Nichols mill wiring diagram

There is no wiring diagram on my Nichols mill- serial #8-G-8324. It has the switches (spindle start, red Off, coolant on/off, and forward/off/reverse) in a box mounted to the left of the saddle. Allen Bradley contactors in the box on the back.

History: Got the mill at auction this summer for 50 bucks! It had a single phase motor crudely mounted and wired, but also the original 3 phase motor in the chip pan. Put single phase power to it- the contactors worked- could hear them, but no motor spinning.

Not being too impressed with the single phase conversion, the original Master 1hp 3 phase motor was put back together into the gear reduction housing, wired directly to the motor, and ran nice and quiet on my rotary converted 3 phase (which runs the rest of the shop).

There are lots of wires in the contactor box going unknown places for the single phase conversion. I'd like to get rid of the funk, and control the spindle motor and coolant pump from the front control panel as it was originally designed.

So.... does anyone have the wiring diagram for this?

Thanks!

got one of those "Hmmm, I wonder...." moments and went and looked up in Mr Rosenberg's great motor repair book about magnetic switches. Found exactly what I needed! The mill lives!

ponderingjunkman said:

So.... does anyone have the wiring diagram for this?

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If you can't get an official wiring diagram it would be not much work at designing it yourself.
As long as you know what has to be controlled and how to turn it on or off. Not a big deal.

Just draw a diagram front the existing wire connections. That will give you the single phase approach.
Then after that the system approach is obvious which leads to the three phase approach.
I did this kind of control box on a milling machine. In order to provide overload shutoff and motor control,
all Allen-Bradley stuff like yours.

any question you can dream up ....
google has the answer

OK you jokers, thanks for the replies! If you read my 2nd post in this thread, you will see that I figured it out with a book i had on my shelf!

thanks again!

that one of the best books on motors if you can understand it or will put the time it to understanding it it will tell you all you need to know . picked mine up years ago . found it at the good will lady there told me i had to pay the price of two paper backs for it all i told her was ya that will work

ponderingjunkman said:

OK you jokers, thanks for the replies! If you read my 2nd post in this thread, you will see that I figured it out with a book i had on my shelf!

thanks again!

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Nice mid/late model machine Just used mine yesterday to cut relief notches in some trim. Ive been curious about how Nichols conceived of coolant systems on theae mills, is that stuff intact on yours?

Yes it is Greg- tho the coolant pump is also single phase- but I'm pretty sure it will run off one leg and neutral. I'll get pictures tomorrow when I'm back in the shop

ponderingjunkman said:

View attachment 382619got one of those "Hmmm, I wonder...." moments and went and looked up in Mr Rosenberg's great motor repair book about magnetic switches. Found exactly what I needed! The mill lives!View attachment 382620

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I have the same mill. I did away with the control on table and installed an on/stop switch on top like most Nichols Mills.

Here you go Greg! Not sure if this is original, but it seems like it will be functional.

Thx for the pics Interesting that they generally kept the same kind of coolant scheme as the old '20's drip style though of course the modern system can provide a flood.

That steel apron is a win for sure- I use an old shopvac hose hooked onto the table drain, leading back to the common sump shared with the Bridgeport. Lacking that apron, coolant would otherwise be all over the place- I guess in the day you'd hang a bucket from the hook and use that to refill the gravity feed reservoir

I found pitching the machine slightly to the right helps the coolant flow downhill to the table drain; less pooling in the t-slots.

Yours definitely seems a bit newer than mine; mine has a momentary start/stop button mounted up top and no apron mounted control box or switchgear on the back. OTOH the body castings and 5 step pulley are mostly the same- motor too I guess. I like the recessed floor pads facilitating adding machinery feet- not present on my machine.

If you find the motor output shaft drips oil there is a common GM oil seal which will fit it.... mine does though not quite badly enough to tear into the motor.