Thread: Woodfast lathe bottom pulley

Mr Santa,

Photos of your lathe and the pulleys would be helpful for others with more experience then I have. However, 1/3 HP is not going to be strong enough for 90% of the work. As far as the eBay motor/s you are looking at is concerned, they rotate about twice as fast as a lathe motor would be rotating. In general you would need a motor with 1400 -1450RPM.

Regards
Andy

Try here Ithink the pulley's are still available http://www.woodfast.com.au/index.php

china

Hi China and Andy,

Thanks for the advice regarding the motor speed and size. The 1/3 Hp motor I have spins at 1400rpm - pity it is too small. I might set it up temporarily by clamping it to a bench top and give it a go before I purchasing a new one. What size would be ideal? As far as the pulley goes, Woodfast was the first place I tried but was told it is not available. Blackwoods is my next port of call. Thanks again for the help.

Mr Santa

Mr Santa,

Not sure what part of NSW you reside but you could also try BSC Motion Technology. They supply a large range of Pulleys, Drive Belts & Bearings. They have stepped pulleys.

Hi Mr Santa,

Just been through a similar exercise, pit falls I found and would bring your attention to. I trust i'm not teaching you to suck eggs but......

Get the right direction of rotation on the motor you buy, they can go either way.
Make sure the shaft size on the motor matches the pulley internal diameter and is long enough to support the depth of the pulley assembly.
the 1400~1440 rpm motor are 4 pole.

All this I just learnt about though getting the wrong stuff first

Hope it saves you some pain. Then my experience would have been for a good purpose


Cheers

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your words of wisdom. They are greatly appreciated. I understand everything you have said except for the 4 pole motor. What does this mean and will it be marked on the motor? I had a vague notion that the direction of rotation of the motor could be changed by reversing the wires. Do you know if this is the case?

Cheers
Mr Santa

Originally Posted by Mr Santa

Hi China and Andy,

Thanks for the advice regarding the motor speed and size. The 1/3 Hp motor I have spins at 1400rpm - pity it is too small. I might set it up temporarily by clamping it to a bench top and give it a go before I purchasing a new one. What size would be ideal? As far as the pulley goes, Woodfast was the first place I tried but was told it is not available. Blackwoods is my next port of call. Thanks again for the help.

Mr Santa

Hi Mr Santa,

Th ideal HP size for your lathe depends on the size of your lathe (small, medium or large lathe) and as such the maximum size of timeber you can turn. On small lathes you may get away with 1/2 to 3/4HP motor, but you will need larger motor for larger lathes.

As far as the pulleys are concerned you generally would need the same sizes that are on the lathe but placed in reverse order on the motor shaft.

You can reverse the motor direction relatively easily on some single phase motors, but on others you may not have access to change the wiring to achieve reverse rotation.

Regards
Andy

Originally Posted by Mr Santa

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your words of wisdom. They are greatly appreciated. I understand everything you have said except for the 4 pole motor. What does this mean and will it be marked on the motor? I had a vague notion that the direction of rotation of the motor could be changed by reversing the wires. Do you know if this is the case?

Cheers
Mr Santa

That also was part of the exercise, had to get a reverse switch fitted so yes they can be reversed but better to get it going the direction you want in the first place. That little trip was approx $200.00 on top of the 400 for the motor..the things we do

The term 4 pole from what I gather is the no. of poles in the motor and a four pole has a speed on 1440 rpm as opposed to the 2850 rpm motors.


Cheers

Steve

hi have a woodfast 8in centre lathe and am using a 1hp 1440 rpm motor with it . its a short bed and uses an a section pulley get the motor first and check rotation and shaft size before buying a pulley . email me if you want sizes of bottom pulley ,cheers bob

If you wish to get started turning without spending a chunk of money, get a single pulley the size of the smallest on your upper step pulley that will fit on your 1/3 HP motor. Check rotation of the motor and be sure the top of the pulley is rotating towards you. If it is going the wrong way and you do not wish to dig around in the motor to make it electrically reverse, turn the motor around. As you are starting without everything in fixed position, you can improvise.

Run the belt from the small motor pulley to the largest upper (spindle) pulley. This will give you mechanical advantage and power at the expense of speed. If you are just beginning to turn, things happening slowly is an advantage. Take light cuts with a sharp tool and you will do fine.

In due course you may check around at motor shops and find a local used or rebuilt motor and step pulley to fit. The step pulley should be identical in outside diameters to the one on the top so when you move from step to step the belt distance is the same.

You can have the motor shop mount the pulley, and wire the motor with a reversing switch in a box on an appropriate length of cable, with a power cable and plug. When you get home, mount the motor, mount the on - off - reverse box, plug it in and turn.

When looking for motors you could also look for a 3 phase motor with a variable frequency drive. This works on your house wiring and converts single phase to 3 phase. The advantages are: variable slow start, variable speed, reverse, coasting to stop or variable slowing down to stop, hard braking to stop.

In the US 3 phase motors are available at scrap prices in salvage yards or at larger motor shops as trade ins or rebuilt, as well as new. Generally for less than equal single phase motors.

I Googled "electric motor shops NSW" and found this on the internet:

http://www.dealerselectric.com/?gcli...FRKLxwodog_V-g

I have the TECO 1 HP drive with a 1 HP 3 phase motor on my lathe. I am most pleased. I paid 50 cents a pound for the motor at a scrap yard, with a single pulley.

Hi all,

Thanks for all the advice. It is greatly appreciated and I have a lot to think about before I part with my hard earned. What a wealth of knowledge you guys have! Thanks again.

Cheers
Mr Santa