"Derek Andrews" wrote in message
...

However, I have never found the slowest belt settings to be much use. My
feeling is that the last two pulleys on the motor shaft are way too
small and they do not create enough 'bite' to be able to drive the belt
without slipping. This is especially so on large unroughed pieces of
work that you need to be able to drive slowly and be able to cope with
the percussive effect of roughing down, which of course is just where
one would use those belt positions.

It has always been my contention that this, coupled with the leverage
problem you have already identified, is part of the problem of the
snapping drive shafts. If the belt slips, as it tends to do on those
last two positions, the temptation is to apply more tension on the cam,
which of course puts more stress on the motor spindle.

If you were relying on being able to use those belt settings for your
turning, I think I would seek further advise before buying this lathe.
Personally I have never found it a problem and have always been able to
use a faster belt setting and slow down with the DC motor. But most of
my work is small. Overall I am very happy with this lathe, but if you
plan on doing a lot of turnings at the limit of its capacity, you may
want to think again. Thats probably true for any lathe.


The purchase is made, so no backing out. The pulleys will, if possible, be
reversed. I do fear it may prove impossible, though. Doesn't take a
mechanical engineer to see that the motor mounting/tensioning doesn't favor
the low end. If it were possible, clever people would have done it already.
Of course, there's a chance Teknatool may help out, too.

I'm able to swing 1/2" wide shavings when roughing off stuff on a 3/4 HP
Delta with a V belt tensioned by motor weight only, so I should be able to
do fairly well with a flat belt, I should think. Since I rough from the
center outward, rather than the edge, the "percussive" effect on me and the
lathe is minimal. Even 360 will give me less radial speed on a 16" piece
than I'm presently capable of with Ol' Blue and a 12" piece.

With his more robust construction, I suspect Blue'll still get more of a
workout than the new (used) lathe, but the price was right, and my 2035 ,
which I was to get when the last kid graduated, has faded into the future
due to a thing called graduate school....