Speed control

[Keith Spaniel]

Does anyone know if a 20 amp speed controller that is sold for a 3 h.p. router will work on my Rikon mini lathe,that has a 1/2 h.p. on it? thanks

[Jeff Nicol]

Keith, If the motor on the Rikon is just a 115v 1/2hp motor I think trying to control it that way would burn it up. Most of the small motors are not made to have an adjustable current put to them, if you run them less than 1/3 the base speed they will heat up and fail. The best bet for that would try to get a 2hp DC motor that can be controlled and do it that way. There are lots of guys that take the motor from a treadmill and the controls and retrofit it to the lathe. Most all new router motors are designed to be variable speed so when you put the controller in the middle it lets you put the router on high speed and you can control it from a different location, most times when in a router table.

Should have bought a VS right away, everyone regrets it after the fact! I changed my first lathe to a 3phase 1hp motor and a VFD and I am very happy with it now.

Good luck,

Jeff

[Keith Spaniel]

Thanks Jeff,
Penn state sell a VS kit for the jet and a couple of other mini lathes for About $100. dollars.

I was trying to understand the reason a variable speed control would not burn up a 2 h.p. router motor but would burn up a 1/2 h.p. lathe motor.

[robert hainstock]

Most lathe motors are what is known as "induction motors, thai is the speed pf rotation is controlled by the Frequency of the applied voltage, In the case of the US , 60hz. So if you change the Frequency, you can change the speed. Router speed controllers most often vary the voltage, and work best with what is known as "universal" motors. These are best identified by their brush ports. The reason they are called "universal is that most will run on AC, or DC. DC will only make an induction motor smoke. I hope this helps.
Bob

[Keith Spaniel]

Bob,
That does make sense that the brushes in the motor make it different.
Thanks for your helping me to understand. keith

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Keith,

The "less expensive" VS...like my Jet 1014VS use a dc controller and motor.....the "more expensive" VSs like my PM352B use a variable AC controller and a 3 phase AC motor.

The DC motors and controllers generally lose horsepower at slower speeds.

The AC motors and controllers have almost as much HP at the slower speeds as they do at the higher speeds.