Member postings for Mark Huskie

I am thinking of replacing My Canon printer with a Brother Laser printer, need black only. Experience or advice wanted. Better brand? Comments?

I wonder if anyone has changed the belts and pulleys on one of these lathes to give lower speeds and more torque?

Things were much simpler when motors were rated in HP, everyone knew what was meant.

Now we get power (any power mechanical or electrical) is only in KW and yet randomly checking ebay if you buy a motor on it's own they are listed both ways such as 0.75kw - 1HP so clearly output and you understand what you are getting.

One wonders why some machine tool suppliers or the manufacturers feel the need to inflate the figures.

Mark,

There are suppliers out there who still supply new machines with old school belt drives for spindle speed so the motor always runs at full revs

Mark, regarding the SC2. it has to have 500w motor as there is no secondary reduction due to it being direct drive from motor to spindle. The makers have to put in motor with a sufficiently high max power to compensate for when it is running at say 25% or less when using the lathe at low speed.

The Optimum and similar machine shave two speed ranges in the region of 50-1000 and 100-2000. This means that the motor can be run closer to it's max power when the speed is dropped

As an example I have 2 Seig manual mills the Brushless SX2.7 (750w) with one fixed ratio will stall if I run a 100mm slitting saw at calculated cutting speed. The Brushed X3 (600W) won't yet it has a less powerful motor but it will cut as it has a high and low ratio so I'm able to run the motor faster relative to spindle speed and get into the power band.

Also worth pointing out that the requirement for a shallow cut at low speed really only applies as the diameter gets towards the lathe's maximum, I said earlier that 0.025" depth of cut was about the comfortable max on a 9-10" flywheel.This is a piece of 1" steel being reduced to 1/2" dia so 0.250" depth pf cut in one pass, Not something I would do every day but useful to explore the machines limits

Edited By JasonB on 30/03/2021 13:15:11

Whoa! Slow down. Wrote a longish post about motor power the other day, but never mind, it was boring and I won't repeat it. Instead, ask yourself the questions: 'How fast do I need to cut metal', and 'does the extra time taken by a 0.75kW rather than a 1.1kW motor matter?'

I wish machine tool adverts quoted both input and output power plus the graph needed to relate input power to torque over a speed range, but alas they rarely do. So, unless it says otherwise, best assume the power advertised is Input and that the motor isn't continuously rated. (Duty cycle is far more important than power rating, because it limits how long a motor will run before overheating. A motor rated at 750W input continuous, is likely 'better' than a 1.5kW output motor, 25% duty cycle.)

Murky waters, but in practice it may not make much difference in a hobby workshop, even though I'm more attracted to vendors quoting honest output power rather than sales speak. For what it's worth, a wattmeter on my 1.5kW hobby lathe, a WM280, shows it's difficult to take cuts deep enough to fully load the motor. Apart from the unpleasant spray of red-hot chips it produces, the lathe isn't quite rigid enough to be worked that hard. Putting a bigger motor on this model would probably be a pointless waste of money. The only valid reason I can think of is to maximise low speed torque, but some sort of back-gear would be a lot more effective if a lot of slow cutting is on the agenda.

Bear in mind a motor rated at 750W out will deliver more power than that in short bursts, which may be 'good enough': just be careful not to overheat the motor and electronics.

There is no perfect lathe, especially when held back by budget and location. Whatever you get will be a compromise, it's just that some will be closer to what you need than others. My advice, don't dismiss options too quickly!

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 30/03/2021 10:01:48

The OP should not assume the motor output power is 1.1kW unless specifically stated. That 1.1kW might be the input power - and some of that would be turned into heat within the motor. When the motor is turning more slowly, that heat will not be dissipated as easily as at full speed.

The swing of a lathe is often quoted as twice the centre height. That is not quite true - it may depend on the gap between the ways. Small difference, but when things get tight....

The OP should not assume the motor output power is 1.1kW unless specifically stated. That 1.1kW might be the input power - and some of that would be turned into heat within the motor. When the motor is turning more slowly, that heat will not be dissipated as easily as at full speed.

The swing of a lathe is often quoted as twice the centre height. That is not quite true - it may depend on the gap between the ways. Small difference, but when things get tight....

Well I was going by the previous post that mentioned a Myford which I doubt will be able to remove as much metal as yours. Maybe a Myford owner could comment on what feeds, speeds and DOC they would use on a 9" flywheel casting particularly with HSS but even if I'm using 1/4 of the DOC that they would be using the fact I'm running at 300rpm rather than 40 means I'm able to take 7.5 cuts in the same amount of time as it won't take them to do one deeper cut.

Actually quite pleased with what Mine is removing in those videos 10.5" dia, 300rpm, 0.025" DOC 0.003"/rev is approx 0.75cu in/min considering it's at 1/3rd power and we know Warco have a habit of quoting input power not what the motor puts out.

As for turning capacity, having has a lathe that could only turn upto 8" diameter for a number of years it was very limiting in the choice of stationary engine models that were available this is mostly due to designs being produced that could be built on a Myford which had a narrow gap bed which was able to accomodate the common 9" flywheels seen on many models. So Mark, if your main interest is in stationaly steam then I would look to something that can swing 9.5 - 10" which puts you into the "240-250" size lathes if looking for new.

I think Ketan (owner of ARC) has posted before about not shipping machines overseas, he may add something here.

Is there not another distributor in Europe you could try, Sieg list them here

Mark

I often wish I was In Switzerland !!

I holiday there sometimes in the summer and occasionally go to Lausanne for activities relating to the FAI.

I will be travelling to Lausanne again soon (2021) for committee work relating to International aeromodelling at the FAI.

I stay at the Hotel du Port, very close to the fountains by the paddle steamer jetty.

Have another think about ISO 30 the benefits are good and you are only talking about a couple of extra tool holders really.

Best Regards

Barrie

Mark,

As you are in Switzerland have you looked for an Aciera F2 or F3 mill? Or perhaps a Luthy mill? I would have thought you are in the right place to obtain, albeit second hand, probably one of the finest small universal mills that has ever been made!

Seems strange that they are willing to ship 'other parts' but not a machine! Has anyone asked them for a machine to be broken down and shipped? That would seem to get around that problem.

However I am sure you will not be disappointed in the Wabeco, Looks like your getting the genuine item rather than a Chinacom clone.

Hi Mark,

Here is what we said in our email to you:

-----------------------------------

' Unfortunately, after speaking with our freight providers, we are not able to deliver machines to Switzerland.

We are able to consider orders for machine accessories and tooling.

Please accept our apologies that we have been unable to assist you on this occasion.'

--------------------------------

ARC failed to elaborate on 'after speaking with our freight providers'.... so here are some more details..

We do not ship machines regularly to Switzerland, so we invited two quotes. One declined, and one quoted GB£450.00 + GB£60.00 for processing through Swiss customs. These quotes for Switzerland are excluding VAT. Also, there would have been local import duty/taxes (whatever they may be) to be paid by you on entry into Switzerland, as Switzerland is not part of EU for 'free circulation' of goods. We queried this quote as it seems expensive, and were told - it is correct.

Keeping this in mind, the matter was brought to my attention. I felt that it was too expensive. Plus, based on past experience of things going 'pair shaped' specifically for machine shipments to Switzerland:

• certain issues with Swiss customs delays due to customers understanding/mis-understaning/expectations of Swiss customs procedures
• transit damage to certain smaller machines which were sent through premium carriers such as TNT/Fedex, specifically to Switzerland
• Last machine shipment was held up by Swiss customs for two weeks without any good reason

For ARC, the above problems are unique to Switzerland. We do not have the same problems to any other EU destinations, including Romania, Norway and Sweden - destinations to which we ship these and other machines - big or small, regularly.

For Switzerland, we have to check what the situation is, at the time of enquiry. Based on all of the above, I decided to decline your order, so you got the email as you did. Perhaps the sender of the email from ARC should have clarified with more detail, but chances are that either way, you would have been unhappy with the response.

As you say, life is too short. Apologies once again for the inconvenience. I hope you enjoy your new purchase of WABECO.

Ketan at ARC.

Mark

Did you confirm your order on the Wabeco yet?

It is certainly worth upgrading to the ISO 30 spindle if the order is still open, I have a Wabeco 1210 and it is better with the ISO 30 spindle than the previous MT2.

The ISO 30 tool holders have a lot more cross section and are thus stiffer, they also go back in a repeatable position in the Z axis, and release easier than MT 2 or 3 .

There is a very high quality supplier of ISO 30 ER tool holders in Germany, they are called Kemmler, the holders are 51 euro's each plus VAT.

Having said about releasing tool holders, the Wabeco has a very clever release system whichever spindle you have ordered, no hammering or stuck tool holders.

Where in Switzerland are you?

Regards

Barrie

Edited By Barrie Lever on 08/06/2020 12:15:52

Hi Barry,

Many thanks for the information, the order has not been confirmed yet but my Lathe uses MT3 so I will be able share collets, chucks etc. This pushed me to pay extra for the WABECO MT3 option, however If I were starting again I would definitely go the more rigid route!

I live just outside of Lausanne, are you in Switzerland!

Best wishes and thanks again, Mark