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The ON/OFF/BRAKE lever on the lathe is not working. The way I
understand it should work, is that in the rightmost (clockwise)
position it should act as a brake, and if lifted up and turned
counterclockwise, it should turn the lathe on. However, it does not do
a good job and the lathe is always on regardless of the position of
this lever. I can still turn the lathe off by manipulating the little
lever in front of it (REV2/REV1/OFF/FWD1/FWD2) and switching from
forward to neutral, but I feel that it is wrong and is a safety issue
as the lathe sometimes needs to be turned off and braked instantly
with one hand.
On the back of the lathe, the big lever is connected to a steel
bar. (the top one) This steel bar has a oblong hole for the brake
engagement. However, the screw for the brake falls out of this
oblong hole. The bar still engages the brake by acting on the
side of the nut, however it does not feel right.
The switch that should turn the lathe on and off, seems to be operated
by the lower bar. The last photo shows that this bar should be
permanently pulled up by a spring (see spring mounting pins) but the
spring is missing. I believe that with the spring, the feel of the
ON/OFF/BRAKE lever would be different and it would "click" as the
dimples on these two bars engage and disengage.
HOWEVER, and this is the crux of the problem, the limit switch that
should be operated by the lower bar, does NOT open or close any
contacts on the lines that lead into it from the main motor starter.
I have a feeling that someone messed with this and bungled this issue.
Has anyone seen anything similar?