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My old Atlas Lathe died
and My Heart Sank – How could I fix it?
About two weeks ago my Metal
Lathe quit working. Actually it was the
motor. When I turned it on it would only
make a low hum as it tried to begin to turn over. Something was seriously wrong with the motor
after all these years.
My heart sank as the feeling
of hopelessness flooded over me. What am
I to do? I need the lathe and what it
does for me now. In my production of some of the items that are in demand right
now, Misty Hollow cannot have any down time!
On Tuesday I started working
toward the possible repair of the electric motor. I removed it from the lathe
and started to take it apart. It is old
and very dirty to say the least. It has
been ages since this has been looked at.
What am I going to do?
I should tell you this part
first. The lathe is something that you turn metal parts on but you can also use
it to make wooden parts as well. Things
like chair legs or table legs and even wooden bowls.
The lathe is not new. I
inherited it when my Dad passed away in 1987.
He bought the lathe in 1943, a
year before I was born.
It is an Atlas Lathe with a 10
inch chuck and a 46 inch bed for those that understand that lingo.
Whoa! The motor is 69 years old or more – likely closer
to 72 or 76 years old. It was bought in 1943 but likely produced a few years
before the small garage in Lang, Saskatchewan purchased it to work on the farm machinery.
My dad was working for that garage as a mechanic. The lathe was too small to do
the larger tasks that it was needed for.
So my dad stepped forward and bought the lathe from the owner.
When I was presented with the
lathe in 1987 I moved it in a small trailer from Regina, Saskatchewan to Scarborough,
Ontario. Then we moved it from
Scarborough to Yorkton, Saskatchewan.
After that it moved with us to Regina, Saskatchewan. Following the stint in Regina it went across
Canada again to Peterborough, Ontario where it has worked hard for the last 14
years.
The original move to Lang,
then Milestone, and then Regina Saskatchewan had taken place after it had arrived
from Illinois where it was made those many years ago.
I doubt that there is any
lathe, anywhere that has traveled any more than this one… and to top it off it
is now very old. Talk about an active
senior citizen that weighs about 300 pounds!!!
As I pulled the motor apart it
was clear that the dirt built up after all these years was the issue. It so caked with dust and grime that the
working parts were not doing what they should do.
In lower technical language I
can tell you that this kind of one phase induction motor starts with a starting
winding and then switches over to the running winding. The initial start is
done by a zap from a capacitor. And it
all happens when the power flows through the starting switch which makes the
starting winding send the armature in a certain direction either Clockwise or
Counter Clockwise – depending on which way you position the drum switch…
Forward or Reverse.
Did you get all that? I learned all that when I worked with my dad
rewinding and repairing electric motors at his Lincoln Motor Repair shop that
he launched later in his life.
Knowing this stuff has come in
handy over the years. And when I ran
into trouble with a motor on one of our appliances I would call my dad for
advice, or parts or whatever I needed to repair the electric motor.
My father had given me the
most valuable thing he could have. He gave me some of his knowledge and ability
to repair things. He gave me the best.
It was amazing to have him
around in person or by telephone. One
quick call and he had an answer.
For 25 years now he hasn’t been
around. I have had to rely on what I remember and what I can figure out. His
training and gift to me was very good.
BUT – and it is a BIG BUT… on
Tuesday when I took apart the old motor my heart sank. This is not something that you go out to a
repair shop and get parts for. No one even remembers this kind of motor! Not the young guys at least.
To buy a new motor I found
that I was looking at a range of prices from $175 for one that might not be big
enough or up to $350 for one that would likely work.
After pricing the new motors
out I was less than confident that I could go this way.
Worse yet, I had checked the
wiring harness in the old motor and in the line to the switch and the wire
casing was breaking every two inches. It was already broken in many places from
the switch to the motor. The 70 plus year old wire couldn’t remain pliable any
longer. It was having a heart attack of sorts.
As I drove away from the last
place I checked prices at I suddenly remembered another place that I had passed
almost every day. It was the “Dependable Electric Motor Service” with a sign
that explained what they do. When the door was open it looked just like the
shops that my dad used to work in.
When I walked into Dependable
Electric Motor Service it smelled like my father’s shop.
I explained my problem and the
older fellow (younger than me but older than his staff) told me that they do
carry new motors as well. But there were also shelves full of used electric
motors that were for sale.
Bingo. There on the shelf was
a used motor that would more than do the job I needed done. A customer had
brought it in to be repaired. It was
from a band saw and should do the trick.
Whoa! The best news… it was only $50! Misty Hollow can handle that for sure!
Oh boy! When I got it home and opened the back of the
motor up where the wire connections are… there were six wires coming out – not
four like the other old motor! The drum
switch had only four wires to connect to… and the plug leading to the wall had
two more.
It was early Friday morning
when I started to work on this problem. I began on the Internet asking how this
problem could be solved. There were suggestions but not the answer that I
needed.
By the afternoon I was even
more confused. Where should I begin? Dad wasn’t there any longer and I had no
one to call… no one at all!
So I began using some of the old
ways that my dad had taught me. Try this… test. Mark it down what I did if it didn’t
work. Try it… test. Try it… test.
The real testing started at
about 8 PM and suddenly at 10:30 PM – kazzoom the motor roared to life and with
both Forward and Reverse working perfectly!
What a moment of elation!
Who should I call? Who would care? Who would even understand why
I was so happy?
I wished at that moment that I
could have called my dad. He would have
been so proud of me.
When I left my Misty Hollow
shop last night and went into the house. I checked something on the calendar.
It was May 25. That was the day that my dad passed away… 25
years ago!
Could it be that my dad is
still watching over me? Naw! I don’t
believe that kind of stuff.
But when I had left that last
place when I was pricing out the new motors I had this strange sensation that I
should to Dependable Electric Motor Service.
And when I walked into that place it was as if I had come “home”… it had
smelled like my dad’s place… the man was like one of my dad’s guys he used to
work with. Even his clothes were the same.
When I went to bed I was
smiling! I had to tell someone… so I did
that just now… by telling You!
Oh – and by the way – I worked
on the old motor a little more… and even with its weak wiring and ancient workings
inside… it too roared to life as well. I
could say it is as good as new… but that should say… almost as good as new.
It will go with the Lathe to
one of my grandsons when I go. It will depend now on which one is really ready
to take over this part of my life. Hmmm?
Somehow, somewhere and in some
way I think my dad is smiling. And in
some small way he is telling somebody near him… “That’s my son… I taught him
well!”
~ Murray Lincoln ~
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