I have an old craftsman lathe with a missmatched motor. The motor seems
to be turning too fast,I looked up the rpm's for the lathe and they
were between 200 and 400. The motor is spinning at 11oo rpm,s. I tried
it on all the pullys,but this didnt help. I have been resding some of
the letters here, and see that others are uesing motors that spin over
1000rpm's with no proublems. Doe's anyone have any ideas what I am
doing wrong?

a wood lathe should have a speed range approx 200-2500. a motor that
turns at 1000-1500 say should be able to get the lathe turning with a
suitable range of pulleys.
a bit more info may be helpful ..
does your motor have a set of pulleys on it and what diameter are they
?
does the headstock of your lathe have a set of pulleys ? what diameter
?
do you wish to have one speed or several speeds to your lathe ?
do you move the motor or the belts to change speeds ?

This is a difficult question without more information. You say that
they motor is missmatched, but you don't say how.

If your motor spins 1100 rpms, that may or may not be a problem. You
should certainly be able to slow an old Craftsman lathe down using a
motor as slow as that. More important than that though, is the pulley
arrangement on the actual motor shaft. If it is not the original
motor, or at least not the original pulley with four (?) rings of
different sizes on it, that may be where you are losing most of your
speed control.

If the original motor has been replaced with a washing machine motor,
or any other motor that was a single speed machine it may only have a
one groove pulley, and you are only changing the speed nominally by
changing the belt position on the lathe itself.

You need to post a few more details.

Robert

Hi, what's your name

Like the others are already saying, we need more info if we are to be
able to give some advice.

You have a very special motor if it runs 1000 rpm, and yes they are
around, big and heavy for the extra windings in the one or two cases I
remember.

Normal common speeds for 50 cycle ac are 1440 and 28880 rpm and for 60
cycle ac 1725 and 3450 rpm.

So with a 1000 rpm motor you should be able to go slower than normal,
as most turners wish they could.

Now the question is, what do you have, do you have 2 4 gang pulleys or
2 3 gang pulleys, or only one on the lathe and a single pulley on your
motor ??????

And what are their sizes, smallest to biggest, so get back out there
and start measuring and then report back, so we have something to go
on.

http://homepage.mac.com/l.vanderloo/PhotoAlbum25.html

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Some lathes spin too fast as designed.

wrote: (clip) I looked up the rpm's for the lathe
and they were between 200 and 400. The motor is spinning at 11oo rpm,s.
(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All these figures seem wrong. Lathes always have a speed range, not a
rating, and no old Craftsman lathe would have speeds that low. It is rare
to run across an AC motor that turns that slow.

On 17 Feb 2006 07:18:41 -0800, wrote:

I have an old craftsman lathe with a missmatched motor. The motor seems
to be turning too fast,I looked up the rpm's for the lathe and they
were between 200 and 400. The motor is spinning at 11oo rpm,s. I tried
it on all the pullys,but this didnt help. I have been resding some of
the letters here, and see that others are uesing motors that spin over
1000rpm's with no proublems. Doe's anyone have any ideas what I am
doing wrong?

Have a friend who bought a used drill press. The pulleys were
installed wrong so no matter which way you placed the belt it still
turned at the same speed. G

Lenny
http://www.geocities.com/lenhow/
http://www.geocities.com/lenhow/Work

"Lenny" wrote: Have a friend who bought a used drill press. The pulleys
were installed wrong so no matter which way you placed the belt it still
turned at the same speed. G
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
And also very annoying: the necessary belt length was different for every
"speed."

Most old lathes, especially of the Craftsman variety, were intended
primarily for spindle turning. Spindle lathes normally have a higher speed
range than lathes that are used for turning bowls and other larger diameter
work. By using a stepped pulley on the motor and another on the lathe, you
should be able to achieve a range of speeds in the 500 to 2500 range which
will be fine for spindle or other small diameter work. Most 1/3 and 1/2 HP
motors come in two varieties, 1750 RPM and 3450 RPM. The slower motor is
more suitable for lathes. Since you say your motors turns at about 1100
RPM, I think you should investigate the pulley arrangement as a way of
controlling the lathe speed. Good Luck.


wrote in message
oups.com...
I have an old craftsman lathe with a missmatched motor. The motor seems
to be turning too fast,I looked up the rpm's for the lathe and they
were between 200 and 400. The motor is spinning at 11oo rpm,s. I tried
it on all the pullys,but this didnt help. I have been resding some of
the letters here, and see that others are uesing motors that spin over
1000rpm's with no proublems. Doe's anyone have any ideas what I am
doing wrong?