Need educating on motors

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fiatben
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Location: northwest Arkansas

Need educating on motors

Post by fiatben »

Having spent the better part of an hour in a fruitless search to find what I need to know, I now humbly turn to the experts on this forum. BTW, this has little to nothing to do with SS.

I have a Carba-tec mini-lathe. I've had it for 15 or 20 years. I love it for small turnings. It has a 1/4 HP A. O. Smith 325P547 Series 2A93 Type S motor. The nameplate has a wiring diagram to reverse it (for whatever reason one might want to do such.) It has a 4-step pulley mounted to it, matching the 4-step pulley on the lathe.

I also have laying around several speed controllers, originally designed for small commercial fans.

I like the idea of a variable speed lathe. I don't like the price. Besides, mine works just fine. So, I'm wanting to put the speed controller on this motor, mount the dial conveniently, and be able to dial 'er up as I go from roughing out to finish cuts to sanding and finishing.

My problem is that I know not every motor is compatible with speed controllers. My question is how do I tell if this motor is an induction motor, universal motor, or whatever??

I'd really hate to just hope for the best, hook it all up, and fry a perfectly good little motor.

AO Smith sold out years ago. You can still buy AO Smith motors, but the company that bought them, Regal-Beloit, doesn't have info on their massive website. Wikipedia didn't offer much help. About all I learned is that I can find this exact same motor on ebay for $40. Not that such information is either relevant or helpful in this case.

Anyone????? :confused: :confused:
'55 Greenie #292284 (Mar-55), '89 SS 510 #020989, Mark VII #408551 (sold 10/14/12), SS Band Saw, (SS 500 #36063 (May-79) now gone to son-in-law as of 11-11), Magna bandsaw, Magna jointer 16185 (May-54), Magna belt sander SS28712 (Dec-82), Magna jigsaw SS4397 (Dec-78), SS biscuit joiner, Zyliss (knockoff) vise, 20+ hand planes, 60s Craftsman tablesaw, CarbaTec mini-lathe, and the usual pile of tools. Hermit of the Hills Woodworks, a hillbilly in the foothills of the Ozarks, scraping by.
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pennview
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Post by pennview »

After looking at the label on one of those motors like yours being sold on e-bay, it's an AC induction motor that is not compatible with a speed controller.

You could check with Penn State Industries as they used to sell the Carba-Tec lathe and may still have some parts to convert yours to a variable speed model. They sell a conversion kit (motor and controller) for converting the Delta or Jet lathes to variable speed and perhaps that would work on the Carba-Tec, but it may be too large to fit under the Carba-Tec.
Art in Western Pennsylvania
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JPG
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Location: Lexington, Ky (TAMECAT territory)

Post by JPG »

No brushes = do not use controller.;)
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
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