Mustard Method of Work

[Burt Alcantara]

Turned on the machine and the LED lights up. Pull the red button and the motor turns.
When you are turning and want to stop, do you hit the red button or turn the speed down? I've already got the habit of turning the speed down to stop the motor but am not sure if this is a good idea.

Do you unplug when done?

Thanks,
Burt

[Ken Glass]

Burt,
I use the same habit as you did. I always reduce the speed to 0 and then not only push the red button in, I also unplug the cord to turn off the freq drive when finished for a while or the day.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Burt - I have the Jet 1642 - which is the little brother to what you have and I always turn the speed down when I am finished. It's a good habit to get into so you are not surprised the next time you turn the lathe on! Also - another good habit to get into is to unplug your lathe when you are finished. That way you never have to worry about lightening strikes or power fluctuations!

[alex carey]

I think your question was more about if you plan on still turning and not if you are finished. I push the button and turn the down speed to 0. I do this if I am done turning for the day or if I am just going to change the song on my ipod. I think it is a good habit to get into to start from 0 RMP's every time. Just seems safer.

[Burt Alcantara]

Alex,
That is exactly what I was referring to. I often stop the lathe to check on the cut, end grain, torn fibers, gasp...catches, breaks, digging out from the pile, etc.

I notice that when I dial down to 0 I hear a clunk when the spindle stops. Seems like it comes to a dead stop and something shuts off(???).

End of day is red button off, dial 0, unplug.

Burt

[Mike Lipke]

Not a clunk, but a click.
Similar to your stereo receiver when you turn it on. There is a relay that works on a delay to let all the circuitry stabilize for a few seconds, then sends full power. You are hearing the Delta speed regulator relay.
Unplug it when leaving the shop to protect from voltage spikes. I think that Delta unit on the back side is over $300.

[Cyril Griesbach]

Good question, Bert. I posed the same question to Nick Cook who was demonstrating the lathe for PM at a symposium as well as two PM techs.

The results in no particular order:

Red Button
Speed Control Knob
It makes no difference.

As for me...I do one or the other or both. As far as unpluging...it's a good idea. I have my outlet wired to a switch so I just throw the switch but if I'm going to be gone for some time or there are storms in the area I unplug it as well.

[alex carey]

I hear the same thing, mike Lipke might be right, I have no idea about any of that stuff. I can only assume that most people start and stop there lathe over 100 times in a days turning and most of them just use the dial. I can't imagine it is bad for anything.

Personally I like to push the button because I am afraid that while checking something or doing whatever I might rub against the nob and turn it on. It just seems safer to me to push the button every time.

Alex

[Jeff Nicol]

I just hit the big red button to stop the lathe. When I am turning and checking what things look like I leave the speed where I stopped it. Since the Mustard has a slow start and stop I don't need to turn the speed sown every time I turn the machine off. If I am done for the day or for a lunch break/nap etc. The first thing I do is make sure the thing I am turning is still tight in the chuck, on the faceplate or what ever. If it has shrunk or change shape I want to know about it. If everything is fine I start where I left off. I almost never change the speed to "0" unless I start a new turning or remount one for finishing. Seems like a non issue if you are working from start to finish. If you are up for it you can change the length of the speed up and slow down times,the setting from the factory works great though. I unplug it in the summer, not to many thunder storms here in the winter!

We are all individuals and equals....until we get a newer, bigger lathe!!

Saftey first!

Jeff