Harbor-Freight 3 in 1 Motors? (2024)

My Harbor Freight/Central Machinery Model 44142 3-in-1 lathe/drill/mill has a habit of blowing capacitors. My motor shop tells me I would be better off with a yankee motor (Baldor) [higher duty cycle] but the Chinese sheaves have a Metric bore. I've looked in catalogs but can't find comparable diameter sheaves to fit the Baldor shaft sizes.

I theory I could bore out the Chinese sheaves and install plugs with the right bore for the Baldor shafts, but I don't have internal keyway capability.

Have any 44142 owners (it's my avatar) made this swap? I'd like to know how you did it and what motors you used.

Thank You!

Edit: I've owned this since 2002 and still have the manual. If anyone needs one, I can scan it.

Is the Baldor motor a NEMA 56 frame? If so, then it's a 5/8 shaft. What size is the pulley? Step Pulley? There should be something pretty close.

Actually you do have a keyway cutter. You can mount the pulley up in the lathe chuck, and use a boring bar with a tool bit ground to the right width and hand cut the keyway by running the carriage in buy hand. Take small bites at a time.

JimDawson said:

Is the Baldor motor a NEMA 56 frame?

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Thanks for your reply! I don't have the motor shop's notes here, but IIRC it was 3/4hp and only a 1/2" shaft. Smaller than the sheave bore. It would fit the HF/CM motor mounts with only a bit of modification.

Actually you do have a keyway cutter. You can mount the pulley up in the lathe chuck, and use a boring bar with a tool bit ground to the right width and hand cut the keyway by running the carriage in buy hand. Take small bites at a time.

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That's a pretty neat idea. I think the sheaves are only cast iron so it should carve pretty easily. I might be able to run the tailstock in by hand and chip away at it too.

bvd1940 said:

You coul hook up a dc treadmill motor and have variable speed as a bonus in the deal. You can find treadmill motors for free on CL just for the hauling away.

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But are treadmill motors reversible???

It'll be much easier to use the boring bar in the tool post as you can feed the compound in to get the depth you need for the key.

How would you accomplish that with the tail stock unless you have a boring head that fits your tail stock quill?

bvd1940 said:

You coul hook up a dc treadmill motor and have variable speed as a bonus in the deal. You can find treadmill motors for free on CL just for the hauling away.

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I would say you see treadmills sometimes in the free zone, but whether you can use the controller or mount the motor easily is another question. I tore down the one we had here thinking maybe to use it on the 9x20. The controller in the treadmill was forward only and the motor was mounted with a custom frame. So there's expense in adapting, buying a motor controller, etc - and I called "not worth the hassle" then threw it all in a box somewhere.

Sounds like at least an import sourced broach would be worth getting for this project LOL.

I just bought one of the HF 1 hp motors and bolted it to my table. It worked and then I found a new Leeson 1hp DC motor on ebay. Bought a KB controller and love it. Has the brake switch, for/rev and speed controller. No more changing belts. Bought a cheap hand held laser tachometer and noted the rpm for each percentage on the speed controller. After installed I had about $300 invested. Love it.

And on the broaching thing. Look up mrpete222 on YouTube. He is a retired shop teacher and has hundreds of videos on how to do stuff. One was on cutting key ways with the lathe. He also has a web site with a list of all the how to videos. Goes by Tubalcain. :.