Picked up my Clausing 4904 Today

[Chuck K]

I got my new lathe moved today. Made a few chips with it. This is the first Clausing lathe I've had. My first impression was that compared to other 10" lathes I've had, it seems like a fairly rigid machine. I haven't quite figured out the way the feeds are grouped on this machine. I'm sure there is some rhyme and reason to it, but at first glance it seems like you have to really jump around to move from one feed to the next faster one. The machine needs some tlc but there's doesn't seem to be anything major wrong with it. The previous owner was powering it with a static converter. I tried running it with the static converter I power my mill with, but the motor wanted to heat up. I moved the machine and plugged it into my rotary phase converter and it worked fine. I've had this problem before and it baffles me. The mill has a 3hp motor and it runs fine on the static converter. I haven't looked at the motor plate on the lathe but I'd be surprised if it's more than a 1 hp. Is there some difference in the way motors are wound that would make them heat up when powered by a static converter? Anyway, the lathe came with a 3 jaw Buck adjustable chuck, faceplate, drawbar and 4c collets, live center, jacobs chuck, steady rest, and other misc. tooling. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Chuck

 

[Buickgsman]

Cool Chuck, looking forward to pics!

 

[wa5cab]

Chuck,

My first guess about the motor getting warm is that the static convertor on your mill is rated something like 3-5 HP. The motor on the 10" shouldn't be any larger than 3/4 HP, which is really overkill. But in any case, your static converter will not safely run a motor smaller than its minimum rating. Rotary converters are effectively generators and do not have this limitation. You can safely run a 1/10 HP motor off of a 1 Megawatt generator.

Robert D.

 

[Chuck K]

Here's some pics:

 

[Chuck K]

Chuck,

My first guess about the motor getting warm is that the static convertor on your mill is rated something like 3-5 HP. The motor on the 10" shouldn't be any larger than 3/4 HP, which is really overkill. But in any case, your static converter will not safely run a motor smaller than its minimum rating. Rotary converters are effectively generators and do not have this limitation. You can safely run a 1/10 HP motor off of a 1 Megawatt generator.

Robert D.

Robert, That made sense to me, so I checked the specs on both. The converter is rated 1-3 hp and the motor on the lathe is 1 hp. I kinda wondered if it made a difference which wire the phantom leg was connected to. I guess I should get my volt meter out and check the output of each leg. I have the converter that came with the machine also. I could hook that one to it and see what happens. Thanks for the input.

Chuck

 

[vt-biketim]

Man, that rack full of collets is making me jealous. Good on you!

Tim

 

[Kennyd]

I wish mine had come with accessories-that looks like a great well equipped machine!

 

[Chuck K]

I wish mine had come with accessories-that looks like a great well equipped machine!

Kennyd, It is well equipped. I just noticed in the one pic I have my aloris tool holder on it. That didn't come with it. I put it on to make some test cuts. It did come with a Williams tool post...looks like it might be good for boring, but I've never used one. It also had a bxa aloris clone of some kind. It's too big for the machine. It came with a lantern post and the usual holders also. I decided to take the saddle and apron off today to clean the swarf and grease out of it. Now its in parts laying all over my bench. The machine has paint over all the oilers and oiler covers. It's pretty obvious that it hasn't seen any oil since the last paint job....at which time they applied a liberal coat of wheel bearing grease to everything that moved. When I made test cuts it held .001 over 8" and everything sounded good, so I don't feel bad about putting the time into cleaning it up and fixing the little things that worn. The most annoying thing I noticed was the slop in the worm gear when you engage the feed. You watch the feed screw turning but the saddle isn't moving for a second or two. I got that fixed today and degreased all the parts from the apron, cross slide, and the compound. I went to the hardware store with a shield that had the original paint on it and had my helpful hardware man match some paint for me. It's not a perfect match but it should look better than the machine gray and forest green that's flaking and peeling. I think it'll be a nice lathe when it's fixed up a little.

Chuck