Variable speed control for lathes

[Steven Glass]

Gentlemen, I am wondering if anyone has made / bought a varibale speed control for a 12'' Jet (or similar) lathe. I have seen speed controls for routers, but I don't know if they would work for a lathe. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Steve

[Scott Conners]

Steven, the type of external speed controls used for routers etc will not work with most lathe motors. those speed controls are designed to be used with motors with brushes, while most lathe use motors without brushes.

You typically have two options for VS on a 12" lathe - some places sell DC motors and controllers which replaces the original motor and gives you variable speed, though it loses torque at lower speeds, and then there are 3 phase motors controlled by variable frequency drives, which give good speed control and torque, but are often more expensive.

[Dennis Ford]

In my opinion, it is usually not economically feasible to install varible speed on a small lathe. It may be less expensive to sell the lathe and purchase a variable speed lathe. This does not apply if you get a good deal on some of the materials and have the skills/tools to adapt what you have to do what you want. An example of this would be using a treadmill motor and a DC speed control. Someone that could build a motor mounting bracket, adapt pulleys and reverse engineer the controller might do this without spending hardly any money at all. On the other hand if one bought a motor, controller and had to have some parts made, they would likely spend more than a 12" lathe is worth.

[Bernie Weishapl]

No a router speed control will not work.

[Mauricio Ulloa]

Hey Steven,

I have the same problem with my Jet 1442. After lots of research I found out that the only thing that I could do was to change the motor for a DC one and to add a speed controler to it. This is way too expensive. I also though on using a kitchen switch, but this reduces the torque and may cause fires in the shop.

So, back to your issue... Why do you want to have a speed control? In my case, I wanted to do threads. Then a good friend in this forum gave me an advise that I'm working on at this moment that doesn't require the investment of the DC motor and the controller.... Maybe we can help you solve your issue in another way...

My next lathe will be more powerfull, will have more capacity to make bigger bowls, and definetly a speed controller! Meanwhile, the one that I have works just fine! (I'd bet that "a few" fellow woodturners in this forum share the same feeling!!!!)

Take Care and keep those shaves flying,

M

[Steven Glass]

How is it that you can help me. The message was vague. Thanks, Steve

[Rob Russell]

How is it that you can help me. The message was vague. Thanks, Steve


I believe Maurico is saying that he wanted variable speed so he could do threads but someone has suggested another way to achieve that.

Why don't you identify what the problem is that you're trying to solve and see what ideas people give you. If you're looking for variable speed because of the need to slow large things down for turning, identify that. If you want to cut threads, identify that.

As previous posts have said, you can't add a speed controller to your existing lathe without swapping out the motor.