Lathe vibration problems..

[Ron Stadler]

Well, I was turning a bowl the other day and notice when I turned away the ghost shadow of the untrue part of the bowl that it kept on coming back:confused:. Then I realized that my lathe had some major sway, back and forth caused by the motor. I took the bowl off and still and nothing changed, the motor really moves around causing the whole lathe to shift back and forth, so I decided that simple sand bags was not going to be the answer to this problem, so I bought some 1/2" anchors and bolted it to the floor, this took out about all the sway but there is still a lot of vibration in the lathe. I think this is what is causing me not to get a smooth cut and therefore having to do tons of sanding to remove all uneven and scratched areas.:mad:

This lathe is a mechanical lathe, using a variable speed pulley on the drive shaft of the motor and two sized pulleys on the headstock spindle. You adjust the speed of the lathe by lower or raising the motor mechanically by hand.

Any suggestions would be greatfull, thanks.:)

[Rick Huelsbeck]

Well, I was turning a bowl the other day and notice when I turned away the ghost shadow of the untrue part of the bowl that it kept on coming back:confused:. Then I realized that my lathe had some major sway, back and forth caused by the motor. I took the bowl off and still and nothing changed, the motor really moves around causing the whole lathe to shift back and forth, so I decided that simple sand bags was not going to be the answer to this problem, so I bought some 1/2" anchors and bolted it to the floor, this took out about all the sway but there is still a lot of vibration in the lathe. I think this is what is causing me not to get a smooth cut and therefore having to do tons of sanding to remove all uneven and scratched areas.:mad:

This lathe is a mechanical lathe, using a variable speed pulley on the drive shaft of the motor and two sized pulleys on the headstock spindle. You adjust the speed of the lathe by lower or raising the motor mechanically by hand.

Any suggestions would be greatfull, thanks.:)

I would undo the belt and run it without it, if you still have the problem have the motor looked at. If not look at the belt, it could be the problem. Check the headstock bearings if the belt is good. Make sure all of your pulleys are square to the shaft as well as tight.

[Dennis Ford]

Your lathe needs a tune-up. Check the bearings (spindle bearings, motor bearings & jackshaft bearings) for wear. Check the pulley alignment. Install a new drive belt unless yours is in new condition. These steps should get any lathe to run fairly smooth when there is no wood mounted. How smooth it runs with an unbalanced chunk of wood mounted depends on the weight and stiffness of the machine.

[Jon McElwain]

I would undo the belt and run it without it, if you still have the problem have the motor looked at. If not look at the belt, it could be the problem. Check the headstock bearings if the belt is good. Make sure all of your pulleys are square to the shaft as well as tight.

+1 on running without the belt. I would go around and make sure all the motor mount bolts are tight, make sure the drift pins in the pulleys are in place and that all pulley set screws are tight. If the motor can be eliminated as a source of the problem by running it without the belt, I would use a dial indicator to check the run out on the spindle shaft.

Good luck and keep us posted. Also, what is the make/model of your lathe?

[Ron Stadler]

I forgot to post that the headstock, pulleys, belt and motor are all brand new. So that leaves it to being possibly out of square which I did'nt really know how to do since there is now manual to this lathe and I do not really know the process of squaring one up.:(

[Ron Stadler]

it is a 1553 Vega lathe with 1 1/2 hp motor.

[Ron Stadler]

One thing I did try was loosening the motor mounting bolts and running the lathe at low speed, hoping it would align it self and then retightening the bolts but this did'nt seem to change anything.

[Gary Max]

After everything you have tried-------check the shaft on the motor for run-out

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ron - when I squared up my old Craftsman mono-tube - I just used a straight edge to line up the pulleys. The straight edge should touch both the top and bottom face of the 2 pulleys you are lining up.

[Ron Stadler]

I will try all this guys and see what happens, I did just go out and true my headstock to the tailstock, it was a little out but not that drastic.This did not improve things much, the lathe does fine without the belt on there, but the added tension of the belt make the mounting plate of the motor bounce around a lot. But I will try as you said Steve and square up the pulleys the best I can, I just wish the mounting plate was a stationary thing on this lathe but since that is the way you change speeds I guess there is just going to be some movement.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ron - I don't know a thing about your lathe but have to ask - is your motor mounted on a plate that swivels and uses the weight of the motor to provide tension to the belt? If so - I had the same configuration on the Craftsman and ended up hanging a weight off the motor to help provide a little more tension to the belt. Sure helped my lathe.

[Thom Sturgill]

Over in the flat world, I understand a lot of users switch to the link-style belt to eliminate belt related vibration. Might be worth looking into.

[Ron Stadler]

Over in the flat world, I understand a lot of users switch to the link-style belt to eliminate belt related vibration. Might be worth looking into.

May have to try that Thom, I'm having a problem adjusting this thing right, but I'm wondering if those link-style belt work on a spring loaded pulley or not, if they do they sound great.

[Dennis Simmons]

You can get a good link belt at harbor freight, the green one It took all the vibration out of my lathe. make sure the pulleys are lined up or you will get a noise. I love these belts. You can get the red ones, but they cost more. Do a Google search on the belts, there is a lot of info on them out there!

[Steve Campbell]

Ron I would check your variable speed pully. I would bet if you look closely you will see that one side is open more than the other. I have never seen a lathe like yours, so I am just guessing here. Something to look at.....

Steve