power question

[steve denison]

I have a Delta 46.110 (I think?) That I restored. It was powered by a GE 1/4 HP motor when I got it. last week I was turning a bowl out of a piece of spalted maple and I burnt up the motor. Today I took apart the motor to find that one of the coils is completely charred (not repairable) Now I am faced with a re-power question.

I have a 3/4 HP 3450 RPM motor that I could hook up to the lathe with a jack shaft to get the RPM down to 1750 at the drive pulley or I have a 1/2 HP 1750 RPM Dalton motor that I could put on the lathe.

I'm new to turning, but am turning in Oak, Cherry, and Maple up to 4 inches diameter, and recently picked up an adapter for the outside of the headstock, and plan to make a faceplate for turning plates up to 12"

Any thoughts on a good HP for this type of turning?

Anybody hooked up a 3450 RPM motor to their lathe?

Anybody use a "jack shaft" for slowing down the motor speed?

Thanks for your input

[Joe Chritz]

Well considering that it ran fine with a 1/4 HP for how long? I would assume that the 1/2 HP would be fine.

If you want to do the math you could adjust the pulley size to compensate for increased motor speed and probably get close. I'm not sure you could do it with just changing the one pulley though.

I would most likely pop on the 1/2 HP and be done with it. Bigger is normally better but how much extra work will that be?

Joe

[Ben Gastfriend]

I'm pretty sure that the 1/2 HP is enough. I burned my motor up with the 1/4 HP, and am still not sure why they still put those tiny ones on the lathes. If you have a big enough swing to burn the motor up with a chunk of wood, there should be a bigger motor on there. Good luck.

[Curt Fuller]

I'd go with the 1/2 hp motor because it will turn slower. That's the biggest drawback with the older lathes, they were made for spindle work and turn too fast for larger face work.

[Steve Schlumpf]

I agree with Curt - speed is what you should be concerned with. The 1/2 hp motor should be able to use the same pulleys - which would have you up and running.

[Robert McGowen]

I would go with whatever would give you the lowest speed if you are planning on turning 12" diameter plates.