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Clarke CL300 Lathe

Belt replacement?

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Julie Mills06/05/2011 14:37:35
1 forum posts
Has anyone out there ever managed to modify their CL300 lathe please? I am particularly interested if anyone has managed to find an alternative way to work the lathe instead of the rubber belt please?
john swift 106/05/2011 19:02:34
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318 forum posts
183 photos

Hi Julie ,
 
I can't find the link at the moment , but I remember some one modding a larger version of the lathe
 
fitting a new V belt drive from a larger motor to a pulley fitted to the spindle
( the original belt drive and hi / low gears no longer used )
 
 
the main mods I've done to my lathe are :--
 
1)  replacing cross and top slide  gibs withe brass ones
 
2)  replacing the spindle bearings with taper roller bearings
    note you need to make new spacers as the centre of the new bearing are offset
 
3)  replacing the plastic 21 /29 tooth spindle gear with a thee part metal one
     note the original key will only drive one gear and the spacer !!!
      until I can extend the keyway I have a non standard key
 
 
 
 
John
 
 

Edited By john swift 1 on 06/05/2011 19:13:17

wotsit06/05/2011 20:20:01
188 forum posts
1 photos
Hi Julie,
 
If you Google 'Mini-Lathe', or '7x10 Lathe' you will find dozens of sites showing mods for these machines - things like fitting ballraces in the cross-slide, tailstock locks, head bearings, tool blocks, fine feed systems, digital readouts and so on - the list is endless.
 
You did not say why you want to modify the motor/belt drive - the actual belt drive is fairly robust - I am still using the same belt after about 9 years of fairly solid use. Incidentally, the belt (at least on my machine) is a reinforced toothed belt. However, the motor and control system is something else. John has documented one version of the motor speed control board pretty well in another thread on this site - the version he describes has a nasty habit of destroying its output devices if the motor is stalled, but they can be repaired. There are later boards which can withstand a stalled motor - so far I have come across four different versions. I am half-way through reverse engineering one of these later ones, but it has a low priority for me at the moment. Note these are not different versions of the same board, but substantially different designs. I think it is probably fair to note that the older board type as described by John in this forum is unlikely to be fitted any longer - the newer 'stall-proof' boards should be in common use by now.
 
If you replace the motor (presumably for a larger one), then first you have the option of DC (as standard) or AC. A bigger DC type will require a new controller board able to handle the bigger motor. An AC type (single phase) is very difficult to speed control (which is a desirable feature of the original machine) - to get good speed control, a three-phase motor is preferred, then a VFD can be used, but this is fairly expensive (probably as much as the original lathe for a good system).
 
The only other way is to use a (single phase) AC motor, and use the traditional method of different size drive pulleys and shift the drive belts - and I think this will be quite difficult to arrange in a reasonable manner on these mini-lathes. The original motor fits in a fairly restricted space, so it is likely that a different motor will need to be mounted on some kind of extension at the rear of the machine - I don't say any of this is impossible or impractical, just deserving of some thought!
 
Maybe you can post again and tell us why you want to do it - that way you should get some useful suggestions.
 
Keith
wotsit06/05/2011 20:44:40
188 forum posts
1 photos
Hi, Julie
Just found this:-
 

Keith
Philip Gosling27/07/2014 09:23:28
1 forum posts

I have a clarke cl300 Have had it six years and now circuitboard has blown the second time

is there any way around it can not keep on playing over £100 for a new board. Help

Neil Wyatt27/07/2014 21:30:40
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19226 forum posts
749 photos
86 articles

HI

The toothed belts eat pulleys if run with insufficient tension.

I went the whole hog and went for a 3-phase motor, inverter drive and a poly-v belt direct to the spindle, via a few other ideas, described here:

**LINK**

Neil

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