I just foolishly tried to engage the clutch on my S7 with the spindle locked. Medium loud bang, ring main c/b tripped. Switched off, disengaged, reset c/b, tried again (properly this time). Another bang and c/b tripped, and also this time the plug fuse blew.
Clearly behaving like a short circuit. Oh, I thought, perhaps the starter capacitor has blown and gone short circuit. However, I tried to turn over the motor with the clutch disengaged, it won't turn, appears to be locked solid. That is puzzling, I think I may have wrecked the motor (fairly standard 3/4 HP 1 phase induction motor). Anyone experienced something similar, any quick fixes to suggest ("if you hit it just *here* with a 12-oz hammer...." sort of thing)? Am I missing something horribly simple?
Otherwise it could be a 3-phase/inverter job. Never mind, been looking for an excuse to do that anyway. (I've just posted a question about this in a separate thread to avoid confusion.)
I think it's unlikely you would end up with a siezed motor even if it were 'blown'. More likely there's a bit of broken clutch mechanism jammed in the works somewhere. Certainly check the motor in isolation ( ie mechanically disconnected from the lathe drive) before you hand over the coin of the realm for a new one.
David, not an exact match for your problem but I have had problems with my older single phase Myford. Switched on one morning and the motor "exploded" (well that is how our media would have described it). After much research to find the best "value for money" replacement that problem turned out to be merely swarf that had dropped into the motor connection block..
Is yours a "resilient mounted" one - if so then starting as you did can cause the mount to rotate a fair distance and jam things up. As always don't ask how I found that out :-)) I know that shouldn't happen but on my older motor the front and rear mounts reacted differently (front was good rear was soft) and twisted the motor. If there was anything loose in the motor casing it would surely have moved. Sorry, but if your luck is like mine lately, it will certainly be "serious".
I'll go and check later. It's a puzzle, a combination of s/c and frozen solid. As I say, looking on the bright side, a good excuse to convince SWMBO that I have to buy an inverter!
Yes, my ex-RN engineer friend and I thought that may be a possibility. I finally* managed to get the motor off today, will disassemble later.
*Why do these jobs always take 5 times as long as they should. Lathe hard against wall, can't get to motor. Cabinet too heavy to slide away from wall (too much stuff inside it). Empty cabinet - oh, have to tidy workshop[ to make room for stuff out of cabinet. *Now* empty cabinet. Still can't move lathe. Lever cabinet up a couple of mm to break contact with floor. Now it moves, hurray, nearly there. Not quite.... Motor pulley is inside belt guard, have to remove it from motor before motor can come off. Pulley held on by grub screws, which are *exactly* in line with belt guard. Need long allen key with ball end. Bought a set last year for just such a need - but they are metric, Myford's grub screw is imperial - and (of course) not a nice size like 5/32 for which 4mm will work, but 1/8, for which 3mm is useless. Half an hour of fiddling just gets them out (fortunately, belt guard is just a bit flexible). Phew. Now pulley won't pull off... Spend 30 minutes pushing and pulling, hitting end of motor shaft with copper hammer and dripping on penetrating oil. No go. Never needed a gear puller before, and nearest person I know who has one is nearly 10 miles away. Go out to Halfords and spend £20 on a puller. Takes 15 minutes to assemble puller, and 2 minutes to remove pulley. Motor fixing bolts nearly inaccessible, and anti-vibration nuts need spanner to turn all the way. Bolt keeps turning as well, get SWMBO to hold spanner while I squat behind lathe with other spanner. It's fun trying to remove a tight nut and bolt (especially the last one) while holding a heavy motor in other hand. Use lots of Swarfega...
Well, there's an afternoon of my life I won't get back. Computer games never seemed more attractive.
David, I have a brand new in the box, but 2 years old, Altivar ATV11 bought from RS to stick on the Myford. Never got round to it and probably won't now that I've bought (but not yet installed) the Bantam.
Drop me an email if you're interested. Brand new but obviously out of guarantee now.
David, glad to hear that you have identified your needs but you haven't told us what you found wrong with it - for future reference if you have time :-)
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