Lathe Newbie! Technical hicup!

[Kazsub]

Hello! Well, first off I must admit I know absolutely nothing about turning or lathes but I've been lead into turning by happy chance and I'm really keen to get going and start learning - one slight issue though! To cut a long story short (and to try really hard not to sound too smug!)... A short while ago, I was offered quite a bit of wood working machinery for... well, a good price, and I jumped at the chance. Included in the items were a union graduate bowl lathe and a union graduate long bed lathe. this morning I finally got around to wiring them up and pluggong them into my phase convertor, the bowl lathe works just fine but I can't seem to get the other lathe to start at all! I was just wondering if anyone had any idea if there was something like a "cut off" or re set switch on them? It switched on just fine when I collected them, 40mins in a van later, it just doesn't want to know! It'd be great to get it working and start having a play around and get learning so if anyone has any ideas it'd be great to hear from you!

Thanks in advance!
David

 

[dickm]

I guess the obvious thing to look out for is a loose connection somewhere as a result of bumping around in the van (and unless it's a solid van, carrying two Graduates would have the suspension bottoming out :lol: ). If you have a basic meter to use as a continuity tester, then it should be possible to locate any open circuit bits in the wiring. (Grandmothers and eggs, but don't do this without isolating the machine from the supply)

There <might> be some sort of trip on the motor, but unlikely, I'd have thought - peer in and look for any red buttons? Otherwise, I suppose it's possible that there is some sort of lockout mechanism on the switch (assuming it's the usual no-volt/overload type) Sometimes you need to press the stop button to reset.

Beyond that, can't help. But I'm sure lots of forum members would be happy to remove it for you to stop it taking up useful space in your workshop :lol:

 

[Dave Atkinson]

Hi David
I don;t know anything about these lathes but a pal of mine had a similar problem with his lathe and it was because he'd locked the spindle by mistake. So if yours has a spindle lock check that it isn't.
Let us know how you get on.
Cheers Dave