lathe speed help

[nz_carver]

hey playing with my lathe :D
and worked out it has 5 speeds

how do i work out speeds?
what speed i use for what job?

thanks nz_carver

[wheelinround]

read the Manual

Slow for roughing and big stuff fast for pens and small stuff

[Pat]

As fast as you feel comfortable with. Usually when the machine starts vibrating and complaining, knock it back a tad. If you turn on the lathe and you require to change your underwear, it is too fast:U

[Avery]

As fast as you feel comfortable with. Usually when the machine starts vibrating and complaining, knock it back a tad. If you turn on the lathe and you require to change your underwear, it is to fast:U


Yes,

but which should you change first? Speed or underwear?

this woodturning lark requires a lot of decisions...

[texx]

if you are talking about the little pen lathe you just got its the same as mine and i checked mine with a tacho and got the following readings =550 , 1000 , 1450 , 2000 , 2800,
for pens so far i have made a few dozen on that lathe and i have found i just leave it on the middle ( 1450 ) and its quite happy at that .

[funkychicken]

for pens so far i have made a few dozen on that lathe and i have found i just leave it on the middle ( 1450 ) and its quite happy at that .

Crank it up to full speed, on something as small as a pen 1450rpm is ridiculously slow

[joe greiner]

What they said for shaping.

Slowest speed for sanding, and applying polish (e.g. EEE) and wax; high or highest for buffing each of those.

Cheers,
Joe

[texx]

Crank it up to full speed, on something as small as a pen 1450rpm is ridiculously slow
and then back down again for sanding and back up again for finishing , no thanks ill just leave in the middle

[Ed Reiss]

hey playing with my lathe :D
and worked out it has 5 speeds

how do i work out speeds?
what speed i use for what job?

thanks nz_carver

doesn't the manual list the speeds:?

[HazzaB]

Hey There,

My lathe is on the 2nd highest speed (approx 2000rpm) and I do turning, sanding and finishing all at that speed, (Works for me) you get a better finish off the tools and requires less sanding.

HazzaB

[dr4g0nfly]

It's all to do with something called 'radial Velocity'.

Imaging a weight on a bit of string swing around your head. If it takes 1 second to go around once and the string is 1m long the weight is doing just over 6.2 metres per second. If the string is 3m long (and still one second) the speed is 18.5m metres per second (and 10m = 62 metres per second).

So a small pen blank 20mm square needs to go a lot faster for the same radial velocity then a 200mm Bowl blank for the same cutting effect at the tool.

[funkychicken]

and then back down again for sanding and back up again for finishing , no thanks ill just leave in the middle

There's no need to slow it down for sanding, I sand pens at 3300rpm then stationary sand between grits. Feel free to drop by my workshop and I'll show you what I mean