Harrison L5 lathe rebuild

[SnailPowered]

That looks amazing! Very fine work. The lamp looking around the guard reminds of that movie "The Brave Little Toaster"

[Micktoon]

Thanks for all the nice comments lads I am glad the project is of interest to people out there, I have watched plenty other peoples projects and enjoyed them so its nice to know I am putting a bit back into the system

Hi SteveC , The lathe had the chuck guard on it when I got it and it is handy when using suds , just stops a lot of it going all over and also making sure it gets back to the pump, as Tom says as long as it is out the way and also not in the way, its there when you need it and no bother if you dont need it. I am planning on keeping the lathe 'forever' so doing the likes of the splash guard are worth doing and jobs you would never end up doing unless it was all stripped down, so its now or never really .
Tom I did the radii by first trying to roll the bend in bending rolls but it was too thick for the rolls , so I just used them to clamp it and just pushed hard on the long side of the bend until it looked about right, the sheet was not tight to the roller but just bent in a nice curve one of them rare times where you think .... Umm that worked out well

Snailpowered , I cant say I have seen the film but do have an image of the thing you are on about ...... a kids film where allsorts of objects came alive I think ?
I got a bit of the electric panel done today but will post tomorrow when its in place .
Thanks again Mick.

[SnailPowered]

Yeah it's a kids cartoon and there is a lamp that hops, the toaster (of course) and some other appliances. It's been many years since I saw it but it was one of my favorites when I was a munchkin. I saw the lamp, it reminded me of that movie and then I realized that when I have kids I have them watch the Brave Little Toaster and tell them that my lathe is one of the evil machines that likes to eat little kid's fingers to scare them away from trying to play with

[Micktoon]

I have managed to do a bit more of the electric box mounting today. I am making it out of what I have rather than what I would use in an ideal world so its a bit more robust than needed but at least it will not fall off :thumbup: The overall plan is to have a rear alloy plate to which will mount the inverter , a die cast alloy box to house the switch gear and transformer for the lo-volt lamp, along with a red three phase socket ( this will be used for the out-put of the inverter going to the lathe motor but will also mean other things could be plugged into the socket (chop saw)or three phase motors tested by plugging into the socket too) I have also decided to make the top of the vertical plate have a horizontal shelf to stop any debris going into the inverter top vents, this shelf will be edged with alloy angle and will do for storing dial indicator s etc.

This is the two bits of 5mm thick alloy plate I have lying about. Due to the large bit only being an inch bigger than ideal I decided to leave it this size.



It will go roughly like this photo and have the shelf along the top edge, you can just see the markings where the inverter will go on the left side and the box on the right side at the top below it will go the legend plate for the lathe speeds. I have placed the clutch and gear levers back into position just to make sure everything has room to operate.



This is the bracket it will mount to that is bolted to the rear of the headstock casing.



The rear frame cut and clamped ready for welding, again just made from what I had about.



Welded up and clamped into position, this frame might get bolted to the headstock angle bracket but due casing not being flat it sits slightly off vertical so I might hold it into position and weld it to the angle bracket.



I will either use these holes to bolt through or plug weld them to the angle bracket if it needs to become 'one part' to compensate for the rear plate not sitting vertical.



Cheers Mick.

[doubleboost]

Hi
Mick
Nice to see a propper switch mount
Pleased you are going to paint it grey instead of that gastly green
John

[stevec]

Lookin good man!

[DaveH]

Mick,
Tis looking good

DaveH

[Mayhem]

Looking good Mick. Since you got such a bargain on the switch panel, I would strongly recommend you spend some of the money saved on a contactor. Essentially, this is an electromagnetic switch that will disengage the power in the event that you lose power to the lathe (e.g. a blackout). This offers a safety mechanism, as when the power returns the lathe will not jump back to life.

You then use momentary action push button switches to run the lathe. Given the buts you already have, I would use the key switch to isolate the power (very handy if you have kids), the emergency stop switch and the two way switch to select forward/reverse, and the momentary switch to start the motor. I would also use one of the indicator lamps to show that you have power to the control box.

Looking at the pictures, you actually need to get the switch body for the emergency stop and the push button. These are present on the key switch and the selector switch. They are available in normally closed (NC) and normally open (NO) and simply screw into place. You can gang them together where needed. If you know an electrician, they can get them cheaper than if you walk in off the street. Mind you, they are not that expensive to buy but they are a lot more than the two quid you paid for the lot!

I recently did this type of 'upgrade' to my mill

[Micktoon]

Hi Mayhem , sorry for taking so long to reply to your post, just one thing after another stopped me doing any thing else to the lathe past two weeks, I hope to be back to it this week.
Thanks for the advice on the switch gear, I am planning on doing what you have mentioned as its more or less what my mill has fitter, that panel wont be used as it is just some of the bits from it along with other switches etc I already have lying about. My mate is an electrician so will help me do the electrical side of things.
cheers Mick.

[sasquatch]

Nice work, and greatly enjoy the background photos of your'e shop.