Cooling air advice please

[Bsmith]

Do I need to cut a hole through the panel and fit a vent or will the motor drag in adequate cooling air as it is?
6mm screwdriver shaft inserted to show the space between.

 

[Morrisman]

Air needs to come in, and then be vented, and not just recirculated around the motor, where it gets hotter and hotter. I'd be cutting a vent hole to somewhere with lots of air.

 

[Farside]

Very very marginal, I'd say, and I'd definitely arrange something better.
You won't know until you cook the motor and you'll be cursing it as you fork out for a replacement.

 

[Agroshield]

What is the motor powering?

What duty cycle will you demand of the machine?

If it is a lathe that you use for light turning one a week, it will be fine.

If you are trying to pull 3hp from it 8h a day continuously, it will need better ventilation.

Digital meters that accept thermocouple inputs are very cheap. Install one, use the machine and see what the gauge says. Motors will run happily all day long well above 40 degrees C.

 

[Pete.]

I'd have a 10mm gap at least, but note what Agroshield says above. If it's your lathe and especially if it's your first, it'll be a while before you get that motor warm. Something like metric threading where you're doing loads of stop-starts might warm it up.

TBH all you have to do it monitor it.

 

[waddycall]

I’d do a basic calculation of the vent area in the motor and make sure the total area of the gap is greater.

 

[Gareth J]

Cut a hole.

You'll also, presuming the other side is fresh air, be feeding the motor cool air, rather than air that has already been over the motor X number of times already.

 

[Bsmith]

Ok, the panel is part of the splash back on my latest investment, a model A boxford.
I have already made alterations to the panel so I may as well cut a rectangle out and fit a vent there.
Air vent cover is easily got from screwfix.

 

[Gareth J]

Why the cover? The fewer restrictions, twists and turns in the airpath the better the motor fan will cope. Those motor fans are very poor at overcoming resistance on the inlet.

That said, a lathe in hobby use will be unlikely to pose a problem with no ventilation - unless you plant to use it hard for some duration

 

[Bsmith]

Why the cover? The fewer restrictions, twists and turns in the airpath the better the motor fan will cope. Those motor fans are very poor at overcoming resistance on the inlet.

That said, a lathe in hobby use will be unlikely to pose a problem with no ventilation - unless you plant to use it hard for some duration

Just to stop some of the chips/ cuttings getting into the motor

 

[brightspark]

the motor is well sealed and the fan just moves the air over the the motor not through it. best to have half decent ventilation and stop crap on the motor but not the end of the world

 

[Agroshield]

the motor is well sealed

I think they are known as TEFC motors - totally enclosed fan cooled.

 

[Bsmith]

Vent installed.
Btw, as this is a welding forum I must add that the welds above the vent are not mine, I didn't realise they looked so bad until now when I see them in the photos, looks like too cold esp in the corner who ever did them.
I am responsible for the runs and drips in the paint .

 

[RichardM]

That'll do, my 280 has the same style vent as OEM.

 

[Bsmith]

That'll do, my 280 has the same style vent as OEM.

Aluminium vent cover, cheap as anything from screwfix