Variable speed

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

I wish to put a variable speed unit on my old Axminster 330 lathe. I was told about the company that used to make them but they have gone now. Any reccomendations?

[GBF]

Buy a lathe with variable speed fitted.

Regards george

[Sandy]

Hi BHT,
have you checked these guys out?  I recall them advertising a lot in Woodturning magazine some time ago or is this company you referred to in your post?
http://www.haydockconverters.co.uk/lathe_conversion_kits.htm

But it may prove less expensive to buy a replacement lathe that has variable speed control fitted (new / pre-owned)

[Sandy]

Hi BHT
You might like to check this out too,
https://www.woodworkersinstitute.com/forum/speed-controller_topic2191.html

[jonas]

Hi BHT

Try NEWTON TESLA . They gave me an excellent deal & great advice.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Thanks all for your replies ,I will check each one out. George buying a new lathe is one option but the ones I have looked at are a bit too heavy for me. I can just about lift the 330 as it is set up but all the other lathes are too heavy for me to get in and out of the car.( Besides what is the point of buying a lathe when there is the chance that I can save a few quid?)

[fuzzyturns]

John, I think you will find that converting an existing lathe will probably cost you almost as much as buying a variable speed lathe, especially if you can get your hands on a decent second hand one. This is especially true if you have to find somebody to do the conversion for you. And then you still have a used lathe and no guarantee.

[Redtails4]

Hi
Bht these fine upstanding gentleman have given you some sound advice,but if you want to go down the road of keeping your existing lathe you could ask a electrician how much?
One of the problems is the motor size this where you can run a single phase motor with variable speed or you go the whole hog and buy a three phase motor and run a inverter off that. i would ask haydock converters what it would cost me. I went down this road a year ago i was going to put a variable speed unit on a cl3.
Conversion is not that expensive but it's not that simple ether.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Thanks all, I have been in touch with a local control systems chap who is looking into it for me. I will let you know what happens.

[JohnHewes]

I recently did just this on my short bed Viceroy, old school machine. I would definitely recommend doing it, it cost me £500 through a local guy and I guess that I could have paid a bit less if I had shopped around more, or bought a unit and fitted it myself. But I wanted the security of going back if it went wrong!
One issue I have found is that at low speeds the torque is reduced quite a bit. I think this is unavoidable and an engineering lathe friend told me the same happened to his lathe. Both of ours have three phase motors, so this may not apply to your situation.

Another issue was with braking, these electronic units can be set to inject Dc into the windings and bring things to a quick stop, useful I thought, until the first heavy job unscrewed itself when I turned it off!

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Thanks for this John, I have been a victim of DC braking and inertia so I know exactly what you are on about

[Paul Hannaby]

Most decent inverters can be programmed to give a longer acceleration / deceleration time to allow the lathe to stop without the chuck unscrewing. On my lathe, I adjust the parameters for the size of the work.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

I found this out the hard way when I was making the font. I made a set of 3 foot diameter Cole type jaws in plywood, started up the lathe and was pleased as punch when they ran true straight away, less pleased when I turned the lathe off only to watch the chuck unwind and my new set of jaws cart wheel across the workshop!
  Thanks to a forum member I may well have solved my variable speed dilemma. Thanks to all who have offered their advice.