weight on a lathe?

[Bodrighy]

Could anyone explain how to judge what weight is acceptable to put onto a lathe. Is it detemined by the power, the weight of the lathe the quality of the lathe etc? I suspect that one of the reasons my CCL is giving up the ghost is because I have overstretched it by putting wood on that is beyond it's ability to cope with and don't want to make the same mistake if/when I get a replacement. The one that I am hoping to get has an over the bed capacity of `14", a 1hp motor and can both swivel and slide up the bed so I could feasibly turn larger pieces at 90 degrees over the centre. Theoretically more stable but ........

Any advice welcome

Pete

 

[loz]

over the bed capacity of `14", a 1hp motor

14" ! - or is that a radius of 7" and 1 HP - sounds like it could handle anything /!

 

[CHJ]

Pete, IMO the only limiting factor on weight as far as mechanically 'breaking' the machine is the quality of the headstock bearings, think in terms of your car wheel bearings and how much punishment they take when you hit a pot hole etc. and they are carrying a lot heavier unsprung weight than you are likely to put on your lathe.

So the Perform for instance, could well give better bearing life if fitted with higher spec. bearings.

The Motor is another factor, on the perform it is a low quality capacitor start/run motor, this as you know has limited torque and if trying to spin a heavy load can suffer from magnetic slippage, this in turn increases the current through the capacitor and heats the motor frame, not usually causing anything more detrimental than the cooking of the capacitor.

 

[Bodrighy]

The radius is 7" so it's a 14" dia max over the bed. The whole thing is cast iron so pretty heavy (134 kg). Don't know what the bearings are like but it has a good report on the french forums whre it seems a popular lathe.

Pete

 

[cornucopia]

hmm this is a tricky one to judge pete- i would say that 14" swing on a 1hp motor isnt enough- for 14" swing i would prefer a 1 1/2 hp or 2hp motor- a 14" wet bowl blank to be roughed out and then remonuted when out of balance will be quite some weight.
but as chas has pointed out its all down to the quality and type of bearings.

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Pete,

My Jet 1442 has just the capacity you describe:

I've turned all sorts on it and rarely manage to stop it. You really need to take heavy cuts with a big gouge to do that. The biggest problem you'll find is vibration rather than capacity. I chose this lathe because it has a nice low speed at 320rpm whereas a lot of lathes which have similar capacities have a minimum of 500rpm.

The Jet is a good solid, heavy lathe and I would highly recommend it. To improve on it I would say it's a big jump to an electronic variable speed model.

HTH

Richard

 

[Bodrighy]

Thanks Richard. I did look at this one as a possibility but my budget just won't stretch that far. The one that I have been looking at is the FOX F46-719 which as you say has much the same spec apart from being heavier and having a bottom speed of 450. My main query about it is the quality of the bearings and I can't find any reviews in english on it apart from the dealers. Certainly I would think that it would be stronger than the Perform ccl that I have been using.

Merry Christmas and thanks for the advice

Pete