Powermatic 90 rebuild

[Matthew S Peterson]

Hey all, I managed to get my hands on a more or less complete Powermatic 90 from the 70s, but it needs a little TLC before I can start turning on it. I'm trying to decide whether to rebuilt it with the reeves drive intact, or to add a vfd. I like the old-school aesthetic, but I also like the idea of modern controls and electronics. I figure people here would have opinions. Thanks in advance!

[Harold Balzonia]

It depends entirely on what you are going to turn. I rebuilt my 1958 pm90 with the reeves drive and it was great for spindles but turned rough bowl blanks WAY too fast and created a few moments of puckering, if you know what I mean....

My old gap bed pm90 remains the best spindle turning lathe I've ever used, but if you want to turn bowls from anything but perfectly round blanks, I'd recommend to set up a vfd for it.

[Roger Chandler]

Yep... bowl blanks that are out of balance require low speed and high torque......VFD is the way to go. Old iron is great when upgraded with modern technology.

[Matthew S Peterson]

Thanks both! that's good input. I'm looking to turn both bowls and spindles, so I guess it's time to invest in a vfd

[William C Rogers]

Agree with installing a VFD if you want to turn bowls. I had a PM90 and did do many things to improve it, but eventually sold it and bought a Laguna 18-36. The PM 90 is a great lathe and almost indestructible. Here are a few things I learned from my ownership. You can still buy many parts from Powermatic for that lathe. I bought new tailstock cam and banjo cam parts reasonable. You do however need to get the right parts manual for the part numbers to input into the PM parts search. I believe the 1967 parts manual works, but not the 197x manual. You will need a spacer behind the chuck as the spindle threads are too long for most chucks to seat. Hurricane tools has these inserts and have the 1-1/2" chuck adapter for their chucks. They are good chucks. The base is small that seems to make the lathe top heavy. You can add angle iron bolting it to the base, but does create a trip hazard. I did increase the swing from 12" to 18" by adding wood risers. I had to buy new tool rest special made from Robust. However you can only utilize 15" of swing because of banjo length. Some bought new banjos and rest from OneWay. Initially when I got my PM 90 I just changed out the motor for a single phase as there wasn't VFD affordable at that time. I looked at upgrading to a VFD, but decided to get a new lathe. I wanted the full 18" swing and a sliding headstock. PM 90 is a great lathe if it does what you need, but I'm also happy with my Laguna.

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

I rebuilt a old powermatic model 45 with the reeves drive. Like the pm model 90 it was great for spindles but not for bowls or vessels as it just wouldn't go slow enough. So after a few years I added a VFD to it. That was a great improvement however it just didn't seem to run very smooth with the reeves drive. Then I decided to take out the reeves drive & put on a 4 step pulley. Now it runs much smoother & with the VFD I can get the speed as low as I want to.
I don't use this lathe too much as I also have a newer PM 3520b and a Rikon midi lathe too that see more use. I can't seem to part with the PM 45 though as it's just such a heavy & well built machine & now it does everything I ask of it & they really are not worth that much money & most people prefer newer model lathes.

[Van Huskey]

You might want to take a look at Mike Cruz' resto-mod of a PM90. https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....te!&highlight=

I think he had several previous posts about the process as well. Mike hasn't posted here for about 4 years but last time I talked to him about a year ago he was still using the PM90.

[Roger Chandler]

You might want to take a look at Mike Cruz' resto-mod of a PM90. https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....te!&highlight=

I think he had several previous posts about the process as well. Mike hasn't posted here for about 4 years but last time I talked to him about a year ago he was still using the PM90.

I know Mike personally. I believe that he sold that PM90, and he had Jeff Nichol build him a lathe, using a long PM bed extension. Mike recently spoke to me on another forum about my G0800......he is considering that as a new acquisition for his shop. He may be coming to my shop to kick the tires before he pulls the trigger.

[Van Huskey]

I know Mike personally. I believe that he sold that PM90, and he had Jeff Nichol build him a lathe, using a long PM bed extension. Mike recently spoke to me on another forum about my G0800......he is considering that as a new acquisition for his shop. He may be coming to my shop to kick the tires before he pulls the trigger.

I actually came back to the thread to correct myself. I was thinking about Mike today when I came across a spalted maple blank he gave me one time when I visited him (I have yet to "see" the bowl inside it). I remembered he sold the PM90 and was using the purpose-built bowl lathe.

Given where you live I am guessing he is only about 1.5 hours north of you.