I'm A Retired Machinist And A...

KenS said:
Better make sure your residential electric service is capable of powering that old 3-phase iron. You'd need a pretty large VFD for a 16" lathe.
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I'm running a 20" Lodge & Shipley with a 10 hp motor on residential current that is shared with five of my neighbors!!! I can't pull full load on the motor. When I do it kind of "sucks" the juice out of the 6 ga. extension cord I have running from the meter box to the machine, a 80 foot run...
 
KenS said:
Better make sure your residential electric service is capable of powering that old 3-phase iron. You'd need a pretty large VFD for a 16" lathe.
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Ken, this is a perfect example of why I'm here at the Hobby-Machinist! I don't know anything about converting 3 phase machines to run on single phase electricity. The C-J lathe operators manual linked above in 4GSR's informative post states that the OEM motor is a 2 hp, 1200 rpm motor. That seems awfully small for such a large machine. Also the top spindle speed is listed at 540 rpm so maybe they make up for lack of hp by gearing down?

If it is indeed a 2 hp motor @ 1200 rpm, what size and type of 3 ph. to single phase converter would I need? Also, while I'm at it, what size and type of converter would I need for the 1954 J head, round ram, Bridgeport? I'm just guessing, but it's probably no more than 1 hp.

I have a lifetime of experience in an industrial machine shop, but I'm feeling like a total newbie here! I do appreciate all of your help and hope that in the future I can "give back" some of the knowledge that I have managed to acquire through the years.

ETA: The machine is actually hooked up and running occasionally, in a residential garage, right now. One of my cousin's SILs use it to turn something occasionally, so I suppose that I can just take the phase converter that it's running on right now, unless there is a better converter out there now? I'm guessing this lathe has been hooked up in their garage for 20+ years. Same thing with the Bridgeport...
 
4gsr said:
Here's a couple links for Carroll-Jamieson Lathes that might be of interest.

http://pounceatron.dreamhosters.com...rrolljamieson-gearedhead-lathes-bulletins.pdf

http://pounceatron.dreamhosters.com...eson-gh-lathe-16in-instructions-ops-parts.pdf
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4GSR, the information in those downloads is absolutely priceless to me! I can't thank you enough. My cousin's lathe looks exactly like the first lathe pictured and labeled. A portion of one of the manuals pertains to a later model than this one. It has a max spindle speed of 1200 rpm and looks nothing like the earlier model. Hers is the earlier 540 max rpm lathe.

It also has a longer bed than the one pictured in the manual. It states that were made with 5', 6', and 8' beds. From the pictures, she is holding a tape measure at the chuck and it measures 72" to the end of the bed, on her tape.

Sadly, hers doesn't have a chip pan or a back splash, so I will probably have to have one fabricated from 18 or 20 ga. sheet metal. That way, if I want to add a coolant pump and reservoir later, I can plumb it through a drain in the pan.

Thanks again for taking your time to post those downloads, 4GSR!
 
Treetop said:
...........ETA: The machine is actually hooked up and running occasionally, in a residential garage, right now. One of my cousin's SILs use it to turn something occasionally, so I suppose that I can just take the phase converter that it's running on right now, unless there is a better converter out there now? I'm guessing this lathe has been hooked up in their garage for 20+ years. Same thing with the Bridgeport...
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Sounds like the machines are already setup to run in single phase. Should be a easy hookup for you to tackle.
If and when you do moved them to your place, be sure the power is disconnected, before cutting the incoming wires to the machines.
If you hit a snag on the electrical, post questions in the electrical section here, and one of the several experts will chime in and try to help.
Glad the manuals on line are of help!
Ken
 
Hi - I don't know what I am talking about, but would a maximum spindle speed of 540RPM cut down on Treetop's ability to do 'hobby' machining? (small parts, finishing on aluminum?). Forgive me if I am off base, but I was triggered by that max RPM.
 
john.oliver35 said:
Hi - I don't know what I am talking about, but would a maximum spindle speed of 540RPM cut down on Treetop's ability to do 'hobby' machining? (small parts, finishing on aluminum?). Forgive me if I am off base, but I was triggered by that max RPM.
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I bet you can play with the motor pulleys and get the RPM's up a little. May not get 2000 RPM but I would suspect close to 1000 RPM easily.
Most of these older lathes are more than likely have splash lubrication in the headstock, they don't like high RPM's. May have to add a oil pump to force lubrication to the bearings! Wouldn't take much to add a oil pump, I've done this in my past.
 
john.oliver35 said:
Hi - I don't know what I am talking about, but would a maximum spindle speed of 540RPM cut down on Treetop's ability to do 'hobby' machining? (small parts, finishing on aluminum?). Forgive me if I am off base, but I was triggered by that max RPM.
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No, you're not off base at all, John. I would love to have a max spindle speed of 1,000-1,200 rpm, but as 4GSR mentioned, this lathe has splash lubricated Timken spindle bearings so I'm just going to have work around the issue.

I ran a 17" Clausing Colchester for the last 25 years, working on whatever came through the door, from 1/8" diameter valve parts, to parts so big that I had to use the overhead crane to load them in the lathe and looking back, I seldom used spindle speeds above 540 rpm and when I did, it was usually polishing a finished part.

Besides, that spindle speed limitation gives me an excuse for a smaller, newer, lathe in the future! :)
 
I'd rather have power than speed.

Firstly, I will be jealous of your lathe if you get it. That looks so cool! I have a pair of South Bend 9s and they are good machines, but hey, they are still on the small side.

That machine looks like it has some balls.

Secondly, if you need higher revs I'm sure that you can come up with a way to modify it.
 
Well, I promised you guys some pictures of my cousin's C-J lathe and Bridgeport that she wants to "just get rid of" but the pictures were sent to me directly in an email (IOW, not as an attachment) so I'm unable to convert them to a jpg format or any of the other formats that Photobucket supports.

Our middle daughter came over today, she has a degree in computer "something" I can't remember what. She works with computers all day every day in her job and serves as our family IT person. She wasn't able to convert the pictures to anything that Photobucket would accept either, so pictures will have to wait for a week or so until I can drive up there and look the machines over. I'll take my digital camera and take plenty of pictures to share with you.

Does anyone here know how to convert an email picture to a jpg or jpeg format? I can't get a "save as" when I right click on the image. #2 daughter says that that's the problem...
 
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