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variable speed control for LA200

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wayne hughes

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Jan 14, 2009
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Not long after I bought this lathe, which requires manual change of belt, I thought I saw an announcement for an after-market upgrade that would allow the use of a variable speed motor control. Anyone out there heard of such a thing? I have outsized hands and its really tough to change the damned belt in that tiny space.

Wayne Hughes
lexxicon@suddenlink.net
 
I think that I have seen them at Penn State and maybe a couple other places. I do not remember the price, but it is not exactly cheap since it requires that you buy both a DC motor and a variable voltage control. The control box is cheap, but the motor, as you might expect is the major cost of the unit.

The variable speed control is fine if you only turn small things like pens, bottle stoppers, and pepper mills, but be prepared for a lot less power especially at the low speed end. You might possibly be better off price-wise by selling the one that you have now and buying a variable speed mini lathe.

I have not tried changing belt positions on he Delta mini lathe, but I have no problem at all changing belt positions on the Jet mini and I have large hands also.

BTW, you might consider using normal sized type. If anyone is visually impaired, their browser can be used to scale type to whatever is necessary.
 
Penn State is OK for minis

I also have big hands and understand your problems changing belts. I made this coversion on a mini lathe. It would handle anything that the lathe would handle. It turned 8" bowls in red maple without much loss of speed or HP. Caution: turn the centering pin before you tear down the OLD motor. I was able to remove old pulley and used it on the new motor, which yielded three belt ranges plus variable speed.

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/TCLVSKIT.html
 
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