uprating a lathe

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Hi all,
        we had a short discussion last night at the club about the lack of power to the 2 Axminster lathes. I think one is a AWSL and the other AWVSL they are like the old 330 but newer. The problem we have is they do not have enough guts for how  we use them on club nights. My question is has anyone fitted a bigger motor to either of these machines and if it is possible to do where do we stand on insurance if someone has an accident on an altered machine? We may have to bite the bullet and buy something else but storage is our problem, they fit very neatly into our cubby hole whereas a bigger lathes will not.
All advice welcome.
Regards
John BHT

[Bryan Milham]

John,

No, I've never uprated a lathe motor but many people do.

Just look at the number of 3 phase inverter controlled adaptors available for the likes of Graduates etc., but finding a small enough/strong enough motor might. I think the likes of The Brush Motor Co. are long gone, nowadays it's all standard fit mass produced motors. So you might be looking at a new mounting arrangement to hold a larger motor.

As long as it's done properly by a qualified person (look up Motor Rewinders in the Yellow Pages) and PAT Tested don't think it will be much of an insurance problem.

[john taylor]

I did have a look at getting a bigger motor for my AWVSL but I couldnt find one to fit instead I upgraded to what is now called the AT1416VS.

john

[Terry Miller]

Look at the motor nameplate if it has one and take the following details to any electrical motor rewinders.
1. Frame size.
2. horsepower or kilowatts.
3. rpm.
The rewinders will be able to tell from the frame size whether a larger motor is available as a direct replacement.
If the motor has no nameplate and if you can uncouple it from the lathe then an engineer will be able to identify it with a few measurements!!!
Insurance should not be a problem.

[woodndesign]

Would it do any good to ask Axminster !!! most Lathes like these come out of China on Mass, to the spec of different suppliers ... Ax, Sip, Draper, who have you ..

Just a thought ...

David

[Paul Hannaby]

Assuming you are able to fit a higher capacity motor, it's probably worth bearing in mind that the pulleys, spindle and bearings were designed to handle the power from the original motor. Any significant increase in motor power might just result in a slipping belt or worse.

[Terry Miller]

It will be alright if it is a direct replacement. I upgraded mine with a larger frame size and HP and converted it to 3 phase and it has been spot on. Remember a lot of people upgrade from single phase to 3 phase and the increase in torque is considerable without detriment to the mechanical side.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Thanks all for your comments.
       I will speak to Axminster before committing the club to any changes.
We will see what happens,
Regards
John BHT

[john taylor]

Dont forget if you register your club with Axminster you will get a discount, either 10 or 15%, of off everything in the green section of their catalogue.

john