Black Bug
Well-Known Forum User
Hey folks,
Well here's a seriously off topic question for you!
As part of my plans for world domination I've recently aquired a lathe/mill combo, linky, which is all very nice and maybe one day I'll be able to make something on it in one go without copious amounts of cursing - yeah right!
Anyway the thing is powered by a single phase 550kw/0.75hp motor. Downside is that this drives the lathe spindle via belt and pulleys. So to change the spindle speed you have to arse around swapping the belts to different pulleys, which means unclamping the motor and secondary pulleys to allow for a bit of give etc. All in all a pain in the behind.
So I was thinking, would it be possible to make a little black box with which I could control either the voltage or current supplying the motor and therefore vary the actual speed of the motor to give me much more flexibility and ease of use. Basically a dimmer switch.
Is this possible? Conceivable? Safe?!! Would it be best to control the voltage supply or the current supply? If I've got my head around this right then putting a potentiometer in series with the motor would control the voltage, putting it in parallel would control the current, right?
Does such a black box already exist that I can just buy off the shelf, and if so what's it called?
Thanks for any thoughts!
Cheers,
Rob
Well here's a seriously off topic question for you!
As part of my plans for world domination I've recently aquired a lathe/mill combo, linky, which is all very nice and maybe one day I'll be able to make something on it in one go without copious amounts of cursing - yeah right!
Anyway the thing is powered by a single phase 550kw/0.75hp motor. Downside is that this drives the lathe spindle via belt and pulleys. So to change the spindle speed you have to arse around swapping the belts to different pulleys, which means unclamping the motor and secondary pulleys to allow for a bit of give etc. All in all a pain in the behind.
So I was thinking, would it be possible to make a little black box with which I could control either the voltage or current supplying the motor and therefore vary the actual speed of the motor to give me much more flexibility and ease of use. Basically a dimmer switch.
Is this possible? Conceivable? Safe?!! Would it be best to control the voltage supply or the current supply? If I've got my head around this right then putting a potentiometer in series with the motor would control the voltage, putting it in parallel would control the current, right?
Does such a black box already exist that I can just buy off the shelf, and if so what's it called?
Thanks for any thoughts!
Cheers,
Rob