Hi,
Recently I bought a nice Union Jubilee wood-turning lathe through eBay and it is now installed in my newly refurbished workshop. Since converting my electronics workshop into a woodworking shop this Jubilee is my first project. The thread title is misleading because a Union Jubilee is not fitted with a clutch as standard.
Jubilee installed in workshop.
The Jubilee came fitted with a 1/4HP single phase Hoover motor and was a working lathe. The previous owner who is also into all things mechanical and having some decent kit made a new head-stock mandrel upgrading to Boxford nose at 1.5” diameter x 8tpi (threads per inch) and adding a #3 Morse Taper then hardening the mandrel making this lathe more desirable.
New mandrel nose and mandrel components.
The lathe was fitted with a wrong section “V” belt making it ride high in the pulleys so I bought two new correct (A) section belts and whilst at it replaced the bearings. As bought this lathe was quite noisy under power.
I have two top quality Brook Motors 1.1Kw 220V 60Hz 1690rpm 3 phase motors in stock so thought one of these would be a big improvement over the 1/4HP Hoover motor? I then bought through eBay a 2.2Kw VFD (variable frequency drive) to power this motor with.
Hoover motor.
Being unfamiliar with VFD's I found connection easy; power in from a standard 13A plug and power out to the motor. I knew the VFD was factory set at 50Hz and with the motor and inverter temporarily hooked up on the bench I switched on. The motor after a soft start topped out at something like 11,000 rpm which was quite alarming as I thought it was never going to stop accelerating. After studying the supplied VFD manual I found it has two Hz settings and the second setting was at 400Hz. I've since learned a guy in the states took a two pole motor up to 30,000rpm using a VFD. The motor sounded unstressed at 11,000rpm but then routers run day in and day out at double this speed. Again this was only a temporary set up but I wanted to ensure everything worked before upgrading proper. Installed in the lathe; at power up the VFD would not turn the motor even though the motor sounded to be running; at first I thought perhaps the stepped pulley was loose on the motor shaft but a quick check confirmed the motor fan was stationery. More reading of the VFD manual and I set the VFD to the details on the motor nameplate; now the lathe ran perfectly but the slow start is much too slow although this can be adjusted but more on this later.
VFD hooked up to motor.
The VFD brand new with a two year warranty at £84 Inc. is a genuine bargain and a very simple and economic way of adding three phase to a machine. I bought a bigger VFD than actually needed but the difference in price was little and the bigger VFD will power a smaller motor whereas a small VFD won't power a bigger motor.
So far so good but in addition to the VFD I wanted to install a clutch. This might appear over the top after all the VFD will start/stop the lathe without blowing caps which happens on a single phase motor if the single phase motor is subjected to frequent start/stop cycles. I wanted to experiment using the Jubilee as a test bed; I have two Myford lathes awaiting full restorations and if successful will fit each Myford with a similar clutch.
I'm a member of Practical Machinist forum so searched PM for inspiration and information. I discovered car air conditioning compressor clutches can be pressed into service although no one gave actual blow by blow advice how to go about it; one member added a couple of pictures showing one of these clutches fitted to his Bantam lathe. I'm a sucker for a challenge and up till now knew absolutely nothing regarding air con compressors and I hadn't a clue what one of these looked like so another saga kicked in as my enthusiasm became an obsession.
I surfed the web and found thousands of these compressors for sale through eBay with prices starting at 99p and new units going into the hundreds of pounds. I also found videos showing how to remove such a clutch on “you tube” here is a good video and the clutch is easily removed in minutes;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URqFd3KkSRY
Watching this video I thought what a simple job this is going to be with little by way of challenge? As a Rufforth Auto Jumble was near I thought the timing to be perfect as I'm sure to pick up a cheap air con unit now I know what to look for. I visited Rufforth on a freezing Saturday morning and not a single air con was to be seen. I was most disappointed but certainly not beaten. On the way home from Rufforth I visited at car wreckers at Middleton near Leeds. I explained to the lovely young lady receptionist that I was looking for a scrap air con compressor costing no more than a tenner as wanted to experiment with it in my workshop; I was asked what car and model but I replied any mid sized car unit would be OK and make didn't matter. A quick search on her computer and I was led into a large storage container; in a box there were four Daewoo air con units and I could choose the one I wanted; fortunately these units where fitted with a single “V” type pulley which would make fitting to the lathe much easier? I cheerfully handed over a tenner and returned home.
Daewoo Lanos air con compressor.
If you have watched the above “you tube video” then it is clear an air con clutch is very quick and easy to remove. Well I can state this is far from the truth. What followed tested my patience to the limit; the weather was lousy for days on end with pouring rain as I ran around Huddersfield. I tried 5 garages; a motorcycle dealer/ a scooter dealer and a refrigeration company and all did not have the correct extractor. Driving round in such conditions was dreadful and I was informed by all the garages they do not remove clutches from compressors but simply replace the entire unit. The motorcycle and scooter dealers tried their best to help both having a good selection of extractors but not the correct one. All the engineers at the refrigeration company were out on jobs so this five minute job had already taken three days.
No way was I going to be beaten. I wanted to know the thread on this clutch and as access was limited I inserted a strip of white paper and ensuring it didn't slip I pressed it hard against the dirty threads. I was then able to measure across the marks and this was 1.5mm so at least I now knew the pitch; the diameter looked like 22mm. I then emailed Bapp for bolts in Barnsley inquiring if they could supply a bolt/set screw or indeed anything with this size thread after all if I could not find the correct extractor I would jolly well make one. After waiting a day for a reply I phoned Bapp to be informed 22mm is a non standard thread size therefore not stocked but I could try their Brighouse branch. Another wet trip out in the car I visited Danlett in Huddersfield taking along the air con unit. Again I was told this thread is non standard and they could not help.
I surfed eBay for a die nut and at prices up to £45 each this was a non starter. By now nothing was going to prevent me removing this clutch however long it took me. I asked Bron if she fancied a ride out and again in pouring rain this time we visited Bapp in Brighouse. At last I had a big set screw in my hand with the correct thread at £3. This was the worst set screw I've ever seen in my life with deformed threads; the threads were not even concentric to the axis of the screw but it was better than nothing.
It was dark and dismal in the garage as I started to convert this set screw into an extractor. The head was cut away using the hacksaw leaving a length of thread. Now even this simple job bit me hard; this set screw was made from exceptionally tough steel. I drilled and tapped axially for 10mm then tried to counter bore which blunted a top quality aerospace twist bit which I had to keep sharpening. At long last I had the extractor in my hand fitted with a 10mm set screw.
Home made extractor.
Now it would be a five minute job at last to withdraw this clutch? What a terrible job it was trying to get this extractor to enter the clutch plate deep enough due to its badly formed thread. I thought the outer clutch plate to be welded to the shaft as it was incredibly tight shearing the set screw. I removed the broken set screw but this time selected an high tensile socket head screw; I greased all the threads and for good measure dropped in a ball bearing to take up thrust on the shaft end. It was a nightmare trying to prevent the clutch from rotating and in the end I resorted to using a chain type oil filter removal tool to hold the clutch whilst I applied pressure using a two foot long pipe on the Allen key; there was one almighty crack as the joint finally parted and now the outer clutch plate was finally sitting on the bench. Surely the fight was now over?
The pulley drum was straightforward to remove but again it was extremely tight although I could get my puller to bear so it gave in. On the video the coil unit is described as easy to remove with a pair of screwdrivers as levers? OH yeah!! I tried a pair of big screwdrivers then tried using the puller; I applied as much pull as I dared using the puller but this coil unit was also extremely tight and refused to be withdrawn.
12V Coil.
I had by this time stripped part of the compressor in the hope of finding a shaft I could grip as these clutches are free running unless 12V is applied; even then with the clutch locked it would still revolve with the shaft. All I found was a set of pistons and with more stripping I ended up with six long bolts that could not be removed as the coil was in the way; This job was becoming a real pain.
To use brute force in order to remove the coil would have distorted and destroyed it; it still had to be removed though so I considered my few options. By now only the outer aluminium compressor casing was attached with the long bolts causing annoyance. What if I could grasp the casing in the big engineering vice would the hacksaw clear the bolt heads? I nipped the casing in the vice and set to with the hacksaw; this did the job giving me an aching arm. Now I could remove the coil using a bolt and spacers; once again there was a loud crack as the coil finally let go allowing it to be removed. So a five minute job took me a week to accomplish so I'm improving.
Daewoo air con clutch components and hacksaw result..
I can see this simple job turning into yet another saga so rather than try to cram everything together I'll add the story in detail as I can see this is going to be fun. If it has taken so much effort to get my hands on a clutch what am I in for? More to follow.
Kind regards, Col.
Recently I bought a nice Union Jubilee wood-turning lathe through eBay and it is now installed in my newly refurbished workshop. Since converting my electronics workshop into a woodworking shop this Jubilee is my first project. The thread title is misleading because a Union Jubilee is not fitted with a clutch as standard.
Jubilee installed in workshop.
The Jubilee came fitted with a 1/4HP single phase Hoover motor and was a working lathe. The previous owner who is also into all things mechanical and having some decent kit made a new head-stock mandrel upgrading to Boxford nose at 1.5” diameter x 8tpi (threads per inch) and adding a #3 Morse Taper then hardening the mandrel making this lathe more desirable.
New mandrel nose and mandrel components.
The lathe was fitted with a wrong section “V” belt making it ride high in the pulleys so I bought two new correct (A) section belts and whilst at it replaced the bearings. As bought this lathe was quite noisy under power.
I have two top quality Brook Motors 1.1Kw 220V 60Hz 1690rpm 3 phase motors in stock so thought one of these would be a big improvement over the 1/4HP Hoover motor? I then bought through eBay a 2.2Kw VFD (variable frequency drive) to power this motor with.
Hoover motor.
Being unfamiliar with VFD's I found connection easy; power in from a standard 13A plug and power out to the motor. I knew the VFD was factory set at 50Hz and with the motor and inverter temporarily hooked up on the bench I switched on. The motor after a soft start topped out at something like 11,000 rpm which was quite alarming as I thought it was never going to stop accelerating. After studying the supplied VFD manual I found it has two Hz settings and the second setting was at 400Hz. I've since learned a guy in the states took a two pole motor up to 30,000rpm using a VFD. The motor sounded unstressed at 11,000rpm but then routers run day in and day out at double this speed. Again this was only a temporary set up but I wanted to ensure everything worked before upgrading proper. Installed in the lathe; at power up the VFD would not turn the motor even though the motor sounded to be running; at first I thought perhaps the stepped pulley was loose on the motor shaft but a quick check confirmed the motor fan was stationery. More reading of the VFD manual and I set the VFD to the details on the motor nameplate; now the lathe ran perfectly but the slow start is much too slow although this can be adjusted but more on this later.
VFD hooked up to motor.
The VFD brand new with a two year warranty at £84 Inc. is a genuine bargain and a very simple and economic way of adding three phase to a machine. I bought a bigger VFD than actually needed but the difference in price was little and the bigger VFD will power a smaller motor whereas a small VFD won't power a bigger motor.
So far so good but in addition to the VFD I wanted to install a clutch. This might appear over the top after all the VFD will start/stop the lathe without blowing caps which happens on a single phase motor if the single phase motor is subjected to frequent start/stop cycles. I wanted to experiment using the Jubilee as a test bed; I have two Myford lathes awaiting full restorations and if successful will fit each Myford with a similar clutch.
I'm a member of Practical Machinist forum so searched PM for inspiration and information. I discovered car air conditioning compressor clutches can be pressed into service although no one gave actual blow by blow advice how to go about it; one member added a couple of pictures showing one of these clutches fitted to his Bantam lathe. I'm a sucker for a challenge and up till now knew absolutely nothing regarding air con compressors and I hadn't a clue what one of these looked like so another saga kicked in as my enthusiasm became an obsession.
I surfed the web and found thousands of these compressors for sale through eBay with prices starting at 99p and new units going into the hundreds of pounds. I also found videos showing how to remove such a clutch on “you tube” here is a good video and the clutch is easily removed in minutes;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URqFd3KkSRY
Watching this video I thought what a simple job this is going to be with little by way of challenge? As a Rufforth Auto Jumble was near I thought the timing to be perfect as I'm sure to pick up a cheap air con unit now I know what to look for. I visited Rufforth on a freezing Saturday morning and not a single air con was to be seen. I was most disappointed but certainly not beaten. On the way home from Rufforth I visited at car wreckers at Middleton near Leeds. I explained to the lovely young lady receptionist that I was looking for a scrap air con compressor costing no more than a tenner as wanted to experiment with it in my workshop; I was asked what car and model but I replied any mid sized car unit would be OK and make didn't matter. A quick search on her computer and I was led into a large storage container; in a box there were four Daewoo air con units and I could choose the one I wanted; fortunately these units where fitted with a single “V” type pulley which would make fitting to the lathe much easier? I cheerfully handed over a tenner and returned home.
Daewoo Lanos air con compressor.
If you have watched the above “you tube video” then it is clear an air con clutch is very quick and easy to remove. Well I can state this is far from the truth. What followed tested my patience to the limit; the weather was lousy for days on end with pouring rain as I ran around Huddersfield. I tried 5 garages; a motorcycle dealer/ a scooter dealer and a refrigeration company and all did not have the correct extractor. Driving round in such conditions was dreadful and I was informed by all the garages they do not remove clutches from compressors but simply replace the entire unit. The motorcycle and scooter dealers tried their best to help both having a good selection of extractors but not the correct one. All the engineers at the refrigeration company were out on jobs so this five minute job had already taken three days.
No way was I going to be beaten. I wanted to know the thread on this clutch and as access was limited I inserted a strip of white paper and ensuring it didn't slip I pressed it hard against the dirty threads. I was then able to measure across the marks and this was 1.5mm so at least I now knew the pitch; the diameter looked like 22mm. I then emailed Bapp for bolts in Barnsley inquiring if they could supply a bolt/set screw or indeed anything with this size thread after all if I could not find the correct extractor I would jolly well make one. After waiting a day for a reply I phoned Bapp to be informed 22mm is a non standard thread size therefore not stocked but I could try their Brighouse branch. Another wet trip out in the car I visited Danlett in Huddersfield taking along the air con unit. Again I was told this thread is non standard and they could not help.
I surfed eBay for a die nut and at prices up to £45 each this was a non starter. By now nothing was going to prevent me removing this clutch however long it took me. I asked Bron if she fancied a ride out and again in pouring rain this time we visited Bapp in Brighouse. At last I had a big set screw in my hand with the correct thread at £3. This was the worst set screw I've ever seen in my life with deformed threads; the threads were not even concentric to the axis of the screw but it was better than nothing.
It was dark and dismal in the garage as I started to convert this set screw into an extractor. The head was cut away using the hacksaw leaving a length of thread. Now even this simple job bit me hard; this set screw was made from exceptionally tough steel. I drilled and tapped axially for 10mm then tried to counter bore which blunted a top quality aerospace twist bit which I had to keep sharpening. At long last I had the extractor in my hand fitted with a 10mm set screw.
Home made extractor.
Now it would be a five minute job at last to withdraw this clutch? What a terrible job it was trying to get this extractor to enter the clutch plate deep enough due to its badly formed thread. I thought the outer clutch plate to be welded to the shaft as it was incredibly tight shearing the set screw. I removed the broken set screw but this time selected an high tensile socket head screw; I greased all the threads and for good measure dropped in a ball bearing to take up thrust on the shaft end. It was a nightmare trying to prevent the clutch from rotating and in the end I resorted to using a chain type oil filter removal tool to hold the clutch whilst I applied pressure using a two foot long pipe on the Allen key; there was one almighty crack as the joint finally parted and now the outer clutch plate was finally sitting on the bench. Surely the fight was now over?
The pulley drum was straightforward to remove but again it was extremely tight although I could get my puller to bear so it gave in. On the video the coil unit is described as easy to remove with a pair of screwdrivers as levers? OH yeah!! I tried a pair of big screwdrivers then tried using the puller; I applied as much pull as I dared using the puller but this coil unit was also extremely tight and refused to be withdrawn.
12V Coil.
I had by this time stripped part of the compressor in the hope of finding a shaft I could grip as these clutches are free running unless 12V is applied; even then with the clutch locked it would still revolve with the shaft. All I found was a set of pistons and with more stripping I ended up with six long bolts that could not be removed as the coil was in the way; This job was becoming a real pain.
To use brute force in order to remove the coil would have distorted and destroyed it; it still had to be removed though so I considered my few options. By now only the outer aluminium compressor casing was attached with the long bolts causing annoyance. What if I could grasp the casing in the big engineering vice would the hacksaw clear the bolt heads? I nipped the casing in the vice and set to with the hacksaw; this did the job giving me an aching arm. Now I could remove the coil using a bolt and spacers; once again there was a loud crack as the coil finally let go allowing it to be removed. So a five minute job took me a week to accomplish so I'm improving.
Daewoo air con clutch components and hacksaw result..
I can see this simple job turning into yet another saga so rather than try to cram everything together I'll add the story in detail as I can see this is going to be fun. If it has taken so much effort to get my hands on a clutch what am I in for? More to follow.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
