Question about my new lathe Jet 16 42. Thanks

[alxe24]

I just got my new toy: p today and have a few ABC questions. AKA stupid questions. The lathe is a Jet 1642 EVS 1 1/2 HP. It did not take much to go together as a matter of fact it was a breeze it took less than 1 hour and I had no help. I think I'm falling in love again
The questions are.
1) What is the inverter for? It has a couple of buttons and a digital read out, plus a dial from low to high. I have no clue what is that for (the whole thing) is the dial supposed to be in high low or what? it read the frequency which first I can't tell what that is and why should I be concerned about it.
2) The digital read out on the front for the rpm. My impression is that it does not concord with the actual speed the lathe is running at. If I set it to where the spindle travels to its lower speeds the display shows it at over 150 or so rpm which I doubt that is the case if I crank it to the max it reads the max peed the lathe is capable of depending in the high low setting. Should I look any further or very low speed can equal about 150 or so rpm.
3) Why would I use the lathe on reverse?
Thanks for the help.

 

[Monty]

Originally posted by alxe24
3) Why would I use the lathe on reverse?

Wouldn't that be for putting wood back on[?][?][}][}][][]

 

[dalemcginnis]

I have yet to run a lathe in reverse but I will try to summarize what I read in "The Craftsman Woodturner" by Peter Child about turning bowls. A scraper lays down the wood in one direction so when you are done the wood feels smooth, but if you run the lathe in reverse you can feel the roughness. With the lathe in reverse he goes to the other side and does a "free-hand scrape" using a high speed steel bar and no tool rest. The wood is then smooth in both directions.

He does caution that with the lathe in reverse there is the possibility the the faceplate will unscrew and come off. He reassures that when it comes off it will NOT fly across the room, instead it will just fall on your foot.[]
He says to prevent that use a hand-made solid leather washer about 1/8" thick on the spindle and make sure it is squeezed tight by the faceplate.

 

[wdcav1952]

Originally posted by Monty
<br />

Originally posted by alxe24
3) Why would I use the lathe on reverse?

Wouldn't that be for putting wood back on[?][?][}][}][][]

Monty, I wish you had posted this information a couple of years ago!! To think of all the overturned blanks I threw away!! []

Alxe, just curious, did the lathe come with a manual? []

 

[Dario]

Alex,

I agree with William and check your manual.

I don't have that lathe but have one that is comparable and here is what I know.

1. From my manual (I think[]) it is stated that I shouldn't change the inverter settings on the back. I too want to know that but resigned. Honestly I don't know where it should be set and they should have stated it in the manual but no (I am a bit disappointed on that).

I think the inverter changes your input power from AC to DC (please someone correct me if I am wrong). This is necessary since your motor have to be DC to have full VFD.

2. On mine the digital read out is right (I think). You will soon learn to trust your judgement on speed more than the digital display. That said, it is really nice to have the display for some application.

3. Reverse is nice to have for sanding/finishing. Some chucks have locks for this. If yours don't have one, don't worry about it much....as long as you just use it for finishing/sanding (NOT for major cuts), I don't think you will get a mounted piece loose. Do proceed with caution and don't take it for granted.

Again, read your manual.

Hope this helps.

 

[woodbutcher]

Do yourself a HUGE favor and leave the Inverter alone. The guys at Jet aren't sure how it works. By the way Nice lathe.

 

[alxe24]

Well I also posted the same question on Woodnet and here is so info that can help so DARIO and everyone else of courese, READ THIS to get some light about these feature.
Here it goes.



I also have the 1642, which I love. Now to answer your questions (I was wrong, once, so take anything I say with a grain of salt).

1. The 1642 1.5 hp motor plugs into a standard 110 volt single phase outlet. However, the motor requires 220 volt 3 phase current (which allows reverse and variable speed), so you need a converter to change the single phase to 3 phase and step it up to 220 volts. The converter also contains the electronics to control the soft start feature and braking (so the lathe speed increases slowly and stops withing a few seconds). The converter comes preset from the factory and should not be adjusted. It does contain a reset button in case you lose power to the motor, which is the only reason you should even look at it.

2. The RPM readout is connected to a sensor on the spindle, so it should indicated actual RPM's. My machine will run at about 130 RPM's in hi-range and around 55 RPM's in low range. If yours is showing 150 rpm's in low range your sensor may be bad or the speed control pot may be faulty. However, I never use the readout, but rather set the speed by feel. For out of balance work I slowly increase speed until is starts shaking, then back off a little until is smooths out. Once balanced, I speed it up. If you have even a little sense, you shouldn't get it going too fast since even a small bowl looks (and sound) scary at 1000 rpms .

Hopes this helps.

 

[alamocdc]

Alex, the response you got from Woodnet is what I was going to say, so no need to repeat it now.

Concerning your third question. I run mine (PM 3520B - but it's really just a larger version of yours) in reverse when sanding bowls, hollow forms, etc. Sanding with the lathe running in only one direction will leave the item smooth if you run your hand around it in one direction, but in the other you can feel a small amount of drag. Sanding in both directions eliminates this.

 

[Randy_]

Originally posted by alxe24
<br />.....2) The digital read out on the front for the rpm. My impression is that it does not concord with the actual speed the lathe is running at. If I set it to where the spindle travels to its lower speeds the display shows it at over 150 or so rpm which I doubt that is the case if I crank it to the max it reads the max peed the lathe is capable of depending in the high low setting. Should I look any further or very low speed can equal about 150 or so rpm.....

According to the Jet manual, the min. speeds for the two ranges should be 50/120 RPMs. Those figures are pretty close to the info you got from the Woodnet site. Presumably, the sensing/display system is digital rather than analog and should be capable of very good accuracy. That being the case, there are two possibilities for your problem. One is that the sensing system is not working properly and the other is that the speed control is not giving you the correct min. speed. There is a "LOT" of difference between 50 RPMs and 150 RPMs in the low range, especially if you are trying to deal with a large unbalanced blank!! If it is the readout that is bad, that's not the end of the world; but if the motor is not giving you the min. speed promised, that is a much more serious issue. Given that this is a brand new lathe, you should certainly expect performance much closer to the manufacturer's specs.

First thing I would do is is call JET technical service or the dealer that you purchased the unit from and see what they have to say. Other quickie is checking the speed sensor. There was a comment in the manual about adjusting it; but I don't recall the details.

As to the inverter thing, I don't know exactly how it is configured; but one would think that a smart engineer would design the unit so that any controls that should not be adjusted by the owner would be shielded from easy access by said owner. Kind reminds me of a US automobile that was sold years ago where you had to undo the motor mounts and jack up the engine to change the back sparkplugs??

<br />

 

[alxe24]

Well I had to ckeck again and I was wrong. The speeds I have are 129 and 50 so now I'm happy.
Thanks all for your replies

 

[leehljp]

Alex,

Is this Jet continuously variable from the Low RPM to the high RPM, or is it just variable within one belt range? Does it have step pulleys to change the major speed?

Never mind, I found it. I was thinking this was the new VS mini.

 

[Randy_]

For others who might be interested in the answer to the above question, A belt change is requires just like on the JET mini. There are only two positions unlike the the mini VS which has three. I don't remember exactly; but the ranges are about 50-1700 and 150 3000.

 

[leehljp]

Originally posted by Randy_
<br />For others who might be interested in the answer to the above question, A belt change is requires just like on the JET mini. There only two positions unlike the the mini VS which has three. I don't remember exactly; but the ranges are about 50-1700 and 150 3000.

Thanks Randy. I was wondering how that worked. I will be looking at this model when I retire in about 5 years. They probably will have a different model by then and I can maybe get this one at a used price. []