Monster lathe Update

[David DeCristoforo]

This arrived at the front door this afternoon:

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Meanwhile, I have been getting the drive system together. Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to get the motor mounted...

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Moving along.... slowly but moving...

[ray hampton]

OK take your time but we want to see a turning

[Steve Schlumpf]

Yup... slowly coming together! Looking forward to when you get to fire it up!!

[Nate Davey]

Awesome David, I've been jonesing for a Monster Lathe fix. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the motor.

[Russell Eaton]

One step closer. Keep us posted.

[Harry Robinette]

It's coming along DD can't wait to see a 25" or 30" on there turning. I know that a 23" bowl darn near scared me to death the first time it started turning.
And yes your going to poke it with a piece of steel.

[charlie knighton]

when you give next update, please give update on your expanded studio also

[Sid Matheny]

Looking forward to seeing shavings coming off this bad boy!


Sid

[Rich Aldrich]

Maybe you will have to upgrade your tent. Here are a couple of suggestion: http://www.norsemanstructures.com/ or http://www.fabricstructures-usa.com/index.html

[Allan Ferguson]

It will be interesting to see it completed and with some big hunk of wood hanging on it.

[Mike Cruz]

DD, the belt looks a wee bit loose! ;)

[David DeCristoforo]

"...the belt looks a wee bit loose..."

No… that belt's plenty tight, Mike. I may have to stiffen up the idler pulley arm a bit… have to see how it does once it's running. I also had to can my idea for tensioning the main drive belt. It came to me in a burst of light that the motor pulley is higher than the jackshaft pulley so I'm having to rework the motor mounting and tensioning method. Got it figured out so I still might get it done by the end of the day…

[Mike Cruz]

DD, I didn't even see the tension pulley! Duh...yeah, it looks plenty tight. :o

Maybe I'm not seeing it correctly, but it looks like you have it set up to be one speed. Is your speed control going to be with a potentiometer only? So, basically, the lathe has one torque/hp setting, but you can control the speed with a dial?

[Baxter Smith]

Looking Good!

[Rick Markham]

Man that's sweet!

[David DeCristoforo]

"...it looks like you have it set up to be one speed..."

There are several "speed ranges". There are two pulleys on the motor, one 2" and one 6". The speed within each range is controlled by the motor's variable speed dial. The idea is to gear the whole thing down to get a spindle speed of 200 RPM but have the motor speed above 800 to keep the torque up. I will post some information about the motor later today or tomorrow.