Harrison M300 Starty Stoppy Handle

[RossJarvis]

Just wondering if anyone knows of Harrison M300 lathes wired up so that the "start stop" motor lever is pushed down to start in normal (chuck rolls toward you) mode.  The ones I've used before have always been pull up for forward and down for reverse.  However I've just been to a military training facility where it's down for forward and up for reverse.  Are there standard conventions?

[John Stevenson]

No idea about standards but all my apron start machine are all down for forward because I'm used to that.

[RossJarvis]

I'm used to the other way round, The Scottish Instructor I was with thought it was some kind of English Eccentricity, as he was used to "up" for forward too.  It gave me a right bit of confusion whilst I was cutting a thread!!

[lordedmond]

All the ones I have installed when I was in work went the way the lever was pushed

Chuck goes down on the side that is near to you so did the handle


Stuart

[RossJarvis]

All the ones I have installed when I was in work went the way the lever was pushed

Chuck goes down on the side that is near to you so did the handle


Stuart

I started thinking about that, it seems to make a lot of sense.  Though, bearing in mind it didn't stop when put into the stop position from reverse, it did make me wonder about the capabilities of who-ever wired it up

[DavidA]

At work,  our Elliot, the Colchester Triumph 2000 and our Harrison all use down for normal (forward) running.

Dave.

[Manxmodder]

 The chuck direction following the handle direction seems logical and safe to me.
 I can't imagine why the other way round would ever be considered.....OZ.

[Arbalist]

We had several M300's where I used to work and it was "up" for conventional turning. There is of course another logic to this some of you may not have considered. "Up" is toward the operator and the chuck rotates towards you in the conventional manner, lever pushed down (away) and the chuck rotates away from you. You could of course argue that your it's only the top of the chuck that is moving towards or away from the operator but I believe most would concede that in conventional operation the chuck is moving toward you. Just my observation. Surprised that it can vary on a Lathe like a Harrison, maybe it's easily changed to suit the buyer/operator?

[BaronJ]

We had several M300's where I used to work and it was "up" for conventional turning. There is of course another logic to this some of you may not have considered. "Up" is toward the operator and the chuck rotates towards you in the conventional manner, lever pushed down (away) and the chuck rotates away from you. You could of course argue that your it's only the top of the chuck that is moving towards or away from the operator but I believe most would concede that in conventional operation the chuck is moving toward you. Just my observation. Surprised that it can vary on a Lathe like a Harrison, maybe it's easily changed to suit the buyer/operator?

It probably depends upon which direction the motor is wired for.
However in the USA light switches are upside down compared to the UK !

[vtsteam]

I always imagined that switches used down for off in case something or someone fell against one, or in a mechanical emergency it was easier to manage a down throw. But I don't know if that's really why it became a convention.

[Arbalist]

Here in the UK it's easy to turn a lightswitch round the right way. Normally down to turn the lights on.

[DavidA]

Got to correct my post above.

The Elliott UniTool 48/4000 refered to does in fact start by lifting the handle.

Sorry about that.

Dave.

[BaronJ]

I always imagined that switches used down for off in case something or someone fell against one, or in a mechanical emergency it was easier to manage a down throw. But I don't know if that's really why it became a convention.

Yes !  That is what I was told as well.  You can see the logic behind that convention.

[BaronJ]

Hi Guys,

I mentioned this about handle direction this morning to the foreman at an engineering works that I visit from time to time.  He laughed and said that they had machines in there that had handles the started machines running by moving them from left to right as well as up and down.  He did say that on occasion it caught you out when pushing a lever on a stationary machine and it didn't move in the direction you expected.

He also mentioned that some machine have gearboxes where the levers go in the opposite direction to others when selecting speed ranges.

[lordedmond]

Thats why in the distribution side of things and for rerouting of supplies

we always said and wrote "Close to ON and Open to OFF " that way any up or down right to left are eliminated  most HV breakers are rotary switches anyway


Back to the Topic in question I do not think there is any standard for the direction its usually down to the companies own style

All I can say all the lathes that I have installed from the toolroom lathe to the biggish ones were installed as per my previous post ( 48 " by 15 feet ) thats how the machine shop forman wanted them so thats what he got 

Stuart

[Jonny]

We had several M300's where I used to work    Surprised that it can vary on a Lathe like a Harrison, maybe it's easily changed to suit the buyer/operator?

Could well be mines an ex GKN and runs the correct way

Theres two switches which could either be swapped over complete with wiring or change wiring to each switch.
Not the same but along same lines the switches are like this


On earlier Harrisons with the clutch its left to right start, right to left brake and clutch release far better.

[vtsteam]

Just to confuse things further, seems like in old time monster movies, like Frankenstein, the oversized knife switches were thrown down to close. 

[mattinker]

Old time Frankinstein were using European regs!

Regards, Matthew

[Arbalist]

Up to close on these.



And of course on circuit breakers.

[vtsteam]

Just too confusing!

Well thank goodness we all drive on the same side of the road at least.......or.......hmmmmm.

[Arbalist]

No logic at all that I can see. We had a lot of MEM branded isolation switches where I used to work many years ago. The large high current ones had a lever swung upwards for On and the smaller ones a flick switch pushed down for On!

[vtsteam]

I think the switch designers really hit their iconoclastic stride when it came time to design automotive light switches. I can still remember the nearly universal foot switched headlight dimmer.

Now I usually end up turning on windshield wipers, etc. in a loaner vehicle hunting for the dimmer switch position and method on whatever stalk is closest to hand.