Question about lathe stalling

Question I have is did the old motors not have more power than current ones. Even though the old ones that came on them may have only been 1/4 HP it prob worked as good as a 1/2 or better today. .
 
Isn't one of those four carbon brushes rather... short?
Could it be that there is just a bad contact from the worn-down brush? Or, maybe it's stuck
(the spring doesn't make it slide freely, maybe grit in the sleeve).

They're all about the same length and move freely. They just look odd in the picture. When mounted they only stick out about 1/8" from the bottom before they hit the commutator.


Question I have is did the old motors not have more power than current ones. Even though the old ones that came on them may have only been 1/4 HP it prob worked as good as a 1/2 or better today. .

I was wondering the same thing. Or maybe even different ratings for different companies. I was looking at a chop saw and it said it was 5hp but the motor was tiny and I couldn't believe it. When I looked closer it said "unloaded" very small beside the hp rating. I took that to mean it had 5 hp when it was free spinning but as soon as it hit some resistance it probably dropped to 1/4 hp.

The old Century motor is only 1/2hp by the tag but the motor is large and heavy and probably has way more torque than a newer smaller 1/2 hp motor. Just like the machines; I prefer to default to the older stuff first and consider a new one a compromise.
 
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Made the adjustment per the manual and now it runs in the direction I need it to. I also read that the end caps could be rotated so the motor can be mounted upside down and the oil cups will still face up. I was going to try it anyway but the manual said it was a design feature.

Final thing to figure out is the wiring. The individual wires are not labeled A-D like the manual shows but they are in a linear pattern. I think I'm gonna go for it and see what happens. The manual makes it look a certain way so I think I'm gonna try it the way it's shown and hope for the best.
 
Well, to close the loop I got it working and installed. Much better than the last motor. Thanks for all the input!
 
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