• Thanks for visiting The Penturners Forum today.

    There are many features and resources that currently you are unable to see or access, either because you're not yet registered, or if you're already registered, because you're not logged in.

    To gain full access to the forum, please log in or register now. Registration is completely free, it only takes a few seconds, and you can join our well established community of like-minded pen makers.

Speeeed

Garno

Garno

Fellow
Joined
May 12, 2021
Posts
1,372
Location
Dronfield
First Name
Gary
I had a "proper" look at my lathe today and see it has 5 pullies (top & bottom).

My belt is on the 3rd pulley. I know by moving the belt to a different pulley will alter the speed.
I have 3 questions related to that.

1) Which way do I change the belt on the pulley to to speed it up and to slow it down?

2) Do I need to change the speed?

3) How do I move the belt to a different pulley?

Hopefully one day I will be able to answer peoples questions instead of being the one who is always asking.

Gary
 
21William

21William

Fellow
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Posts
1,619
Location
Dorset
First Name
William
My lathe has three pulleys so I keep it on the middle one all the time. If I only turned small stuff I might keep it on the pulleys that give the highest speed but I turn all sorts of stuff.
 
Penpal

Penpal

Grand Master
Joined
May 26, 2013
Posts
25,342
Location
Canberra AUSTRALIA
First Name
Peter
My preference for turning is flat out. I do have speed control I fitted electronics,use it to apply finishes. You now have charts cas a result of your question that will make sense,wish you well.

Peter.
Peter.
 
Garno

Garno

Fellow
Joined
May 12, 2021
Posts
1,372
Location
Dronfield
First Name
Gary
It looks as though my lathe will be running at 1850rpm with it being on the middle pully, Do I need to, or should I, move it up a pully to have a speed of 2525rpm or even run at maximum 3500rpm?
 
21William

21William

Fellow
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Posts
1,619
Location
Dorset
First Name
William
Garno said:
It looks as though my lathe will be running at 1850rpm with it being on the middle pully, Do I need to, or should I, move it up a pully to have a speed of 2525rpm or even run at maximum 3500rpm?
Click to expand...

RPM is not important per se. The important thing is the surface cutting speed. Turning a small item like a pen with the lathe at say 1850 should be fine but spinning a 10” bowl blank at that speed is another matter. My lathe has three pulley speeds but also has an electronic speed control. Does your lathe have this as well?

Just as a “for example” the Cole jaws used for reversing a bowl often have a warning on them not to exceed 500 rpm, which is quite low.
 
Garno

Garno

Fellow
Joined
May 12, 2021
Posts
1,372
Location
Dronfield
First Name
Gary
21William said:
RPM is not important per se. The important thing is the surface cutting speed. Turning a small item like a pen with the lathe at say 1850 should be fine but spinning a 10” bowl blank at that speed is another matter. My lathe has three pulley speeds but also has an electronic speed control. Does your lathe have this as well?

Just as a “for example” the Cole jaws used for reversing a bowl often have a warning on them not to exceed 500 rpm, which is quite low.
Click to expand...


No, the only way to change the speed is via the pullies sadly
 
Lons

Lons

Fellow
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Posts
4,753
Location
Northumberland
First Name
Bob
pittswood said:
I was always told, the smaller the pulley on the motor, the faster on the spindle speed.
Kelvin
Click to expand...

It's the exact opposite to that Kevin, small motor pulley on motor to large on spindle will be slow, large on motor to small on spindle will be fast. Equal size pulleys means the lathe spindle will run at the same speed of the motor. Mark's diagram explains the principle very well.
 
Bill Mooney

Bill Mooney

Blind old git
Grand Master
Joined
Aug 16, 2014
Posts
11,029
Location
County Durham
First Name
Bill
Bob & Mark are right Kelvin. I make my pens at 3200 rpm & I sand at 900 rpm. I make bowls at a slower speed depending on the size of the bowl.
 
Geoff Kent

Geoff Kent

Graduate Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2021
Posts
496
Location
Westcliff on Sea,Essex.
First Name
GEOFF
As you are still at the early stages of turning Gary,I would take things easy and use the slowest speed possible until you gain more experience.Bowls in particular are nearly always out of balance at first and the lathe can vibrate badly if rpm is too high.A lathe fitted with electronic speed control is so good for fine setting of rpm.
Re the probs you have had with blanks breaking,take very fine cuts ie dont try to take a lot of wood in one go.If you find that its taking a lot of effort to cut,your tools may well need a sharpen.Even HSS can dull quite quickly,particularly on hardwoods.
Hope this helps.
 
Warning! This thread has not had any replies for over a year. You are welcome to post a reply here, but it might be better to start a new thread (and maybe include a link to this one if you need to).
Top