How is a Jet 1220VS (DC motor) Supposed to Sound?

[Philip Morris]

Placed an order for a Jet 1220VS on Tuesday of this past week and it was drop shipped to my office on Friday from Jet. (BTW, ordered it from McGivern Hydraulics, Doug Thompson's friend/associate - see the links page on Thompson Lathe Tools. They offer true free shipping and their price is around $20 less than most others. Good people, too.)

Anyway, unpacked the lathe and started it up. Was floored to find it was sooooo quiet. I believe that it is quiter than my Oneway 1640!

My Question:
Is it normal for the DC motor to make kindof a "tickety-tickety" sound, almost like a sewing machine? When I manually turn the handwheel in the direction of rotation, you can hear a faint "rrrrrrrm" sound from the motor, similar to the noise a car starter makes when the battery is dead an you try to start it. I ran it with the drive belt disconnected from the spindle pulley and it makes the same noise, so it is definitely the motor.

It's not a terrible sound, nor is it very loud. But it is noticable and I just wanted to make sure it is nothing that needs to be addressed.

Also, as many on the forums have noted, the ON/OFF switches are bad. Mine has already stuck ON once. Think I will resource a replacement locally, rather than having Jet send another bad one.

[robert hainstock]

The noise you are hearing, (wiring) is that of the brushes going from comutater segment to comutater segment and is normal for good quality DC motors. the acess ports for the brushes are at the end of the motor awy from the pulley end/ some day you may have to change them, but do not remove one till then. :)
Bob

[Philip Morris]

Bob,
Thanks for your response and also to previous questions that helped me finalize my decision. Seems like a great lathe.

I did notice the brush ports on the motor and that seemed to be the origin of the noise. I wondered if the brushes were the source.

BTW, does it have any type of cooling fan that I need to periodically clean?

[John Terefenko]

Congrads on a great lathe. I just bought one and got from woodcraft when they were running their free shipping sale also. Question do the points line up exact??? Mine were off a smidge. Also if you place your hand on the crank handle does it have a hop in it??? I also noticed it at the front spindle nut. Had it checked out and it runs true so it was in the manufactoring of the wheel.

[Philip Morris]

John,
I am assuming the handwheel (on the outboard side of the headstock) is what you meant when you mentioned the crank handle? Checked mine, it seems to run true. There is a set screw that holds it in place. May want to confirm it's tight.

As far as alignment on the centers, mine are dead on vertically and may be as much as 1/64" of an inch out on the horizontal. I just set it on a bench that I know is not perfectly flat. I have seen some other threads here on SMC where others have said they had to shim under the feet when sitting on an uneven surface to bring them into alignment.

You mentioned you took advantage of free shipping at Woodcraft. Did you get the non-VS model. When I was shopping for mine, Woodcraft's totally free shipping (no excess weight, no delivery surcharges) was not available for the VS model. In fact, the additional surcharges appeared to add close to $100 to the delivered cost. Maybe I missed something.

[John Terefenko]

I got the VS model. I love the convience of VS. Great for working on pens and small things like that.

[robert hainstock]

In over fifty years, I have never seen a cooling fan on a DC, or Also called universal motor. I bought my 1220 VS in Sept or October when WC ran a free shipping special fo a short time. I think I found out about it with a google search for the 1220 vs. And I remember John's thread about his misalignment issues at that time. Good luck with yours. :)
Bob