Relays humming - CT1440G

[middle.road]

My grandfather has got to be LHAO up above. Always said 'Check you connections, Boy...'
A certain Doctor Ulma also suggested the same.

Now a smart person would have: a.) positioned his lathe out in an open area so that it could be easily accessed. b.) Checked all the connections (5) years ago before placing said lathe up against a wall. (in my defense, it is right under a window...)
Relays have been 'humming' since Thanksgiving, so I finally cleared out what I could to get to the box on the BACK of the headstock.
At least the door cleared the pegboard on the wall. Needed to use a mirror.

ALL of the screws on the lower terminal block took a minimum of one turn, a few took three turns to tighten. What the devil?!
And one on the transformer (X2) needed snugging. Relays were all tight.
- What is the component under the relays labeled U/2, V/4, W/6 with the Dial marked 6,11,13 ?

..........

 

[Ulma Doctor]

I’m happy to be of service

The component you are asking about is called an adjustable overload relay, the scale is in amperes .
If your motor should happen to pull too many amps for too long, the overload relay prevents the machine from starting by opening the control circuit normally closed switch encased in the overload relay

 

[middle.road]

Ah, that's good to know. Like I'm going to overload the lathe? Oh wait. Does that include running the compound into the chuck?

Relays hummed briefly during about an hour of operation. But only once. It was towards the end of the hour.

Off-night in the shop. The bridgeport quill stop nut jammed on me and then I misplaced the chuck key for the lathe.
Note to Self: don't walk away from the lathe with key in hand to answer phone...