need switch for 3-in-1 machine

It went through earlier okay, you got three replies which I have added below:

=== Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking Subject: Re: Need switch for 3-in-1 machine From: "Bill Noble" Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:12:34 -0700

=== Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking Subject: Re: Need switch for 3-in-1 machine From: JR North Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:06:25 -0700

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You don't necessarilly ned to replace it. I have repaired , for instance, a Ford type headliught switch with burned out low beam contacts by drilling the burned composit terminal base terminal position, filling the hole with thick super glue, drilling that to accept a fabbed contact, and soldering a wire to the contact, going through the drilled out conector plug.

JR Dweller (...)

Like item 220 in:

Harbor Freight will sell you the part. It takes a while though (like 6 weeks).

snipped-for-privacy@harborfreight.com

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It is a rotary-type switch, with rotating fingers that swipe both sides of the fixed contact blades. It would be fairly hard to repair this type of switch. It has about 6 poles in it, I can't figure out why they made it so complicated, but it did the job until now.

I could replace with a heavy-duty toggle switch and a separate reversing switch. It would just be easier to replace with the exact unit. (Then, of course, it would burn out in 10 years, again.)

Jon

I suspect that the mail-order parts replacement from one of the regular importers (HF, Grizzly, Jet) will be the only way to get an exact replacement. As far as other solutions go, I think I'd look for a "drum switch", maybe $100 or so new, but about $30 on ebay, and I've found them cheap at flea markets and such. Reversing, lots of contacts, rated to start and stop larger electric motors, used on lathes and mills for decades. I suspect you'd have to bring the wires out a hole in the casting and mount the switch on the outside, but then it'd be much easier to replace or fix from then on.

Getting it hooked up could be a bear, it would require making a circuit diagram of the existing unit and looking at the new switch diagrams for how to get the same logical connections. Depending on how much room you have inside the casting, you might be able to get the body of the switch inside and just have the handle stick through the existing hole, but I suspect that it will be too big for that.

As far as drilling extra holes goes, assuming there are some there already for the exsisting switch and cover plate, it may be simply a case of drilling the mounting plate of the replacement switch to align with a couple of the exsisting holes, especially if that means you can get a "knockout" over the existing handle hole to feed the wires through.

Hope that gives you some food for thought, --Glenn Lyford

This should do. I have one of these, except it's the model with powered carriage. The rotary switch should be same as yours.

See if you can download a parts list JR Dweller in the cellar

J> (Pardon my re-posting this, but it didn't appear on my news server) >

That is a vaguely similar machine, but looks quite different. I think it is newer than ours, which has a big rectangular box with the belt housing, change gear area and the power switch in it. The switch could be the same, of course, just not plainly obvious. I found a manual online for a machine that is indentical to ours, and the parts list shows the same part # as appears on the switch. I fear this is an archived manual for a machine they no longer sell, but I will call that outfit to check.

Jon

That sounds a lot like the switch on my HF 9x20 lathe. Grizzly has a much better parts replacement setup. See if this looks like the part you want:

It is part number 9 and they want $33. Gulp!

They have a really nice wiring diagram for the switch in the manual here (~11mb):

You can look and see if any of the Mill/Lathe combos look familiar here:

Thanks for the links. It is definitely NOT the same switch. It is actually more convenient, as all the reversing connections are internal, while my switch has a MAZE of wires running all over to interconnect the poles and swap the polarity of the start winding. I am sure I could make this switch work electrically, but it might or might not be an easy fit in my machine. I did find an outfit that listed the exact switch by part number, so I may go with that. On the other hand, that part burned out after 10 years of VERY VERY light use, so maybe I DON'T want another crummy switch.

So, how does your switch mount to the cabinet? Does it have a big plastic nut that secures it in the hole? I could probably modify our box to use such a switch. Ours now has a steel plate that bolts to the box, and the plate has a small hole for the switch handle and two screw holes to mount the switch. Pretty insane way to build a machine, but they were obviously using off the shelf parts.

Jon

I'm not sure, took a quick look yesterday. Looks similar to the Grizzly info, remember mine is from HF though. I'll take a better look either later today or tomorrow. Try and get some measurements and such for you.

these Chinese tools tend to use pretty much the same switches, and there are some Chinese sellers on ebay that sell a good variety of switches quite inexpensively - I've used some - they show up quickly and are as advertised

Took a better look and some pictures.

The switch is about 2-1/4 inches long (body), 1-3/4 inches across (not counting lugs), 1-3/16 inches between two mounting screws and about a 3/8 inch hole is used. The pictures should make more sense of it:

This is from the HF 45861 9x20 lathe. It is about 3 years old. The escutcheon just sets/slips over the blue plastic piece the screws go through. The knob uses a slotted set screw. Notice the jumpers used on the screw terminals. I don't know if those would come with the switch or not. You may have to make/install them yourself. The HF manual can be found here:

It leaves much to be desired...

This switch is subtly different than the one pictured in the Grizzly manual. Suspect it is basically the same thing though (shrug).

One more thing to add. I found this pdf for the switch itself, which is like mine (1.1mb):

My switch had "Kedu" and "ZH-B" on it (among other markings), wasn't sure this was useful till I did some searching.

On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:40:59 -0400, the infamous Leon Fisk scrawled the following:

Yeah, most of the Chiwanese manuals consist of:

A) 1 picture of the tool

B) 13 pages of (absolutely useless, but the speaking weasels feel better for it) textual safety warnings and cautions *plus* pictures of all the safety warning and caution stickers!

C) 8 sentences w/ pics like "This bar [pic] fit here [pic] this size screw [pic]" (That's right, many Asian technical writers _still_ haven't discovered words like "fits" yet.)

D) 3 sentences w/ pics like "This tool [pic] fit here. [pic]"

E) An exploded diagram (VERY useful) and an abbreviated parts list.

I like 'em for the fun Chinglish (especially fun when the Japanese have a document translated into Chinese, then English.) they use and the exploded diagram, which I use when the assembly instructions have failed.