Hey David, what is the little black handle above and behind the chuck all about?
-
Scam Alert. Members are reminded to NOT send money to buy anything. Don't buy things remote and have it shipped - go get it yourself, pay in person, and take your equipment with you. Scammers have burned people on this forum. Urgency, secrecy, excuses, selling for friend, newish members, FUD, are RED FLAGS. A video conference call is not adequate assurance. Face to face interactions are required. Please report suspicions to the forum admins. Stay Safe - anyone can get scammed.
DavidR8's shop shenanigans
- Thread starter David
- Start date
Hey David, what is the little black handle above and behind the chuck all about?
Tomc938
Ultra Member
To engage and disengage the drive belt.
Huh. Never saw one like that before.
Engaging/disengaging the drive belt from a handle behind the chuck seems a bit risky to me from the other side of the country. What's it like in real life up close and personal?
It's fine for me. I use my left hand to push it into place.
With the chuck spinning?
No. When it's toward the operator the belt is disengaged.
Starts to engage when the handle is vertical.
So you pull it toward you with the chuck spinning?
I think you get the concern. Looking at the photo, it looks risky. The chuck either spins up and grabs your sleeve when you engage it or it drags you into the chuck when you disengage.
What I was trying to ask is if it is safer in reality than it looks in the picture?
I feel totally safe doing it. As soon as you take the tension off the chuck spins down.
I don't use it very often. Mostly I do the same as you, loosen the belt to change speeds. When I switch to 3-phase I won't even have to do that.
Kinda what I figured had to be the case. After all, we all play with the business end. It just looked a bit risky.
When I use it I'm very aware of where my hands and never use it if I'm in a hurry.
Doggggboy
Ultra Member
I use mine as a bit of a "I'm a dumbass" safety feature.
If I'm fiddling with the chuck or measuring the workpiece I'll disengage the belt drive with the lever.
My forward / reverse switch is mounted at the top left of the gearbox and real easy to bump into.
I have bumped it with the belt disengaged and while it will move the chuck a bit, it has no torque and is easily stalled.
Tomc938
Ultra Member
I also do not tighten/loosen the belt when the motor is running. I tighten the belt and then use the "engagement" lever on the saddle to start it up in either forward or reverse. Take the tension off the belt to help prevent belt stretch.
The tool and Die maker I bought the lathe from used the belt tensioner as the engagement mechanism as well. When he showed me he said, "It does look a little dangerous." I agreed.
I think if I tried to use the lathe at top speed I might have to use the belt tensioner so the breaker doesn't pop as it spins up. But I usually don't run at full speed. Mostly for that reason.
And so it is that it suddenly all makes sense.
I've been utilizing something similar for a while. Maybe you have done the same but I use an LED type bulb because they are brighter, run cool, less risk if you get a spritz of liquid which thermally shattered one of the old school bulbs. They can still break if something hits them so check if plastic or glass. Even so, those study lamps aren't the best for machining IMO. Amazing how chips get inside the vent holes or in behind the bulb.
Still on my project to do list but I bought a LED strip light kit. You can snip off lengths & configure into any kind of array grid you like. Just need to connect the ends electrically but that's become easy too with these screw clamp connectors. Even have variable output. I have seen similar ones made by photography people for custom lighting. The plan is to 3DP a rectangular cup dish to whatever light dimensions X maybe 15mm deep & that houses the strips. The harder part was finding a piece of plastic translucent diffuser in the right size/cost which I located. So that will covers the LEDs 7 should be tough & easy to clean. I was thinking of harvesting the arm from my study lamp but there could be some improvements there to because mine mounts on a funny orientation. Anyway food for thought. I'll keep you posted
I am the same. I've added one of these to my lathe and to my mill. I'll prolly add on to my surface grinder and my shaper when it lands. 9W doesn't seem like a lot of light, but it is.
Please do!