One thing leads to another...

[Pete O]

Yeah definitely needs a new contactor, I did dismantle the existing stone-age unit, took the contacts out and gave them a good clean-up with emery paper, made no difference. I have it on good authority that the solenoids get weak, doesn't have the power to hold the contacts together on starting load.
I checked the new contactors that I have and they are all 240v, the machine is 415v so not going to be any use unless I wire a neutral into the phase converter output and the mill and run the switching on 240, just getting more and more complicated, also would need a 5-pin plug which I don't have. I might see the friend who set me on the right path with the phase converter tomorrow, will see if he happens to have any 415v units. If so, will post here for some guidance on installing.
I did manage to run the machine this afternoon enough to convert one of my crossfeed nuts into a paper weight. My first ever milling project was to ruin my first ever internal acme threading project! Thankfully I threaded two blanks while I had the lathe set up so I still have one more to ruin.