New lather - chips in sight glass

Thanks guys, exactly what I was after. I've emailed the seller (a large machinery warehouse ) and will see what they suggest. The brand is made in China for Optimum in Germany, though I'm not sure if there is an affiliation with NZ.

There are a couple of other issues so depending on whether they turn out to be serious or not will probably dictate how we proceed. At very least I will clean the sight glass and run a magnet through the case, with an oil change. I'm new to machining, new to the forum, and really appreciate how you all responded to this.
 
I removed the sight glass and cleared the metal chips. Scott's Machinery are going to send an engineer out to check the lathe for me when they have time.

There is one other issue that I've pointed out to them. The top spindle speed of the lathe is listed as 2000RPM. However in this particular gear (3C) it doesn't achieve anything near that, maybe 100RPM if that, accompanied by an electrical whine. They've now tested the other lathes of the same type in the warehouse and they are suffering the same issue, apparently due to being converted to run on single phase.

Can I ask what top spindle speeds are generally desirable?
 
My 1944 Clausing 12x36 ranges from 58 to 862 rpm. Top end feels really fast. Good for small stock to get SFM but most of the time I'm in the 450-600 rpm range.
 
If it says it is a 2000 RPM spindle speed, then it should achieve that speed. Spindle speed needed depends on the material, diameter, machine rigidity and type of tooling/cutters, also for sanding polishing you need speed. It should not matter if it is single phase or 3 phase input if using a properly sized VFD, the same goes for a BLDC type of motor which is what was used in my BF-30 mill. Scott machinery lists it as single phase. One thing that you might check is that the RPM display is off for some reason, the other thing to check is that it is set to proper line voltage.
 
mksj said:
If it says it is a 2000 RPM spindle speed, then it should achieve that speed. Spindle speed needed depends on the material, diameter, machine rigidity and type of tooling/cutters, also for sanding polishing you need speed. It should not matter if it is single phase or 3 phase input if using a properly sized VFD, the same goes for a BLDC type of motor which is what was used in my BF-30 mill. Scott machinery lists it as single phase. One thing that you might check is that the RPM display is off for some reason, the other thing to check is that it is set to proper line voltage.
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Great info thanks. I'm planning to check the RPM in all gears, but anecdotally the top gear speed barely turns the spindle. Scott have told me that it's likely a VSD setting issue that they will resolve. I checked the data plate of the motor yesterday, it's a 3-phase 400V motor plugged into single phase outlet. The manual states that it runs of single phase, so it's possibly an issue with the conversion.
 
I believe the issue may be that you have a 400V drive system that you are running off of 230V, I would check the machine tag as to the input voltage stated. VFD's 200V and above cannot output a voltage higher than their input voltage.
 
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