Amadeal Lathe

[Jim O’Connell 1Participant @jimoconnell1]

Hi Guys. I bought a mini lathe just over 6 months ago and the 450w motor has burnt out.

Is there a better replacement motor out there, instead of buying the same again?

I'm new to lathes but getting to like them apart from this problem.

Thanks in advance for any advice offered.

Jim

[Jim O’Connell 1Participant @jimoconnell1]

Need a motor

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Hi Jim, welcome to the forum. I would have thought, assuming the lathe was bought new, the first port of call would be Amadeal to sort it out under warranty. Are you sure it's the motor. The control board is pretty suspect on some of these lathes.

John

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Has the lathe got electronic speed control, or is it by changing the belt on pulleys, if the latter, a 4 pole single phase induction motor of around 1/2 hp would do. It may not fit on the lathe in place of the original motor, but you could mount the motor on the bench behind the lathe. If you have electronic control someone else might have an idea to get you cutting metal.

Ian S C

[Jim O’Connell 1Participant @jimoconnell1]

There was a bang and some smoke. I have taken the lathe out and tested it in a vice. Another bang, smoke and blown fuses

[Jim O’Connell 1Participant @jimoconnell1]

Just checked and lathe was bought on 10th Feb and the electrics only have a 6 month guarantee!!!

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Jim

"Just checked and lathe was bought on 10th Feb and the electrics only have a 6 month guarantee!!!"

That is worth shouting at them anyway. Clearly electrics which only last 3 months are not "fit for purpose" !

​I suggest that they should be prepared to help you – let us know the outcome so that we can all form our own opinions.

Norman

Edited By NJH on 29/08/2016 14:49:03

[Jim O’Connell 1Participant @jimoconnell1]

Was looking things up and found this!!! Anyone tried it???

Mini Lathe Motor Upgrade

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Jim, how did you test the motor when removed from the lathe. Most of these motors are 180vDC if you just plugged it into the mains you may well have fried it! Hence the bang and blown fuses. The article you found on replacement motors uses a brushless DC motor and controller don't know anyone whos tried it.

I'd go with NJH despite the 6 month Guarantee, The sale of Goods Act says something different, ie fitness for purpose, that is where you claim should be pursued.

John

Edited By Journeyman on 29/08/2016 15:33:49

[Jim ArnottParticipant @jimarnott21196]

I would think Hugh would be reasonable.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

It's very easy to burn out these motors by running them too slowly with a heavy load, plus uprating the fuse is a bad idea.

Unfortunately beginners often run the lathe too slow as they haven't built up their confidence yet (don't ask how I know these things).

If you tried running it off the mains, then I doubt you will get your money back, as John says they are DC. They should be tested off a 12V motor which will run them slowly but enough to prove they are OK.

Neil

[Jim O’Connell 1Participant @jimoconnell1]

Oops. Well we all make mistakes. I do remember when I got the lathe almost stalling it as I was turning some stainless and went too slow.

OK. Should I buy a new motor at about £98 or maybe go the brush less 24v motor in the article I posted.

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Sorry Jim, don't know enough about brushless motors and controllers to make a recomendation. It does sound interesting from the article, although quite a lot of work getting all the parts wired up correctly. Might be worth doing a full costing excercise to compare . He makes it sound cheap in the article but the motor is £65 so + controller(ESC) + power supply + bracket + wire etc. It might not be that much cheaper.

Good luck

John

[Jim O’Connell 1Participant @jimoconnell1]

It's not that it's cheaper. In fact, it's about £20-£30 more expensive.

Where I am coming from is, is it a better system then the brush motor originally fitted? Will the new brush motor pack up again and I am £100 down

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I drive my little Perris lathe with a 3 phase squirrel cage motor and an inverter. Might be overkill, but it is bombproof. I got the motor as part of a swap, and the inverter from Newton Tesla, Only cost about £40

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

Duncan
can you give more details of your Perris scheme – I’d like to update my small Perris as well

[Sam Longley 1Participant @samlongley1]

Applogies for going off thread here but it is being suggested that running slow puts a higher load on a variable speed motor- is that correct?

I ask because on my warco 250mv i usually start on slow speed, build up to speed i want then start the cut.

It would seem from the comments above that may not be a good thing on variable speed lathes and that having selected a speed i should stay with it & not keep going back to slow speed and back up again every time i stop

Edited By Sam Longley 1 on 30/08/2016 07:51:18

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Sam, it's running slow for long periods with heavy load, not what you are doing.

Jim, a small induction motor plus vfd would be the best solution, failing that a good quality DC brushed motor such as a Baldor with a KBE drive. These small lathes with with DC motors seem to have a terrible reputation for the controllers burning out, which is probably what happened to yours, plus if you then connected the motor to the mains direct that would b***** the motor itself.

[Jim O’Connell 1Participant @jimoconnell1]

Did not sleep well last night. Turning lots of motors and things over in my little sleepy head.

OK. lets start at the beginning of this problem.

1) Like Niel was saying I have run the motor too slow to the extent that the motor stopped before I hit the STOP button.

2) When the motor stopped last week while working it not not going fast as I was cutting a piece of stainless with a hacksaw. Slow speed and working the saw over it.

3) Then there was the bang and some smoke and the lathe stopped. It blew the lathe fuse, the light over the lathe, the garage fuse and the house fuse all in one go.

4) I am now thinking that the lathe control circuit board let in the AC 220 and cooked the motor. Just a big thought!!!

If this is the case, I will also need a new control board at another £100 or so.

How would I check the control board before fitting a new motor and maybe blowing the new motor on first switch on!!

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

Checking the control board is relatively simple,

Disconnect the cables from the board that go to the motor, these should be connected to the A and A+ spades on the pcb if its the KB style controller, else follow where the leads are terminated on the board…

Now take a 240 v houshold lamp bulb of around 100 watts and wire that in place of the motor…..fit a new fuse, a 1Amp one will do for now…..now switch on and operate as ylu would normally to run the machine. The light bulb should be out at zero speed and gradually uncrease in brightness as you advance the speed pot.

If the bulb comes on fairly brightly with no control then the board is kaput….Replace as necessary…unless you know someone who can repair it….(ahem….)

Edited By John Rudd on 30/08/2016 10:25:05

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Talk with Amadeal, we had someone here a couple of weeks ago who also thought they had blown their motor, the supplier (not Amadeal) was able to check the board and found that at fault.

J

PS is hacksawing on the lathe do it without the work turning.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Check with Amadeal as suggested it is rarely both motor and board that are blown.

So far all users of the brushless motor versions of the mini-lathe I have come across say they are superior

You need a different controller board and motor to go brushless

The standard brushless motor won't fit a brushed motor mini-lathe without significant work as the space where it fits is too small and it has to hang off the back.

Other motors may fit but may or may not be suitable. Beware trying to use a small motor running at high revs.

If you don't mind the effort of hanging a motor off the back you can see how I put first a 0.5hp single phase motor and then a 0.5hp three phase motor and inverter on mine in this article:

model-engineer.co.uk/news/article/3-phase-conversion-and-other-alternative-methods-of-powering-a-mini-lathe/18752

Neil

[Jim O’Connell 1Participant @jimoconnell1]

Posted by John Rudd on 30/08/2016 10:23:45:

Checking the control board is relatively simple,

Disconnect the cables from the board that go to the motor, these should be connected to the A and A+ spades on the pcb if its the KB style controller, else follow where the leads are terminated on the board…

Can I use a Multimeter to check?

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

I fitted my mini-lathe with something similar to this and haven't looked back since.

 

Edited By blowlamp on 30/08/2016 15:45:03

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

Posted by Jim O'Connell 1 on 30/08/2016 15:29:34:

Posted by John Rudd on 30/08/2016 10:23:45:

Checking the control board is relatively simple,

Disconnect the cables from the board that go to the motor, these should be connected to the A and A+ spades on the pcb if its the KB style controller, else follow where the leads are terminated on the board…

Can I use a Multimeter to check?

You can use a dvm to do cold checks on say the thyristors, but a proper functional test with the lamp is best…

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