My new Nova 1624 and how I added ballast

[chris del]

I scratched my head for a couple of days after recieving my Nova lathe about how to add ballast to the tubular steel frame and this is what I came up with.
I removed the bottom bolt on each leg where it attached to the cast iron brackets and replaced it with bolts 2 inches longer. This allowed me to attach chains.
The chains hang and are attached to some tubular steel 1" x 3" x .125".
The 2 steel tubes are connected by threaded rod (7/16") and plywood sits on the steel giving the a platform for the sand bags to sit on.
I have 330lbs of sand, but room for twice that and I will add if necessary.

All the weight hangs from the 4 chains and hovers about 2" off the ground.
Chris

[Harvey M. Taylor]

Why do you want so add so much weight to the lathe. Sure, add some but 300#? The procedure is to slow the rpm's down till you dont have vibration. Then speed it up slightly and take care of the vibration. Keep doing that till you have a balanced workpiece. The faster you spin an out of balance workpiece, the harder it is on the bearings and ultimately ruining the bearings in the headstock.Replacing those isnt a walk in the park. A better solution is to build shelves for storage under the lathe. Although, maybe you have plenty of storage space anyway. My thoughts, and they are free.


I had no turning tools and complained, till I met a man who had no lathe. yearning to learning to turning.

[Dennis Peacock]

That's good. Adding ballast helps to add overall stability to the lathe and that's very important while you're turning. Even though my lathe weighs in at 710 pounds, I still need to add ballast to it for an even more steady turning. :D

[Steve Kubien]

That's pretty slick Chris. I'll keep it in mind whenever I get mine (and may show up on your shop's doorstep to take a closer look).

Cheers,
Steve Kubien
Ajax, Ontario

[chris del]

Why do you want so add so much weight to the lathe. Sure, add some but 300#?


Harvey. When it comes to turning I am pretty green. (no pun intended)
My learning comes from research via the internet, books and talking to more experienced turners. All the information I found on this Nova lathe is that the quality and features were great but the lathe was a little on the light side. Many nova owners add 3 or 4 hundred pounds to their stand.
Even FWW mags recent showdown on lathes show that the Nova's stability is real close to that of the massive 3520B (when ballast is added).
I figured $50 in material to double the weight of the lathe couldnt hurt.

Chris

[Curt Fuller]

Well, one thing for sure, it won't blow away!

[George Tokarev]

Harvey. When it comes to turning I am pretty green. (no pun intended)
My learning comes from research via the internet, books and talking to more experienced turners. All the information I found on this Nova lathe is that the quality and features were great but the lathe was a little on the light side. Many nova owners add 3 or 4 hundred pounds to their stand.
Even FWW mags recent showdown on lathes show that the Nova's stability is real close to that of the massive 3520B (when ballast is added).
I figured $50 in material to double the weight of the lathe couldnt hurt.

Chris

It does not, however unload the bearings or contribute to the safety of the operator, which is why you want to cut slowly until you achieve best circularity. "Weeble -ing" the lathe is like giving narcotics to a patient with a head injury. It quiets them down, but may mask important signs or interfere with reporting of new symptoms.

The practice of advancing speed until vibration is observed and then backing down on continuously variable lathes merely, as I stated in another thread, brings the same point past the tool more often. To bring it by twice versus once increases the energy of the system fourfold. That's a lot more to whack you with loose pieces, load your bearings, or cause a dismount by breaking an otherwise adequate chucking hold.

What you want in a stand is rigidity. You want to keep the work, the rest, the tool and yourself in as constant a relationship as possible. The very best way to do this in marginal conditions is to slow rotation.

[Burt Alcantara]

Chris,
I mounted an 8" very rough cut blank on my 1624. I think I ran it on the 4th pulley. At any rate, within 2 revolutions the lathe tried to make it out the door. Shut it off and started at pulley 2. Got the blank rounded and then fired it back up to sub warp speed.

I am also green behind the ears. I've decided not to do any "improvements" to tools or lathe until I have a much better understanding of how things work.

Burt

[chris del]

That's pretty slick Chris. I'll keep it in mind whenever I get mine (and may show up on your shop's doorstep to take a closer look).

Cheers,
Steve Kubien
Ajax, Ontario


You are welcome to drop by anytime Steve.
With a young family and a swmbo that works shifts, 9pm to midnight seems like the only shop time I get lately. Pm me if you feel like dropping by.

Chris

[Paul Engle]

Since this turned into a balance issue thread, does or has anyone balacned the blank in free wheel before spinning it? I do on wet birch i drill 5/15 hole , screw in a 3/8 lag for the approiate weight into the face of the blank and turn till it comes in bal and starts out again then remove the lag screw. lenght of screw depends on the weight needed to counter the blank , usually runs about 1 to 1.5 oz.