• 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.
  • Several Regions have held meetups already, but others are being planned or are evaluating the interest. The Calgary Area Meetup is set for Saturday July 12th at 10am. The signup thread is here! Arbutus has also explored interest in a Fraser Valley meetup but it seems members either missed his thread or had other plans. Let him know if you are interested in a meetup later in the year by posting here! Slowpoke is trying to pull together an Ottawa area meetup later this summer. No date has been selected yet, so let him know if you are interested here! We are not aware of any other meetups being planned this year. If you are interested in doing something in your area, let everyone know and make it happen! Meetups are a great way to make new machining friends and get hands on help in your area. Don’t be shy, sign up and come, or plan your own meetup!

Mini Lathe controller replacement

Grit6764

New Member
Like many others, my mini lathe controller failed (twice). Obviously not a good design. I just finished an experiment to use a 110V AC to DC motor speed controller off the net as a replacement (a lot cheaper). A bit of work to incorporate into the case and to wire but appears to work perfectly. Time will tell if it lasts.

 
A popular upgrade is to change the motor out for a treadmill motor and controller. dazecarz has a great set of videos on this. If you near a large center it is super easy to get treadmills as many people do not want them after they have sat for years. When i was looking for a couple to cannibalize, I found 3 free ones in one weekend. Went in took them to pieces and walked em out. The people were super happy to have the treadmills gone and not one thought to take them apart to get them out of their basement. I traded the motors and controllers to some buddy's. I still have two sets of belts, which work amazing as soft jaws and things like covers for ways and t-slots. Two parts I wish I had kept was the elevation motors as they make great head lift motors for my mill type.
 
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