Reply To: Lathe motors…

[david pierce]

Tom,
Levin lathes are just about the most sought after small lathes ever made. Some day when you turn 85 years old and decide to sell it you will get a lot more than you paid for it. I sounds like yours is a cone bearing lathe. The main difference as far as performance goes is the ball bearings in a ball bearing lathe are rated to turn at about 15,000 rpm which is desireable for extremely small drills and turned parts. The ball bearing Levin lathe should be able to run at 10,000 rpm with no problems. The cone bearing lathe, as in yours, should not be run over 3,000 rpm or you could run the risk of galling the bearing surface of the spindle and the cone bearings.
The TAIG motor and the SINCERE motor are both induction motors and turn 1725 rpm and 3450 rpm respectivly. A universal motor usually turns around 10,000 rpm but will lose torque as the rpm drops. This necessities the use of a foot pedal to provide extra power as the motor lugs down under a load. An induction motor once sized to the work load will not change rpm as the load varies. This will provide more consistancy on turning operations. As far as your motor goes, your motor and pulley setup should be such that your lathe will not be able to exceed 3,000 rpms. For my use I would get the Sincere motor and regulate the lathe speed with the pulley setup. With a three cone pulley on the motor and a three cone pulley on the lathe, you will have a choice of nine possible speed combinations. That should suffice for any machining requirements you will have.
david