Love of lathes.

[AlanBeckett]

It certainly looks like an interesting Motor young Col.
That Pully doesn't look to have much Crown. What's the other one like?

Alan

[Radio Fixer]

Do you have to clean out the gaps in the com after polishing? I seem to remember back in the vehicle dynamo days that we did this with a blunt piece of Pax or something. What about new brushes? Does it need them and are they available?

It seems to me that this lathe is the equivalent of a 1928 - 30 radio, a proper antique. Is that part of its charm? I take it that once restored it will be a good performer? Wouldn't something later, say British, have been better for general turning work?

I may have missed it but I believe its not Brit but US?

Anyway, as usual, although not my field at all its most interesting. Seeing that comm took me back about 5 decades. How time has flown by.

Enjoy! I like the thread and the pics.

Gary

[Joe]

I mounted the stator in the Clarke lathe . . .

PEDANT ALERT

It's an Armature. A stator is the fixed bit of an induction motor.

- Joe

[AlanBeckett]

You never know with Col. He'll have the whole thing mounted in the Graduate next to polish the outside

Alan

[camallison]

Do you have to clean out the gaps in the com after polishing? I seem to remember back in the vehicle dynamo days that we did this with a blunt piece of Pax or something. What about new brushes? Does it need them and are they available?

It seems to me that this lathe is the equivalent of a 1928 - 30 radio, a proper antique. Is that part of its charm? I take it that once restored it will be a good performer? Wouldn't something later, say British, have been better for general turning work?

I may have missed it but I believe its not Brit but US?

Anyway, as usual, although not my field at all its most interesting. Seeing that comm took me back about 5 decades. How time has flown by.

Enjoy! I like the thread and the pics.

Gary

I think it is German - made in Frankfurt an Main?

Colin

[Alan Douglas]

the lever is used to rotate the brush holders around the Commutator axis by about 15 degrees

That's not enough to make it reversible, but perhaps is for adjusting to the load, for maximum torque and minimum arcing?

I forgot to look, are the brushes grounded (repulsion motor) are are they in circuit?

[Retired]

Hi,

I'm not scared of spiders Lawrence as long as they are not bigger than me.

Thanks Big Al; the motor double stepped pulley isn't crowned but the corresponding counter-shaft pulleys are crowned to ensure true belt tracking. Brook Motors used to mount full motors in a lathe Alan to turn the flange true where accuracy was a must. Yes I would have spun this in the Graduate if I could have got a grip on it to clean it up but I've now removed the rust and old paint the hard way using a scraper; abrasive paper; wire brush and UPOL pads. The motor will soon be ready for new paint assuming all goes well with reassembly?

I don't recall ever skimming a com in a lathe Gary but if done then yes the gaps need deepening; I think an hacksaw blade used to be the tool to use? I just polished this com in the Clarke and used a blunt pointed tool to remove the dirt. The brushes are still serviceable Gary but I think I could get hold of new brushes if needed. This Lorch oozes charm Gary and as you say is part of its appeal but to me Lorch lathes are tops when it comes to accuracy; this isn't to say British lathes are inferior but these Lorch lathes are very well respected indeed and usually command high prices. I could have bought something like a decent modernish Boxford for around £1,200 fitted with gearbox etc but for my needs as long as my lathe revolves and accepts the size of work I'm doing I can produce accuracy but having a lathe as accurate as this Lorch is sheer joy. It was made in Frankfurt; Germany as Colin states. Coms take me back to my old British biking days Gary when my bikes used to be fitted with a dynamo or mag/dyno? I'm pleased you are interested in the thread Gary because it makes it worth while adding it. I just enjoy this type of job and will have a lovely lathe at the end of it.

Well spotted Joe and thanks for letting me know; this will teach me to dash off for my tea? Yes I mounted the ROTOR in the Clarke lathe and not the STATOR (Armature is the old term but at Brooks we always referred to the revolving part as the rotor). I try to be as accurate as possible but occasionally I fall?

No it won't reverse using the brushes control Alan but I'm sure you are correct in that changing the brushes position does change it's performance either giving more speed or torque; as yet this motor design is new to me so I'll have to research a bit although once running again I can try using the control to see what happens?

I miss my big Colchester Triumph lathe but for a home workshop it was over the top and occupied a great deal of space. The two rare Myford MF36 lathes I bought and spent a lot of money on proved to be a disaster because with hindsight they were scrap when I bought them unseen; I checked this Lorch over before parting with cash and this appears to have paid off so far. I know the power feed to the cross slide in facing doesn't work but I'll have a look at this to see what work is involved; I can live without this function; the sliding power feed works which is the main feed; I also need to investigate how screw cutting is done on this Lorch but I'm finding it to be a fascinating project; a vintage lathe having survived all these years and will still be capable of very accurate results; it's worth getting dirty for because I've got an idea what it's going to turn out like?

Kind regards, Col.

[Joe]

(Armature is the old term but at Brooks we always referred to the revolving part as the rotor).

When I was at college in from 1986-8 we were taught that DC/Universal motors had an Armature which spun around in the Yoke whereas AC ones had a Rotor spinning in a Stator.

I've never seen replacement armatures sold as Rotors but Yokes often got called Stators.

It doesn't matter what you call it so long as it goes 'round.

- Joe

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Joe, whenever I did anything regarding the old dynamos many years ago I always called the revolving part the armature which of course is the correct term; however after 24 years at Brook Motors spitting out hundreds of thousands AC motors then the revolving part was the rotor. Similar as you say with the terms yokes and stators.

The only DC motors I tended to handle were from the "Bull" factory.

Whatever the terms used this motor on the Lorch sure is different to anything I've ever seen before and I think given the motors age it adds to the character of the lathe in keeping with the period; new bearings and a lick of paint should give it an extended life?

Kind regards, Col.

[Alan Douglas]

This may have been covered, but what speed is the motor (what I really want is the number of poles). If it is a slow-speed job, the brush shifting may actually be enough to reverse it.