Original Lathe AC Motor Rebuilt

I broke the lathe.  Yes, I broke it that fast.  I was turning a pen for a neighbor, and plugged it in for some final sanding, there were some arcs and sparks (both in the motor and in the power cord end that I was holding), and it stopped working.

I started looking at DC motors.  Here's what I needed - a motor with a 1/2" shaft, 1/3 Horsepower, and (preference here) direct current with variability in RPM.  I finally gave up and decided to crack the original motor, trying to locate the start capacitor in case I could track a new one down.  Don't get me wrong, there are motors out there, but they were all priced in the $300-$800 - and I wasn't plopping that kind of cash into the Ebay ecosystem.

Model:	Dunlap (Sears) model 15.4624
Volts:	110
Speed:	1750 RPM
Horsepower:	1/3
Amps:	6
Shaft Size:	0.5" (or 1/2")

So, I cracked it open.

I noticed a few things :

1. It had a switch (yeah, I didn't see that before because it was on the back side of the motor).
2. I moved on and found where the wiring went into the casing had worn out, and the wires (made of aluminum) had been exposed to the metal casing - that would be an additional cause of the arcing and sparking.
3. It was DIRTY!  I grabbed the air compressor nozzle and cleaned it out quickly, but made a nice mess of the back patio in short order.

I found that there wasn't a start capacitor in this motor.  It is actually a mechanical assembly.

I also realized that there were oiling channels for the motor bearings, on each end of the case.  Thinking they were plugged with old saw dust, I grabbed the air nozzle again and tried to blow them out.  Turns out they weren't plugged, but it's some sort of a sponge in there to keep the oil so it would channel into the bushings/brearings.  There are grooves on the inside of the casing angled in such a way to put oils around the bearings.  Quite ingenious, if you ask me.

After soldering a replacement power cord into place (and fixing a few other things while I was at it in the electrical system), I buttoned it all back up, and plugged it in... success! Proud to have a working original motor connected to the lathe still, costing $15 of repair (for the replacement power cord, which had gouges in it exposing the aluminum wire and making it a bit dangerous). I get my man card back again.

Kwicky Burner - Preparing to Build My Own Shop

I'm interested in the Dave Gingery books.  But, rather than create a charcoal foundry like he does in his first book, I thought I'd go straight to an oil burner - it burns cleaner, and I can fuel it with my used motor oil.  Sounds like a winner!

So, looking around the 'net, the best one I found :

http://metalshop.homestead.com/How-to-Build-The-Kwiky-all-Fuel-Foundry-Burner.html

Looks easy enough, it's simple enough, and it works with a compressor to bring the fuel into the system (no need for a special pressure system).  I tried to tackle this the first time, and I failed.  In one of his pictures, he had one of the air supply nozzles that was shaped like a bullet.

Using a drill press, I put the mig welder tip in, started the press, and put the file to it.  I "turned" it into the shape of a bullet - it didn't work well.  In fact, rather than sucking up the fuel supply line, air was bubbling up the fuel line.

I decided to try it again, and went with the design in another one of his photos - a simple, straight bevel about 45 degrees.  So, I put a new mig tip into the drill press, started it, and grabbed the file, and bevelled the tip.  I soldered it into the copper tube, and assembled it, connected it and fired up the compressor :

It was definitely throwing water, so I needed to adjust it.  To adjust, simply turn the square plug in or out.  Do that while everything is connected.

I got a better spray after letting it out a bit.

I grabbed another photo of everything connected to it so you could see the spray.

A final adjustment, and the spray looked about perfect.  If you change the pressure on the air supply line, you will have to adjust that square nozzle again.  Always find a perfect spray when you use the nozzle.  It's awesome, and the next step is to install it into a larger pipe that is fed by another blower to throw the mixture into the foundy.  I'll get to that one in the future (I work slowly with some projects!)  Woohoo!