Lathe

[Bernie Weishapl]

Reading the post called "New Lathe" got me to thinking about my research for lathes when I finally bought my Delta. Palmgren has one and I think it is the same one Sears is selling. It is a 1 hp, speed is 360-2400, can turn 15" inboard and 20" outboard, spindle turning is up to 38", 1" X 8 tpi, head and tailstock are MT2 and weighs 175 lbs. Has a 2 year warranty. They also claim to have a better variable speed that gives you true power at low speeds. The Palmgren Lathes also features variable speed control with turnmax, which is mechanical drive system that maintains maximum power at all speeds, even the lowest rpm. Just curious has anyone seen or used one of these lathes?

[Andy Hoyt]

Bernie - Just checked the website http://www.palmgren.com/palmgren/p-machinetool.html as I'd never heard of this beast. The following comments are based on your explosive passage through Vortex 101.

One HP seems a bit weak.
Doesn't say if spindle and tailstock are hollow bore - something I've found handy for vac system and lamp auguring.
175 pounds seems light, but that's without legs so you'd have to build a really stout bench like Bob Noles did.
I know zilch about direct drive units. I think that's what the Nova lathes are rigged with so you might want to get Dick Parr, Carole Valentine, or Glenn Clabo to comment. I've often enjoyed the relative safety of a belt drive machine when it comes to monster catches as the belt will slip. And when I'm really nervous with a particular piece I can loosen the belt a skosh to encourage said slippage.Okay, that's enough for now. I'm gonna go see what you guys are saying about me over at the Meet the Creekers thread.

Andy

[Scott Rathburn]

Bernie
I have the Sears version and it looks just like the Palmgren. The variable speed works very well, but this is my first lathe so I don't have much to compare it to. Andy the head stock is hollow and I have been looking at vac chucks.

[Corey Hallagan]

Oh my.. do we dare.... tick..tock.... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAAA

Corey

[Bernie Weishapl]

LOL!!! You just hush Corey.

[Corey Hallagan]

He he... Ok, I will be quiet! But I am still sticking with my prediction that you will have a big'un by the All Star Break!

Corey
mmmwahhhahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Mike Ramsey]

Bernie, it is the same lathe that sears puts on sale every 2 or 3
months for $445. Sears list it as 2hp but what they really mean is
2hp developed, you have to ask them what that means..I have
that same lathe, it does a good job for everything I've tried
to do with it. If you are thinking about getting one I reccomend
getting the 5 yr warranty. This thing has 3 different belts and the
only place you can get these belts are from sears at $60 a pop.
Can't cross them over. The warranty cost $70. and they come
to your house to repair any problems even replacing the belts
free for 5 yrs. The guy will be here thursday for routine
maintenance on mine. Didn't know that was included!
It also comes with a pretty good outboard 20" bowl
turning attachment....Saving my pennies for the big iron!

[Bill Stevener]

Andy, the Nova DVR as well as the new Nova dose not employ any mechanical drive parts whatsoever. No belts, no gears, no Reeves drive. Nothing to adjust or align. The motor is the drive, if I may. The motor, rotor is the spindle. The internal computer has what is known as a smart function, where when a severe enough catch is noted, the lathe will go in to a momentary stall, and resume in a short period of time. A great feature. If one really jams things up, the lathe will come to a complete stop and will have to be restarted by the operator. The motor is completely controlled by the computer.

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>:)

[Bill Stevener]

Bernie, not a lathe queen by any means, however I have recked my share.
About the closest you may wish to get is looking at the picture.

I like the last note in Mike's post.

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>:)

[Frank Parker]

I have the sears one and I've found one flaw and that is the main drive belt from the motor to the variable speed shaft, This belt is about 1/16" thick by 3/4" wide way to small to turn anything large I know I've went thru 7 of them. I called sears the first time I broke one and a repair guy came out 3 weeks later, asked me what had broke, I had told them exactly what it was when I called them, so I told him and he went back to his van a few minutes later he came back and told me he ordered 2 belts for me and I could install them when they came ,than he hopped in his van and left he never once even looked at my lathe. I had a feeling something like this would happen so I already had a belt on order and it came in the next day, From than on I always had an extra belt on hand. Those belts are $38.00 apiece.
One other thing when I called to have it repaired they asked how much I was using it, I told them about 2 hrs every day or two and than she's telling me I'm over working it and I'm on the edge of voiding the warranty. She's right this machine is not built for heavy use. If you only use this lathe 3 or 4 hrs a week It's fine, just make sure you have an extra drive belt on hand unless your fine waiting a couple of weeks with out a lathe.
Frank

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Gee Frank, that sucks!

I wonder if you could cross reference that belt somewhere and find a stronger one? I know that there are a lot of machines that use belts, and if you find something that is stronger, you may be good to go.

Then again, a stronger belt may just end up breaking something else....:(

Cheers!

[Bill Stevener]

Stu, as we grow up in life, we learn through trial and error, things tend to break and or fail at the weakest link.
The next to go will be the motor drive shaft. This is a real, trust me.:D

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>:)

[Frank Parker]

Stu, I spent hours on the net looking but they seem to have made it where you had to go thru them to get it. This belt is only 2-1/2" in diameter it's a little bitty thing. Now I've got a Oneway 2436 and it will handle anything I can throw at it. The sears one I leave my beale buffs set up on it works great for that.
Frank

[John Hart]

Bernie,
I have a Craftsman 15" Direct Drive machine that looks sorta like the Palmgren that you speak of (thanks for the link Andy). The only differences appear to be the color and the horsepower. Mine is 2HP.

Like Bill S. was saying, the direct drive will stall on major catches and allow you to back off, take a deep breath, change your shorts...whatever....Done it lots of times.:eek:

Here's the pros and cons that I've experienced and maybe you can extrapolate from this to apply to the 1 HP machine:

1. Large off center pieces (over 10" and maybe 15-20 pounds) really get the machine rockin' and rollin'. You'll need more weight.

2. I have taken the machine to its physical limitations with giant pieces of wet wood and it spins up just fine, but requires extremely sharp tools. Otherwise, it will stall.

3. The outboard feature has been wonderful. Not just for the ability to turn larger diameters, but more for the ability to work on bowls and hollowforms without leaning over the bed.

4. The speed control is high resolution so your selection over the speed range is very nice.

5. The low end speed forces you to spend some time getting larger blanks true, prior to turning. 380 RPM seems really fast on a big gnarly hunk of tree. I hooked an oscilloscope up to mine and adjusted the low end to about 200 so I'm happier now. I had to sacrifice the high end, but I'm ok with that as I rarely have a need to go over 1300....except with pens, I go a little higher, and still have up to 2000.

my $.02.

[Mike Ramsey]

I have the sears one and I've found one flaw and that is the main drive belt from the motor to the variable speed shaft, This belt is about 1/16" thick by 3/4" wide way to small

I guess my main dive belt is a little different? about 1" x 3/4". The
belt is still going good for I think about 5 months now.
Same as John, put some pretty out of round heavy wood on it
with no problems, and I give that lathe a workout just about
every day, except the days I'm recouping from cornbread
burns :) . I told the lady on the phone that I thought the belt
was bad so she scheduled me for service, the tech and I found
that the clutch was not sliding on the shaft properly (grimed up)
so we cleaned the shaft and that fixed my belt problem. The
tech did order me 2 spare belts just in case when they break
I will have spares and he said it is his job to drive the 100+ miles
to put them on for me, but I think I can handle it. He was a really
nice guy... I'm not trying to sell anyone on this lathe, but
when I do get the big Iron, I will keep this one for a spare..

[Bernie Weishapl]

The info is great and what I needed. We have had some medical problems here ($$$$$$) and are not done yet. SWMBO has asked me if I could scale back my wishes on a big lathe for a year or two. This Sears lathe would meet my needs for turning bigger stuff and be in a price range that her and I would be comfortable with for now. Thanks to everyone for your help. It is deeply appreciated.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Just a note. I received a answer from Palmgren. He said they indeed make both lathes for Sears. He also said they fixed the belt problem. He said the two pulley were incompatable and would chew belts up under a lot of heavy work. He said that has been taken care of and their belt sales have dropped by about 88%. He said the lathe's in question were made late 2002 to about mid 2003. He said when they saw there was a problem they jumped right on it. He said the lathes today have the correct pulleys on them. He said these people that own the ones that give belt problems should get the correct pulley for them and that will stop the problem. He did say it was a shame that some of the Sears parts people and repair tech's don't read the bullitins and just keep replacing belts. Thought maybe this info might help.

[Garry Smith]

Bernie,
I have a Craftsman 15" Direct Drive machine that looks sorta like the Palmgren that you speak of (thanks for the link Andy). The only differences appear to be the color and the horsepower. Mine is 2HP.

... The low end speed forces you to spend some time getting larger blanks true, prior to turning. 380 RPM seems really fast on a big gnarly hunk of tree. I hooked an oscilloscope up to mine and adjusted the low end to about 200 so I'm happier now. I had to sacrifice the high end, but I'm ok with that as I rarely have a need to go over 1300....except with pens, I go a little higher, and still have up to 2000.

my $.02.

John could you explain the following statement to me.
"I hooked an oscilloscope up to mine and adjusted the low end to about 200"
Is this some accessory that can be purchased to slow down the rpms on any lathe?
Garry

[John Hart]

Hmmm...Well, I wouldn't buy an oscilloscope to adjust a lathe Garry....A little too pricey. (It is a piece of electronic test equipment, and I just happen to own one) But...If I could get my hands on a schematic of a circuit board for a lathe, I could adjust the low end by sight or sound.

Generally, on a speed control circuit of any kind, there is a low-end adjustment potentiometer and a hi-end one. (little screw adjustment thingie).

Orrrrrr..now that I think about it.....Sometimes, if you inspect the circuit board, you can find the potentiometers and they'll be marked LO and HI. They are generally set at the factory to meet the specifications as sold. Those specifications are decided on by engineers who are trying to achieve the greatest efficiency. So, if you lower the low-end RPM, chances are, you will reduce the HP at that setting....but then you will have normal HP at the higher speeds.

I didn't care. I just knew I wanted it to go slower.

I would like to warn you though....messing with the adjustments on a circuit board could render the circuit inoperable. Not because you broke it, but because some circuitry requires some level of balance. Without a schematic...I would be hesitant.

[Garry Smith]

Hmmm...Well, .
Thanks John, not quite what I thought you were talking about. I am thinking of buying that same sears lathe that I think you have only because they state a low end rpm of 360 with a 1 HP motor that develops 2HP and is about the price range I want to spend at this time.
It sounds like I would be spending a fortune on belts if I bought this lathe though. Your thoughts?
Thanks

[John Hart]

Mike Ramsey has the lathe that you're talking about Garry. Mine doesn't use belts...It's a direct drive. According to Mike, the belts are free with the warranty.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Gary in another post I called Palmgren on this problem because I am thinking about the same lathe. Palmgren who makes the lathe for Sears has fixed the problem. The tech said the two pulleys on the main drive unit were incompatable and would chew belts up under a lot of heavy work. He said that has been taken care of that and their belt sales have dropped by about 88%. He said the lathe's in question were made late 2002 to about mid 2003. He said when they saw there was a problem they jumped right on it. He said the lathes today have the correct pulleys on them. He said these people that own the ones that give belt problems should get the correct pulley for them and that will stop the problem. He did say it was a shame that some of the Sears parts people and repair tech's don't read the bulletins and just keep replacing belts. Hope this helps.