# 1/2 HP Westinghouse Motor on 13" LeBlond Regal



## Vince (Mar 14, 2017)

I acquired a 13" LeBlond Regal lathe recently with a bunch of other equipment I bought. I figured to either sell or scrap or the lathe because it was so old and I really didn't need another lathe. When I first looked over the lathe I pretty much was sure it wasn't worth much, it had been sitting for 30 years and was covered in a lot of dust.
Anyway, I got to messing around with the lathe, wiping dust off and a little cleaning. The lathe appears in pretty good shape, you can still see the scrap marks on the ways in places and there is no discernible wear on them.
It was set up to run on 110v or so it seems. I plugged it in and it actually worked. So, I opened up the headstock and it looks like new inside, all the gears look great. I changed the oil with 30 weight, checked and lubed the open gears. 
Ok, to the problem, sorry for being long winded.
I can run this lathe in all the gears except high gear (BF) and it seems fine, when I go to BF which is supposed to be around 500 RPM the motor comes up to some speed then slows down till the centrifugal switch drops back in and then picks up again and then repeats.
I put an ammeter on it and here are the results:
Gear              Start I             Run I
AC                     9A                  3A
AD                    9A                   3A
AE                    9A                   3A
AF                    9A                   3A
BC                    9A                   3.2A
BD                    9A                   3.2 A
BE                    9A                   3.2 A
BF                    9A     then it will drop to 6A till switch remakes and go back to 9A
I'm thinking the oil may have something to with this and/or the motor is underrated.
I don't believe it is wired wrong (meaning for 220) but there is no wiring diagram on this motor and I can't find one on the net.
It is  1/2 hp Westinghouse Type FJ Style 955095
Anyone have an idea or input?

Thanks in advance,
Vince


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## mikey (Mar 14, 2017)

Yup, my input is to change to a 1-1/2 to 2HP motor.


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## Keith Foor (Mar 14, 2017)

Yeah, 1/2 HP motor on a 13 inch gear head lathe.  That's asking alot of the motor.
I am guessing that if you start looking at the lathe you will find it was 3 phase at some point in the past.  
Someone bought it and quickly figured that out and decided that some old farm motor that was in the attic was just the thing for it.
After some effort, it was installed and then they found out it wouldn't run with it correctly and they abandoned the project all together.  
Now you have it.  
3 to 5 hp would do it for sure.
I would advise you to look at new 13 inch lathes and see what companies are installing for motors, and go with something that size or slightly larger.


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## Dave Paine (Mar 15, 2017)

Nice old lathe.  Lets see some pictures.

As others mentioned a 1/2HP motor is underpowered for a 13in lathe.

I have a spare 1 1/2HP motor.  110/220V, 1750 rpm, frame 56.  You can have for the cost of postage.  May be easier to find a motor on local Craigs list, Harbor Freight or Tractor Supply.


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## Vince (Mar 15, 2017)

Appreciate the offer Dave. Thank you.
I found that this motor appears to be wired for 220v with a 110v plug. You know how that goes way back when, use what you had. So, I had assumed it was wired for 110v.
I haven't re-wired it as of yet I just confirmed it, it is dropping 60v across each set of windings which tells me it's wired series or for high voltage.
I may just hook it up to 220, I don't know yet. If it does have to have another motor I have a dual voltage 1 hp 184 frame sitting here. I would like to keep the old motor on it if I can, from what I can tell the Westinghouse motor is a 1940'sh motor and the lathe is a 1943.
As soon as I finish getting her cleaned up I will take some more pictures and I will post them in the LeBlond section of the forum.
I am going to get her all cleaned up and probably throw a paint job on her and then sell her more than likely. We'll see.


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## K3vyl (Mar 19, 2017)

My 13 regal was shipped with a 3/4horse motor. It had a 1 1/2 horse on it when I got it and I'm using that after replacing its bearings. Le blond now calls for 20 wt oil in those gear boxes,although the old books call for 30 wt. The half should work but probably won't do 1/8 doc in  mild steel like that 1 1/2 will.


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