well just put the whole drill head motor with spindle together and putting it on the Clausing. The motor shaft is 2-1/4" and that would give me a usable mill until the motor can be dealt with.

I just wanted to confess my Bozo acts, get past it, and see what others have to offer. You did that, and I appreciate it.
 
Maybe take a torch to the stud and bend it straight? Put a threaded tube over the working part to keep that straight?

Sent from my SM-G715A using Tapatalk
 
Weldingrod1 said:
Maybe take a torch to the stud and bend it straight? Put a threaded tube over the working part to keep that straight?

Sent from my SM-G715A using Tapatalk
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In the case of the PO they broke the case around the stud. Then someone did a nice TIG job putting in a plug. Then drilled and tapped the repair at an angle. Not that I would know anything about a job going south like that . . . Right.

Putting enough heat on the stud to bend it, how close would we be to the envelope of melting aluminum case first?
 
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