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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
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    Adelaide
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    Default Ex Adelaide Uni Hercus Lathes

    Hi all, this pair of long bed's popped up on Facebook marketplace the other night and a friend of mine sent me the link to them, there was only 1 photo of each lathe but they looked really clean, I contacted the advertiser who gave me the number of the guy who was actually selling them, I was really only interested in the Craftsman, kind of always wanted one as I personally think they are just a fantastic looking machine and very neat with everything tucked away and not a great deal come up for sale, anyway, I organised a time to view the Craftsman then the next morning contacted him again and asked to look at the 260 as well if there was no interest in it yet, I went to look at them and I just could not leave the 260 behind, for the price with everything it came with I decided to purchase both machines, I have now come to the conclusion I must be an addict or something, the person selling them told me his phone was going crazy and a few people wanted to get in before me and have a look, at least there are people around that stand by there word and still work on first to call, first in line. Plan with these is now to clean them up, put 240 motors on them and get them working, I have too many other projects to strip these down as well. The 260 came with the original build inspection record still attached in the back of the spare parts manual.
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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
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    Geelong, Australia
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    57
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    2,651

    Default

    Very nice.
    Unless you already have suitable 240v motors I’d seriously look at using a VFD instead of converting them. About $150 delivered for the EcoGoo 240-415v ones.

    Steve

  3. #3
    BobL is online now Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by OxxAndBert View Post
    Very nice.
    Unless you already have suitable 240v motors I’d seriously look at using a VFD instead of converting them. About $150 delivered for the EcoGoo 240-415v ones.
    The motors on those machines should also be easily convertible to 240V 3P at the motor junction box.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Melbourne
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    Default

    If you're an addict, you're amongst friends! Wow, talk about being in the right place at the right time! Great pick up's, well done. Cheers, Tony (green with envy)

    Sent from my SM-N976B using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Adelaide
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by OxxAndBert View Post
    Very nice.
    Unless you already have suitable 240v motors I’d seriously look at using a VFD instead of converting them. About $150 delivered for the EcoGoo 240-415v ones.

    Steve
    Thanks for the heads up, I may look at that option, I have a VSD on a 9" and the good thing with that was it was a 2800rpm motor that i bought from a guy at work, it was all internal and I only needed to remote mount the pot, made for a good top end speed.

    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post
    The motors on those machines should also be easily convertible to 240V 3P at the motor junction box.
    I have set up a late 260 with the 240v to 3 phase without VSD using a start and a run capacitor with a start cap timer, seemed to work alright but it never sounded nice on the start up, I think the start cap ran too long and I am talking as low a time as I could set the timer.

    Quote Originally Posted by Silversprings View Post
    If you're an addict, you're amongst friends! Wow, talk about being in the right place at the right time! Great pick up's, well done. Cheers, Tony (green with envy)

    Sent from my SM-N976B using Tapatalk
    This is definitely a place for addicts of these things, my partner just rolls her eyes every time another 1 shows up, but I will confess, I am actually selling a couple off at the moment, one is advertised on gumtree but it kinda hurts to do that though .

  6. #6
    BobL is online now Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tinkerer77 View Post
    Thanks for the heads up, I may look at that option, I have a VSD on a 9" and the good thing with that was it was a 2800rpm motor that i bought from a guy at work, it was all internal and I only needed to remote mount the pot, made for a good top end speed.
    4 pole (1440 rpm) motors give a wider practical speed range as most can run up to 125Hz (3500 rpm). When a 2 pole motor is used 125Hz is 7000 rpm - doubt whether most normal motors and bearings can cope with that long term.

    I have set up a late 260 with the 240v to 3 phase without VSD using a start and a run capacitor with a start cap timer, seemed to work alright but it never sounded nice on the start up, I think the start cap ran too long and I am talking as low a time as I could set the timer.
    These days VFDs are so cheap and provide many other benefits apart from SP to 3P conversion.

  7. #7
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    Jun 2007
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    Vic
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    Default

    Congratulations, very very nice! It has extended cross slide, does it come with the taper turning attachment too?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
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    Adelaide
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    Quote Originally Posted by jackaroo View Post
    Congratulations, very very nice! It has extended cross slide, does it come with the taper turning attachment too?
    Unfortunately there was only the cross slide for the taper turning attachment there, the guys were going to hunt around for anything else that might be around in other boxes, that slide is brand new by the looks of it, lucky enough I already have a taper attachment.

  9. #9
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    Aug 2015
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    Adelaide
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    Default I bought the vfd's

    After giving it some thought and a little more research and probably just the fact I cannot be bothered changing motors on the new lathes and everything is already in place and I will not need to bore and re-key motor pulleys, I have ordered 2 x 240 to 415 EcoGoo VFD's. After talking to the electricians at work that have set a couple up and reading through what BobL and OxxandBert have said and posted across the forums amongst a few others, I decided to go with them, I will put up some photos as I go along and mount and wire them up, I look forward to the new challenge.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Adelaide
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    I was going through some photos and found a craftsman that I took some pictures of a few years ago in a guy's shed, the lathe originally came from the Flinders Uni down south of Adelaide, I am quite amazed at the number sequence here, AUL12728 and AUL12729
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  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
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    N.W.Tasmania
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    Government purchase order it seems, possibly a few more out there too in the same sequence. Is that the one you plan to keep? While not in the same class as other more industrial class lathes like a Colchester Chipmaster for example, you look to have two lathes in likely very good order, capable of a lot of good work for many years. Good decision to go with the V.F.D.s in my view, a little bit of work in the rewiring to do it right, but very beneficial in the end.

  12. #12
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    Aug 2015
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    Adelaide
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    I will definitely be keeping both of these lathes, it's taken me a while to get my hands on the craftsman, I originally was not overly interested in the 260 but as soon as I saw it I just had to buy them both, the Hercus' will serve me well, they will do most of the work I need them to do and I have access to larger machines if I need them.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
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    Ipswich QLD
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  14. #14
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    Oct 2008
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    N.W.Tasmania
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tinkerer77 View Post
    I will definitely be keeping both of these lathes, it's taken me a while to get my hands on the craftsman, I originally was not overly interested in the 260 but as soon as I saw it I just had to buy them both, the Hercus' will serve me well, they will do most of the work I need them to do and I have access to larger machines if I need them.

  15. #15
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    Aug 2015
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    Adelaide
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    Default VFD's have been fitted

    I have put a post in the electrical section regarding the wiring of the VFD's, Unfortunately after the second unit was set up in the craftsman it decided to spark and crackle, it was running like a dream and then in standby mode it just went bang, must be a faulty capacitor I would think.
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