Another hobby development

[Gilberdyke John]

I briefly mentioned a while ago I've become the proud owner of a Harrison L5 lathe which I bought locally as a spares or repair item.
It spent many years sitting in the back of a barn and was described as "won't turn over" Having viewed it and with some effort succeeded in pulling the drive belt round and getting the lead drive/screw to turn and the slides to move I arranged delivery to my shed. Now it's been here a while I've begun the degreasing/cleaning up of the slideways along with application of easing oil to various fixing screws. Having unshipped the single phase motor I discovered the start capacitor is non functioning and the motor bearings need replacing as it grumbles like a bag of rocks when turned by hand. The motor cooling fan is solid on the shaft and the drive pulley has seen better days with a chunk out of one edge. Fixable but it takes time.
Many years ago I bought a Sykes Pickavant hydraulic puller with cross beam, a bearing pulling plate and extended arms for only a few pounds. The guy selling didn't seem to know what it was (fortunately for me). One of those purchases that I didn't have an immediate use for so it was consigned to the back of the shed in a plastic bag. Now I do have a use for it I couldn't find it anywhere despite some serious searching. I'm pleased to report I was doing another job this morning when lo and behold - there it was.

 

[roche]

Looks like a nice lathe. I'd be tempted to put a VFD and new motor on it...

 

[Penninetrader]

I briefly mentioned a while ago I've become the proud owner of a Harrison L5 lathe which I bought locally as a spares or repair item.
It spent many years sitting in the back of a barn and was described as "won't turn over" Having viewed it and with some effort succeeded in pulling the drive belt round and getting the lead drive/screw to turn and the slides to move I arranged delivery to my shed. Now it's been here a while I've begun the degreasing/cleaning up of the slideways along with application of easing oil to various fixing screws. Having unshipped the single phase motor I discovered the start capacitor is non functioning and the motor bearings need replacing as it grumbles like a bag of rocks when turned by hand. The motor cooling fan is solid on the shaft and the drive pulley has seen better days with a chunk out of one edge. Fixable but it takes time.
Many years ago I bought a Sykes Pickavant hydraulic puller with cross beam, a bearing pulling plate and extended arms for only a few pounds. The guy selling didn't seem to know what it was (fortunately for me). One of those purchases that I didn't have an immediate use for so it was consigned to the back of the shed in a plastic bag. Now I do have a use for it I couldn't find it anywhere despite some serious searching. I'm pleased to report I was doing another job this morning when lo and behold - there it was.

Not a lathe man myself, I seem to remember Harrison Graduate, is it a roller bearing or phosphor bronze version ? Are there no decent motor rewind lads in your area ? In general the old tackle will last longer than you or me. My favorite machine is a 26" Sagar planer thicknesses made in the early fifties and it still runs perfectly. I have more modern machines and older, they all do a job.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Not a lathe man myself, I seem to remember Harrison Graduate, is it a roller bearing or phosphor bronze version ? Are there no decent motor rewind lads in your area ? In general the old tackle will last longer than you or me. My favorite machine is a 26" Sagar planer thicknesses made in the early fifties and it still runs perfectly. I have more modern machines and older, they all do a job.

There are a few motor rewind shops around but they'll have the same ball-ache as me to get things apart and my labour is free. A replacement start capacitor and a pair of ball bearings should be sub 25 pounds. So I'll see how it goes. I've measured resistance across the supply terminals for the running winding plus proved a path through the start winding via the capacitor leads, which also indicates the centrifugal switch is closed so there's every chance the unit can be made to run. If not I'll ship it off to a shop to sort out any windings problems.
I sent off for a reprint of the lathe handbook which shows the gearbox and other shaft bearings are bronze with oil lubrication rather than grease. Apparently the "grease" nipples are for use with an oil gun and it's not unusual to have to strip and clean grease out of them during refurbishments.