My lathe is tired in the morning

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Boz

Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
371
Location
St. Louis, MO.
When I got started making pens I bought a Turncrafter lathe starter kit from PSI. That was 5 years ago. About three years ago I installed a variable speed motor and controller. All has been working great until this past week. When I first turn on the lathe in the morning or after a prolonged period of non use it turns very slow. Then if I let it run it starts to pick up. Speeds up slows down then it settles in at the correct RPM. I have a reflective sticker on the head stock and an electronic tachometer so I can monitor the RPM's. After that no issues until I shut it down for an extended period then we go through this dance. Any electric motor guys out there have any ideas. At this point I am considering pulling the motor and removing the brushes. Not sure if PSI sells them but any good electric motor shop should be able to help out. Any other ideas appreciated.
 
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Sandy H.

Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2013
Messages
101
Location
Charlotte, NC
Probably a different issue, but my Harbor Freight lathe won't spin up from a cold start at the fastest belt setting in the winter. The shop is cold and I think the bearing grease is a bit thick. If I drop it back to a lower RPM and run it for a few minutes, high speed works fine. This is just a single speed motor, but I thought I'd mention it in case there's something similar going on.

Sandy.
 

low_48

Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2004
Messages
2,175
Location
Peoria, IL, USA.
Dry or too heavy of grease in the bearings? Hit it with some spray bearing lube. For gosh sakes, don't use WD40. It's not a real lubricant.
 
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