add digital tach to lathe

[Michael Schneider]

I have an old general 160 lathe that I am reworking. I would like to add a tach to it. I saw this on amazon for $19.

Anyone use one of these, or another brand that they like? There were a couple with basic lcd display, and these may be hard to read. I do like the red display, and a hall effect sensor is pretty simple.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VKAT8A2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A10ZX1GHP13ZSF

Thanks,
Michael

[William C Rogers]

I bought one of the hand held ones off eBay for less than $10 shipped. It works fine for me as I check against my reeves drive dial on my PM 90 every so often. Just attach a piece of supplied foil tape to rotating part.

[Glenn C Roberts]

Being in the path of a rotating anything at 1800 rpm bothers me, unless it is mounted internal to the headstock somehow. A tach using foil may be a better solution.

[Steve Peterson]

Thanks for posting the link. I want one for my lathe.

The reviews on Amazon are mostly positive. One review mentions that it needs a 300mA power supply, so I guess it needs a small transformer to power it.

Steve

[Ken Andersen]

I installed a similar one (from ebay, looks the same but cheaper and with free delivery) on my old delta lathe 46-201 when I converted from single phase to 3-phase with vfd to get variable speed. It works well. I attached the magnet to the spindle inside the headstock with a collar I made for the purpose, so no risk of flying obects from that. I was able to power it from the vfd control (which provided both 10v and 24v outputs)

[Peter Blair]

My question is why unless there is no other way of setting the speed? The lathe I have has a dial with speeds on it but I usually turn at a speed that feels right. Am I missing something?

[Michael Schneider]

Pete,

Good question. For newbies, it is nice to say. Set speed XXXX. As experience is gained, it would have far less value.

[Steve Peterson]

Thanks for posting the link. I want one for my lathe.

The reviews on Amazon are mostly positive. One review mentions that it needs a 300mA power supply, so I guess it needs a small transformer to power it.

Steve

I just finished installing the tach on my Oneway 1224. It works great.

My lathe is 220V, so I picked up a small wall wart that runs on 100-240VAC and wired it into the primary on/off switch. This lets me know if the lathe is on without looking at the control box near the floor. Also, the magnet they supply is a bit weak, so I used a stronger that allows it to work from about 1/8" away. It does appear to be sensitive to the magnet polarity. Only one side works reliably.

Steve

[Jeffrey J Smith]

Four years ago I bought a new lathe - a big step up from the Jet. The sounds it makes were different, I decided I needed a speed readout to be able to work the same way as I had become used to. I setup a similar tach. It worked well, and was only slightly challenging to install. Figuring out a mounting bracket for the pickup sensor was the biggest part.
Six months later I found that I had adjusted to the new noises and no longer used it; a couple months more and it was completely removed.
In my opinion, one of the hand held tachs to confirm the numbers in the speed chart that came with the lathe is all that's needed. Check it out every now and again when doing regular clean and adjust, then throw vback in the drawer.

[Josh Bowman]

I've used 2 or 3 of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291122353744?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Looks like the same as the Amazon ones. My only issue was putting the magnet somewhere. Those little magnets are hard to make stick. On my metal lathe it just found a place and stayed.....I left it alone and to this day it still works. On my drill press, for some reason, it got real touchy about the magnet placement, but now works fine. You can't beat the price.

[John K Jordan]

I have an old general 160 lathe that I am reworking. I would like to add a tach to it.

I have a variable speed milling machine with no tach. I bought one of the inexpensive hand-held tachometers that reflects light off a piece foil tape. I checked some key speeds and marked them on the dial. I can estimate between the marks when I need a specific speed.

My Powermatic and Jet wood lathes have big digital speed readouts, very professional looking, but frankly I seldom look at the numbers. I turn by feel and by sound - small diameter spindles, wide open. Bigger things, slower. Big bowls or platters, slower still. Out-of-balance blanks, whatever speed is smoothest.

I don't think I'm alone - I've sat in a number of demos where someone asked the speed and the professional said he had no idea and had to look, said he never paid attention to the speed numbers.

JKJ