Need Help Bringing An Old Elgin Turret Lathe Back To Life!

Silverbullet said:
That lathe is just begging to be put back to use, not much real deep rusting by the pictures. Lots of cleaning and polishing needed to bring her back , painting seems like the hardest thing on it . Getting her stripped and primed will take some time for sure but ,looks worth it.
Click to expand...

These are the options I've heard so far–coming from two electricians, you guys and a tool and die maker friend of mine:

A. Keep the motor it's got and get a static phase convertor (the electricians I talked to don't think the price of a VFD is warranted with this machine, and my expected uses) to go with it; since it's only .75 Hp, it's not doing enough damage for the unbalanced power to damage it.
  • Would require either a transformer and great care not to fry my 12 AWG wire or a new 220 circuit to power it. (Not thrilled about that.)

B. Swap in a 1phase motor.
  • Would require a new mounting setup
  • It's hard to find a 1 phase 1730/860 motor, the fellows at Grainger said I'd be more likely to find a 1730/1140 motor which would leave my "slow" speed as not terribly slow.
  • I'd need to make a new pulley since they don't make many 1phase motors with 3/4" shanks.

C. Have the motor rewound to my desired phase and speed specs
  • Best option so far: guarantees I've got a motor that works (and not an old dud) and it'll work without redoing my whole house.
D. NONE of the above!
  • Do a cost benefit analysis of $/functionality and decide that the most efficient thing for me is to just pull off the turret, adapt it to one of my lathes I have and get rid of the machine.
  • This is the only option that doesn't require replacing the belts, the motor and/or circuitry and…
  • Trying to dismantle or otherwise lug the thing up two flights of stairs. (On a second floor building with no elevator.)
 
Hey Everyone,

Committing heresy, I've decided to replace the motor with a 1 speed 110v .75 hp 1ph (!) TEFC "farm duty" motor. I'll use straight belt drive (motor directly to spindle pulley) and I'll mount it to look like the one in this picture.

So far, I've sanded the paint down, puttied areas as necessary for cosmetic purposes, painted it (because if I don't get that done now I'll never pull it apart just for that). Had a bit of a scare the other day with the lead paint dust. (This machine is about 70, and that gray baked on paint is guaranteed to have some lead in it.) Oiled the spindle bearings, took out the unnecessary parts, and I'm basically stripping this machine for the crucial parts: headstock, bed, bed turret. I feel horrible for doing so, but let me tell you a quick story about what it would cost to have the stock cabinet moved up to my apartment:

$600.

It's coming up to Labor day, and one mover told me flat out "at this time, we can charge you $600 to move it, but if you did it in February, we'd pay you to move it." I can't wait to February, so I got a sturdy table I'll mount it on, and I'm going to liquidate the cabinet for scrap. (Sure beats the hell out of prepping all that lead paint.)

I've got the electrical parts, the motor, pulleys, [after taking careful measurements and some faith] belts, and I hope to cobble together this beast over the weekend. I'm very excited.

I'll have pictures of the finished product soon I hope.

Model Lathe with Wooden Shelves.jpg
 
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