RPM Range of lathes

[Facundus Cues]

The first of these i bought maybe 6 or 8 years ago is the type linked by Tommy-D.
Procured, wait for it....to replace the clutch motor on my wife's Consew.
Just now i went up, slipped the belt off (so as not to create a snarled skein of thread without sewing anything), and ran the motor through its paces to verify my memory:

You can hold the lever down (on) and dial with the dial from 0 to max rpm.
Alternately, the dial can be set for max rpm, and the foot pedal used to control (vary) speed. More or less.
Both work fine & are positive, but they are not fine tuning.

If i intended to use in-process variable foot pedal speed control, i'd arrange the leverage so it took a fairly large travel to fine tune the short travel of the lever. If you just want to lock it -on- and vary rpm with the knob, it will work fine.

I have one each, of 2, slightly different kinds of the programmable "brushless servo motors". One is mounted on the rotating center set used on my planer for cue tapering and turning. You can set ("program") the max rpm, and use the lever for a foot pedal if desired. Same notes about abruptness as above. I've never seen a need for the foot pedal, so removed the spring (default is off with spring) and set the lever by hand.

Also have one on 4' x 4' x 8' convection oven i'm building for thermoforming plastics, to run the impellor. That will be on or off, to a pre-set speed. Not sure yet what speed will be optimal for uniform heating without a lot of excess tempest going on.

So the brush type has 2 options for in process control.
The brushless type, max speed is set by "programming"; if you want variable, the lever has to be used.
Brushless type also increments in 100 rpm steps only.
Both types seem solid and stable to me, perhaps the brush type is a little more, how shall we say, "elegant". Like a bimmer to the chevies. But that does not imply i have a preference.

Caveat - it's possible they might change specs of these units over time, this is a report on the ones i have, most recent (3rd) received & installed last week.

You can pull the magnetic switch and replace it with a regular dial potentiometer too. Works pretty well

 

[Tommy-D]

After more experimenting with using this motor,I can honestly say that the top half of the RPM range is just overkill.

I have it mounted on an aluminum plate that has a 90 degree bend in it,with some steel blocks bolted to it,and some L shaped steel brackets bolted down so it works kinda like the hinge arrangement Chris was using at one time,where the weight of the motor itself maintains tension. I remounted my whole Cuesmith on a foot wide 1 1/2 thick board with risers under it,and for a belt I experimented with a common hardware store 3L200,then went to a cogged style like Chris uses,but 2L-260,instead of his 2L200.

I've only done it a few times,but it taps 5/16-18 and 3/8-10 in scrap wood and Delrin under power with very little effort other than the badly located reversing switch. I now have the old Dayton sewing machine motor mounted in the right place for it on the new board,and can use the 3L200 for it just by changing belts,my new headstock has a 3 1/2 spindle pulley.

Anything more than half of the range is RIDICULOUS,but from 10 up to 600 is almost no vibration or real noise,and up to about 1600 is ok noisewise and when sanding and buffing it even when things get sticky it won't stall much so I have to get my hands out of the way. When rough sanding or when really squeezing down doing a lined wrap press and the old single speed motor,I could eventually stall it,but not this thing.

I use the stock pulley on mine too,with the flat wheel/brake removed and the speed lever locked at max. Tommy D.