Thread: Hare & Forbes WL46 Lathe

I have one of these and the delayed start is normal if you are using the stop/start buttons. Some people wind the speed control knob down to stop it which gives you instant startup when you wind it up again. I don't do this as I think it will only wear out the speed control prematurely.
I never have a problem with it starting at a different speed to when it was stopped. The only times it has started faster is when I have accidentally bumped the knob when I have gone to press the start button, and not realised. It doesn't take much to make it move. The speed control should perhaps be on the other side of the stop/start switch.

I also have this lathe.

I use the stop/start buttons, rather than the speed control, and there is a very brief delay, but nothing like 3 seconds. I use the stop start buttons so that the lathe starts again at the same speed I switched it off at.

I have never experienced my lathe returning to a speed different to the one I switched it off at.

The symptoms you describe seem to point to a faulty potentiometer (the speed control). I would experiment with replacing this pot, my guess would be that it is a 10K pot. These potentiometers can be quite touchy but they are cheap to replace.

You must have got a good one Fred. My lathe takes at least 3 secs to start up. I know very little about the electronics so I am not sure why some will start quickly and others have a delay.

My 1995 Woodfast with US added DC variable speed drive also has a little delay when starting. I just accept that.

There is an electronic circuit in the variable speed machines, so it takes a bit of time for the low voltage to wander around in there and tell the main power to go to the motor.

It may be the capacitors are taking a bit more time to charge if the machine is not used regularly.

Three seconds does seem a bit long. I would keep using the lathe until the magic smoke MAY come out, as the labor to have someone look for trouble now will be more than finding the burned out piece after the fact.

It may also run for years and years without trouble.