Lathe improvent

[Drei]

I was thinking to refit my lath with a more powerful motor... for example as the X3 mill has.. http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Stepper-Motors/Stepper-Motors. The X3 motor seems like these stepper motors but are these the right motors to choose from if not any ideas, connections etc. My lathe is the http://www.weiss.com.cn/products_detail/&productId=effbda97-1bd7-4ef5-a301-ca489cc6dde4.html WMP 250.

Thanks
Andrei

 

[Tin Falcon]

I was thinking to refit my lath with a more powerful motor..

Your lathe appears to already have a 1 Hp/ 750 watt motor that is pretty decent for a hobby machine IIRC all my machine motors at 350 watt or less . The premium hi torque mini lathes and mills have a 550 watt DC brushless motor.
I have heard of using servo motors for a spindle . and that allows for cnc indexing . Steppers are for low power operations less than 200 watt.
I am not electrical expert but i do not think a stepper is the solution. Unless you have cnc and are upgrading that.
Tin

 

[John Rudd]

A stepper motor as by name is exactly that, and is not the appropriate upgrade for a spindle drive motor...
Looking at the performance specs of the machine you linked to I'd guess it was a brushed dc motor,( it could be a brushless motor?) the X3 mill on the other hand has a brushless motor if I'm not mistaken

If you want to improve on the performance of your lathe then go for a 3 phase motor with a vfd but expect to make some mechanical and electrical modifcations..

 

[Drei]

No i dont want to upgrade for a cnc,,. that s what a also said, a stepper motor isnt the best solution. the main reason why i want to use a larger motor is to reduce the amount of load on the motor beacause sometimes it gets very hot. do you know from where i could find brush less motors with reasonable prices...?

Thanks

 

[John Rudd]

...the main reason why i want to use a larger motor is to reduce the amount of load on the motor beacause sometimes it gets very hot. do you know from where i could find brush less motors with reasonable prices...?

Thanks

Brushless motor replacement alone isnt the answer, you need the speed controller to go with it..Lots of $$$$...

Cant you supplement the cooling with an additional fan? That would reduce the temperature of the motor...

 

[Jasonb]

As said a 3 phase with VFD will give you the low down torque that your current DC motor lacks and should also run cooler at lower rpm but remember at any low motor speed the fan is not running fast, maybe you could just add cooling if its the heat issue thats the main reason for the upgrade.


Never had heat issues with my 280 version of the same machine even when turning large dia cast iron at low revs.
J

 

[lordedmond]

IMHO over powering a lathe or WHY is not good practice ,because the manufacture has designed it to be balanced with power and mechanical robustness

I Like the practice to the people who tune up cars a mate spent many months tuning the engine of his XR3 ( Ford ) up to a good level for that motor ( note he did not do anything to the brakes suspension act ) it the took him 10 minutes to kill himself by hitting a motorway bridge , he could not stop




Stuart

 

[Blogwitch]

I deliberately underpowered my old Atlas, and if I didn't, after attempting to do some jobs, the change gears would have been toothless lumps of junk, as it was, the motor used to slow down, trying to tell me I was attempting to make the lathe do too much.

It is better to have to take shallower cuts than suffering damage to your well balanced machinery.

If the manufacturers had designed it to take a more powerful motor, they would have fitted one.


John

 

[Ken I]

the motor used to slow down, trying to tell me I was attempting to make the lathe do too much.

I would agree with Bogs and Lordedmond - it is unlikely the machine is overdesigned and if you overdrive it the first warning you will get is a loud bang as something breaks.

I've been down this path modifying cars and every time we wound up the rubber band a bit more we would find the next weakest link - by the time we had trippled the motor's output we had found out how to break virtually everything - including the bell housing - jeez.

Ken