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Something a little different. Lang Electrofeed 10x48, $7,500, Saanich BC

Birkhoff

Active Member


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Wonder who the seller is as they also sold a 13x30 Dean Smith and Grace about a year ago.
 
Look at that face plate on the floor leaning against it.......

One look at that and it becomes instantly clear why lathes can benefit from a bigger motor with a VFD to control the acceleration rate.

Just imagine the forces on the motor and gear train spinning that thing up......
 
Just imagine the forces on the motor and gear train spinning that thing up......
I bet that lathe has a clutch… that was the mechanical engineering solution for those problems.

Once you have used a lathe with a clutch, you just don’t want to use one without. (I guess a VFD controlled one comes close - and without the extra complexity of adjusting the mechanical clutch. That is a bonus.)
 
I bet that lathe has a clutch… that was the mechanical engineering solution for those problems.

I'd bet you are right.

Once you have used a lathe with a clutch, you just don’t want to use one without. (I guess a VFD controlled one comes close - and without the extra complexity of adjusting the mechanical clutch. That is a bonus.)

Yes, F = mass x acceleration. Whether you use a clutch or a VFD, I second your advice. The objective is to reduce the acceleration.

I think a VFD is usually a lot easier to impliment than a clutch unless you already have one.

The reason I harp on it so often is my concern that someone might install a bigger motor thinking that bigger and stronger is better without realizing how badly they could damage their lathe just by turning it on and spinning it up too fast. That why I try not to miss an opportunity to add a comment about using the VFD to slow the rate of acceleration if you add a bigger motor.

Thanks for giving me yet another opportunity to comment but also to explain why I feel that way.
 
I usually run an 8" chuck on my 10hp 1660 lathe because I can set the accel time to 3s and its fine even in high gear. With the 14" 4 jaw, I have to increase the accel time to 10s or risk tripping the VFD. The weight difference is substantial.
 
Good observation @Darren . Thanks for sharing.

Here’s another thing to consider: in a clutched lathe, only the down-stream (of the clutch) components need accelerating whereas with a VFD-lathe, the whole drive train is accelerated.
 
While I don't have a spindle clutch, my SM 1660 has a leadscrew/feed clutch allowing the feed to be stopped/started/reversed on the fly. Its pretty amazing once you've spent some time on it. For threading, the half nuts stay engaged, the spindle stays running, and you just stop the feed at the end of the cut and reverse the feed back to the start of the thread, advance the tool and start the feed. No thread dial to look at.
 
For threading, the half nuts stay engaged, the spindle stays running, and you just stop the feed at the end of the cut and reverse the feed back to the start of the thread, advance the tool and start the feed. No thread dial to look at.

Like cutting metric threads but 100x better cuz you don't stop the lead screw or the spindle just the feed. Very nice!

It's not obvious to me how the mechanics of that work though..... How does it sync with the spindle?
 
Im guessing its a single tooth dog clutch. It never loses sync. I've screwed up with a threading dial before, so this is so much better. You don't have to think about it at all
 
Im guessing its a single tooth dog clutch. It never loses sync. I've screwed up with a threading dial before, so this is so much better. You don't have to think about it at all
No idea about the Lang (or even if it for sure if it has one , likely), but my DSG has an Matrix wet plate clutch, top drawer stuff. At 55 years old its almost broken in :). I usually don't much use the thread dial imperial or metric, just faster to push the lever into reverse at the end of the cut.
 
my DSG has an Matrix wet plate clutch, top drawer stuff. At 55 years old its almost broken in :).
100% agree if owners take even a little care of the clutch by setting them up properly, they will last a very long time. Örtlinghaus and Baruffaldi are synonymous with Matrix for top of the line quality clutches and brakes for machines.
 
For threading, the half nuts stay engaged, the spindle stays running, and you just stop the feed at the end of the cut and reverse the feed back to the start of the thread,
And that has just given me a idea for a great feature for my electronic gearing. It currently has an interlock to stop changing anything while under power, but being able to reverse the carriage and come back into the right spindle alignment wouldn't even be difficult.
Software problem mostly, so something to look at in the new year.
 
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