Thread: lathe how noisy

Hercus 260 in normal range is belt drive, therefore very quiet...

Put it in back gear and it can be pretty noisy...

Gear drives range from quiet to noisy depending on type and how well the gears are cut...

I have heard a lot of gear noise come from incorrectly adjusted change gears more then headstocks..

I've recently moved from a belt driven lathe to a bigger geared lathe. Yes they are noisier particularly at full speed.

Would I want a belt driven lathe again? No Way! I still need to change one belt to go right down low but having 6 speeds available all the time is pretty sweet!

And if you are wondering, I chose the Hare and Forbes AL320G. In the end, they are on my way home from work, have given me good support over the last few years and always have parts available. every other supplier was a long way from home. So far I am very happy with the decision even if I needed to tweak one of the jaws on the 4 jaw a bit to stop it sticking. I will say though some T slots on the cross slide would be nice!

I like my belt drive lathes.......whisper quiet unless as Rc says the back gear is engaged. I would agree that the gear train for the feed can be very noisy if poorly adjusted or cheap non concentric gears are used. Having a vfd on the mars means only changing belts every so often, more to increase torque at low speeds than anything. I would hate to have to wear ear protection whilst on the lathe, putting the face shield or glasses on is bad enough.
Cheers,
Ew

The little noise from my Toolex lathe has never bothered me, though I hear others around the world complaining. Maybe there are noisy lathes that come from China, but I didn't get one.

I had a Hercus before this one and would never go back to changing belts etc.

Dave

actualy a used 6230 has just popped up for sale its 12 years old but done very little work ( i'm told )and he wants a bit to much for it but if i go have a look at it and can get him down to 2k ( he wants a bit more than that ) i just might buy it , works out 900 bucks cheaper than a new one as long as its in good nick i can buy a lot of tooling with the money saved by buying used .
johno.

My CQ6230A is noisy in some gears, but after much headscratching and investigation, I just live with it... which is the shorthand way of saying I've no idea what to do about it.. get better earmuffs ( or a better lathe ) I guess..

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by texx

actualy a used 6230 has just popped up for sale its 12 years old but done very little work ( i'm told )and he wants a bit to much for it but if i go have a look at it and can get him down to 2k ( he wants a bit more than that ) i just might buy it , works out 900 bucks cheaper than a new one as long as its in good nick i can buy a lot of tooling with the money saved by buying used .
johno.

Show him the price of a new one at $2895 and see how you go. It's sounds good being close.
At that price he probably wont have many lookers that are serious.
Dave

Originally Posted by RayG

My CQ6230A is noisy in some gears, but after much headscratching and investigation, I just live with it... which is the shorthand way of saying I've no idea what to do about it.. get better earmuffs ( or a better lathe ) I guess..

Regards
Ray

Turn the stereo up to max volume, that will stop any noise.

Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore

Turn the stereo up to max volume, that will stop any noise.

You haven't heard my tool post grinder (Waldown).

That thing screams. Earmuff territory for sure.

Belt drive lathes on the other hand are nice and quiet, provided the change gears are adjusted correctly.

Bliss.

Rob

I agree belt drive and VFD is a winning combination. My gearhead sounds like it's in back gear all the time - but at high speed.