New motor for the lathe

I acquired 1/2 HP and 1 HP 3-phase motors yesterday. So that's one more issue that's resolved. I just need to decide which I want to use. The 1HP is quite heavy. I'm not sure the motor mount on the lathe was designed for a motor this large. I could mount it on the wall or a separate stand.

I also acquired appropriate oil for the ways and spindle on the lathe. Unfortunately, they come in lifetime quantities. I would have been ok with 1/4 of a lifetime supply and ordering more later! I got Mobil Vactra2 way oil and ISO 68 hydraulic oil.

I getting to the point on the lathe were there are 100 little things to do and not much worth writing about.

I did more renovations in the basement to make a nicer shop area. I removed some dog whelping pens that had been down there for 15 years. I had expanded them for my wife's dogs, but she's out of the dog scene now. It was much easier to delicately *cough* remove them with a reciprocating saw than it was to build them. They were filthy with dust and mold :-/

I'm going to use a VFD to convert single phase 220v house electricity to 3-phase for the lathe. While I'm at it I'll install a small breaker box in the lathe area. I'll have the lathe on one breaker and lights and common 110v outlets on 2 more. I'll put up two 2-light fluorescent light fixtures and make provision for some incandescent task lighting.

As far as the lathe is concerned, there isn't much to do to have it minimally running. There's a hand wheel on the apron that allows the carriage to be moved quickly up and down the lathe. There's a housing that allows a gear connected to the hand wheel to engage a rack under the ways. That housing is broken. It's about the most common failure on these lathes. In addition, I need to make a shim to reposition the extremely dubious shop-made bracket supporting the left end of the leadscrew.