Micro Lathe Question

[Doughnut]

I purchased a micro-lathe through Harbor Freight last year. I know, it was cheap and you get what you pay for, but I have never used one before and I didn't want to invest a ton of money before seeing if I liked turning my own parts or not. Bottom line is that the motor stopped working. I checked the brushes and blew it out the brush dust with compressed air, but it simply won't start. Does anyone have any insight on what I can try to get it running before recycling this thing and getting a new one? I've only used it a few times. Thanks.

[Terry Sumner]

  On 3/21/2011 at 4:13 PM, Doughnut said:

I purchased a micro-lathe through Harbor Freight last year. I know, it was cheap and you get what you pay for, but I have never used one before and I didn't want to invest a ton of money before seeing if I liked turning my own parts or not. Bottom line is that the motor stopped working. I checked the brushes and blew it out the brush dust with compressed air, but it simply won't start. Does anyone have any insight on what I can try to get it running before recycling this thing and getting a new one? I've only used it a few times. Thanks.

Sounds like you have a break in power somewhere. Use a meter and check to see where the power stops. Start at the end of the power cord where it enters the switch and keep going from there. Just follow the path..maybe the cord is bad or maybe the switch is bad. Does it have a warranty? If so be careful you don't void the warrnty by opening the electricals up.

[Doughnut]

Thanks Terry. I am getting power to the switch, but from there I need to dismantle the rest of the lathe to see how far it goes, which think I will have to do. It's past warranty, so I don't need to worry about that. Thanks.

[CAL]

  On 3/21/2011 at 4:13 PM, Doughnut said:

I purchased a micro-lathe through Harbor Freight last year. I know, it was cheap and you get what you pay for, but I have never used one before and I didn't want to invest a ton of money before seeing if I liked turning my own parts or not. Bottom line is that the motor stopped working. I checked the brushes and blew it out the brush dust with compressed air, but it simply won't start. Does anyone have any insight on what I can try to get it running before recycling this thing and getting a new one? I've only used it a few times. Thanks.

Did you check the fuse?

www.Littlemachineshop.com sell virtually ever part for these machines. So you can probably replace the bad part cheaper than getting a new machine.

They do have motors and controller boards for these.

Do you have the speed controller reostat all the way down do you?

Edited March 21, 2011 by CAL

[CAL]

  On 3/21/2011 at 4:44 PM, Terry Sumner said:

Sounds like you have a break in power somewhere. Use a meter and check to see where the power stops. Start at the end of the power cord where it enters the switch and keep going from there. Just follow the path..maybe the cord is bad or maybe the switch is bad. Does it have a warranty? If so be careful you don't void the warrnty by opening the electricals up.

It is not that big of a deal on one of these. You could literally stripped it down to nothing and reassemble without anyone knowing the difference. There is nothing tamper proof on it including the controller board.

[iBorg]

If you have the receipt you could always return it. I think HF covers everything for one year.

Of course that means you have to lug it there.

Mike

[CAL]

  On 3/21/2011 at 8:02 PM, iBorg said:

If you have the receipt you could always return it. I think HF covers everything for one year.

Of course that means you have to lug it there.

Mike

Not everything. Some things are lifetime some things are 30 days.

[SSNJim]

Yahoo Groups has a group called 7x12minilathe that is a great source of information about the HF 7X10, 7X12, and 7X14 lathes. They could help you out with the problem. There's a lot of talented machinists there.

One word of advice-don't join the 7x10minilathe group. It's primarily politics and OT banter. They will help if you post a question, but there's a lot of noise.