lathes and cold weather with a power upgrade.

[fragalot]

Last year I found out what happens if you use a BIG lathe when it's freezing cold in the workshop,
and just after you replace the old relatively thin power cables to big fat new ones (quadrupled the diameter)..
the machine used to rev up gently with the thin power cables, and now clonks to life nearly instantly.. I think it needs a soft-start module now :/

What you see attached here is one of the gear links for the sideways feed of the tool...
happened when switching the feed on, without being anywhere near to the part.

I can't seem to see any signs of corrosion that caused this, so I suspect it's just inferior steel that was used to make the machine, along with the force it's putting out with the new power cable.

A year later.. the machine is still out of service and half disassembled :<
(it's not mine - it's in the workshop of a friend of mine)

 

[mzetati]

Doen't metal get brittle when temperatures are low?
I usually wait till room temperature rises above 5C, then start the machine and let it run at low speed for a few minutes, unloaded.

Marcello

 

[fragalot]

that area of the shop has no heating in it, and the machine was unloaded.. :/

 

[mike os]

I am far from expert on this kind of stuff, but those "steps" at 5-8 oclock look like incremental stress failures to me... the upgrafe just finishing it off

 

[MachineTom]

That was not an Instant failure, that part has been flexing for a long time. Beachmarks around the edges slowly growing until failure. I would suspect a alignment problem, The bearing near the gear looks to be a cylindercial roller bearing, they can only be used when the alignments between each bearing are very solid, was there a sign of bearing failure at the other end of the shaft.

Nothing to do with the temp.

 

[fragalot]

Hm.. Time to find/make some time to check/fix the alignment when we find the time to fix it then I guess :/