Member postings for sean logie

+1 on an Ainjest unit.

I've got an imperial unit, on an imperial lathe, and it makes cutting imperial threads a doddle, even into blind holes like these 3/8" BSP glands:

Once I'd got the DOC sorted it was four passes and about a minute per gland at 260rpm with 4 thou clearance at the back.

Andrew

The big idler in the middle doesn't appear to move vertically only in a left to right arc.

My apologies sir I missed where it can move up and down

You should have a 21 tooth to replace the 42 tooth one

as set you can do the bottom row of threads on the chart ( the coarsest ones)

Sean , it would appear to me that you have little experience with mains powered electrical or electronic items so i would suggest you leave it alone until you can get some help from someone who does .

Your controller may just be a simple ac to dc converter and pwm controller but i can't work out what the black lead does . The red ones are probably power but can't be sure . You don't know yet if the controller even works and it could be dangerous to power it up .

I would look around on some various sites like ebay or bangood for a pwm controller that can handle the power requirements of the motor and buy one of them .

I'm not going to be using the original speed controller . I have other plans .

Sean

Sean, an important question that no one has asked yet:- What lathe is it?

1/2hp is suitable for a Myford sized lathe, but 3/4 is better for even an ML7 (I speak from experience). A lathe that's sized for a 2hp motor is not going to be happy with larger work or more aggressive cuts if hobbled by a 1/2hp motor.

In terms of power consumption, the losses of a 2hp single phase motor will be greater than those of a 1/2hp single phase motor or 3ph motor + VFD, but the difference is likely to be no more than 25-50W. I.e.. 3/5 of 5/8 of F-all, as one of my colleagues used to say.

The suggestions of getting a plug in power meter are your best bet. They are cheap these days (especially when Aldi or Lidl have got them on sale, but also from a number of online sellers), and can give you a good idea of just what in the house is eating the power.

Before you do anything else though, have you got an immersion heater that someone's turned on?