Love of lathes.

[Retired]

Hi,

Good points about safety David.

Just occasionally something really big goes right and today this has happened. This morning I thought I would leave the Lorch alone until the stores open then I could buy a pair of motor bearings? I busied myself with small jobs around home and whilst doing these the Lorch was heavily on my mind.

There was something very strange happening regarding the noisy motor but it was evading me. I had taken a lot of care not only in re-painting this motor but also in fitting the pulley and installing the motor into the lathe; the motor had run up very well on the bench so why had it suddenly started to be so noisy? When I listened to the bearings it sure sounded as though the bearings were on their way out but what's caused this because the motor is fully enclosed so no way has dirt entered the bearings during my ownership; this really started me thinking and it got the better of me.

This afternoon I wandered into the garage with the intention of finding out what the noise problem was once and for all at least if I stripped the motor I could obtain the two bearing numbers so within minutes the motor was back on the bench but now I had an open mind and started a close inspection; the fan cover and fan were quickly removed but as I spun the shaft I thought these bearings feel good because I couldn't detect any roughness. As I twisted the pulley to and fro I felt something untoward and suddenly it struck me what the noise was; I checked the pulley grub screw and it was no longer tight although I had nipped it down?

Now I really did nip this grub screw down using a lot of force but not so much force as to cause damage; the motor was re-installed into the lathe and the drive belt adjusted; WOW what a gorgeous lathe this Lorch is; at last it is running perfectly; it now runs ever so sweetly and will be a pleasure to use.

The grub screw in the drive pulley wasn't totally loose but loose enough for the pulley to set up vibration which was being transmitted by the bearings; it was more of a loud rumble than a knocking noise but now I'm just delighted to finally have completed this extensive restoration; I've now got two outstanding fully restored lathes in this Lorch and the Union Graduate; both have been worth the time and effort I've put in over the last few months; if the noise problem re-occurs on the Lorch I'll modify the stepped pulley to accept a key; I never did like pulleys locked in place with a grub screw only into the shaft key-way but this pulley is on a sleeve making adding a key-way rather more difficult. Now what can I play around with next?

Here are before and after pictures for comparison. It seems such a long time since Big Al kindly tipped me off about this lathe; I'm now happy I decided to pop over to have a look at it.

Thanks Gary for your kind comments; yes the guards have already received a good going over with Solvol Autosol even though show up a bit dull in the pictures; it certainly takes me back to by motorcycle restoring days using Solvol like this again on covers.

Kind regards, Col.