New to me: Craftsman 101.27440 lathe.

Thank you Robert and Mike for getting back to me.

One of the things I noticed about this motor is. That the armature has what looks to be some sort of spring on the shaft. It looks like this spring has some sort of weight that when the motor turns. The weight moves outwards and when the motor slows down the spring push's the weight back down. But for the life of me I have know idea what it does? Maybe for balance?

And yes, last night I used some mineral spirits to clean up the end caps and the armature and it worked fantastic. I waited on the stator and windings until I heard back from you guys about the cleaning with mineral spirits. But it sounds like mineral spirits will work fine and not damage anything. So tonight I'll get the stator and windings nice and clean.

After that I think I am pretty much done with the motor. I already painted the motor mount and the clamps that hold the motor to the mount. I just need to get some new wire before I put everything back together. The wire that was on the motor is wasted and needed to be replaced anyway. So I might have to buy a heavy gauge extension cord and sacrifice it to the motor. LoL

I want to thank both of you guys for all your help. I would have never got this far without the help of good people like you!!!

Hey Mike, now that I think about it. I wonder if the spring with the weight on it is what you are talking about? With the centrifugal start switch for a capacitor start?
 
Last edited:
the weight and the assembly you are referring to may just be the start winding switch.
the weights act on centrifugal force to open the switch when it is somewhere over 3/4 of rated motor speed
when the switch opens, the start windings drop out of the motor's run circuit.
 
I knew you would know what that spring and weight were for!!! LoL

This is one of the reasons I would like to know more about this motor. But as you can see in the picture above of the motor name plate. You can barely read what the heck it says. But from what you are saying the motor could be as old as the early 50's or maybe older?
 
Regarding your motor - it seems to be quite old - from the 1940's or 50's perhaps. I wonder if it is indeed a replacement motor. Usually metal lathe motors are designed with completely enclosed cases - to keep chips from getting inside the works and litterly cutting the internal wiring to shreds. This motor has enuf holes in the case to admit a whirlwind. Clearly for ventilation. I wonder, did you find a lot of chips and scarf when you cracked the case?

Glenn
 
Hello Glenn,

Actually I didn't find much for chips in the motor when I cracked it open. It was more like old grease and saw dust from the guy who owned it before me. I have looked over everything inside the motor and it looks pretty good. Just dirty from not being maintained and cleaned. The motor ran fine when I bought the lathe (nice and smooth) so I figured I could still use it.

Glenn, looking at your signature. It looks like you have quite a few machines in your shop.
 
+1 on what Glenn said!
the old motors were not the model of efficiency as we know it today.
they were made with different goals in mind, but were well made nonetheless.
they were made for longevity.
part of the longevity was the reduction of the winding temperatures, by perforating the motor case.
unfortunately, this creates it's own hazards- namely the introduction of swarf into the motor
bad things can happen brother when that occurs.
if you are gonna use the motor, you might want to devise a shield that stands off the motor 1/2" or more that allows for air but not swarf!!!
screen door size mesh screen and cable ties or hose clamps may be helpful
 
I'll take some more pictures tonight of the motor. So you can see what the inside looks like before I put it back together. Maybe we can get a better understanding of what I am dealing with?

And about the motor, I don't know where the guy who I bought the mill and lathe from got the motor for the lathe. Both were used by a old gunsmith guy who died and handed them down to the son, and the son didn't want them.

The Atlas horizontal milling machine I have. The motor on it is a more modern Craftsman with capacitor start.

Oh yeah almost forgot to mention. I have watched a couple of videos about AC motors on YouTube. Where people use a volt meter to measure the resistance of the motor. From my understanding of the videos, the less resistance the better. Like 8 ohms or less. So that is something I want to do when I get it back together.
 
Last edited:
Hey Mike,

I like the idea of using something to prevent future swarf from getting inside the motor housing. Definitely going to make something like your idea with what I have laying around.
 
Sounds like the original owner used the lathe a lot for wood working. Even South Bend marketed their '20's lathes as dual purpose wood and metal machines.

You could easily wrap a solid sheet of thin sheet metal - even tin foil around the motor - with some 1" or 2" standoffs like giant lagging on steam engine boilers, to keep out unwanted chips. Then set up a small low voltage computer fan to carry away any heat residue. Keeping the motor cool and chip free.

BTW. A sure fire way to tell if the motor has any service life left is to inspect the armature. If the grooves on the armature are worn to near smooth the motor is shot - won't last long, as the armature soon won't be able to generate the necessary electric field to function properly. At least this is what I've been told. (I am no professional electrician, by any stretch.) but this simple inspection seems to be pretty valid for the old motors I've had go bad. Might be something to consider.

Glenn
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top