Well, let's talk about my new DVR

The only thing I would have liked to have is a bit lower RPM, but I can live with 100..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

There are times that 10 rpm ish would be nice

Well, I got my first chance to turn on one at our last club meeting. I was demoing bowl turning. It is a nice little lathe. Pretty smooth, and does a good job of keeping its torque for a smaller motor. Most of my turning was on a PM, and now I have a Robust. Smoother than my big lathes, no. I found the speed increase/decrease button can be memory set for certain speeds, and that would be faster, but a dial is easier for me. This DVR was on the stamped metal stand. Turning an 8 inch bowl blank at 1000 rpm, it did vibrate a bit till the blank was rounded. Part of that could have been an uneven floor, and/or it wasn't leveled in place. My other heavier lathes wouldn't have noticed it at higher rpm. The angling of the headstock was okay, but I am used to the sliding headstock. No read differences there, but at 45 degrees, the banjo won't reach. Getting the shavings out from inbetween the ways would drive me nuts, I don't know why they have the bed sitting flat on the stand with no clearance under it. Maybe because of the bolt together ways which are in 2 ft sections. A good lathe,. but not done the way I would do it.

I agree with the 10 rpm as a nice speed to have. I had it on my 3520A, and had the converter tweeked on my Robust so it would go that slow. The converters on the other lathes can be done that way, but get this. This has been changed. The PM now shuts off at 50 rpm. I could never sand my warped bowls out at that high of a speed. I contacted PM to ask them about changing the B models so they could do that. Their comment was it could be done, but you would have to send the converter back to them so they could do it, and the warrantee would be void. They said excess heat would destroy the motor. Well, I sanded out several thousand bowls at that speed on my old PM, and a thousand or so on my new one, and the motor doesn't get any hotter than when I am turning. There was a discussion about this over at the AAW site. I think it is bull. The converters can be tweeked in all sorts of ways for higher or lower speeds, and torque, and other things only an electrical engineer would know or care about. They just don't want us messing with it.

robo hippy

The DVR-XP allows you to access, and change, many of the electronic setups for the controller. Despite the fact that I -AM- and EE, with

35 plus years, I don't dork with mine. I figure FACTORY settings are going to be good enough

"Little" is a relative term, Reed.. lol

Yeah.. I've gotten used to it and have pre-set my favorite speeds, but would prefer a dial or something... Being my first DVR, it's not a problem, though..

For sure... The metal "universal" stand sucks... Universal usually means not bad for most things and not good for anything, IMO.. Did the lathe you used have the bed extension? I've heard that it vibrates less with the extension in place..

I really wanted the cast iron legs, but that would have required a 30 day wait for them to be shipped from the manufacturer, and I'd already been waiting for the lathe for 2 or 3 years.. Using 20-20 hind sight, I should have ordered the legs and set the sucker on a bench until the legs arrived.. Another factor was a time window in which a friend was coming down for a visit and he lived a few miles from a Woodcraft store.. Not like I can just order big stuff shipped here..

I added 200 pounds of sand and it helped a LOT..

know why they have the

bolt together ways which are in 2 ft sections. A good

The Nova's spindle was about 2" lower than the spindle on my Jet 1442, which I thought was strange on a 16" machine.. I solved both problems by adding about 1 1/2" of pine 1x4" under the mounting points.. Raised the spindle height and adds "shaving removal" room.. I'm assuming that this wouldn't be a problem with the cast iron legs..

I was told (here and by Nova) that because of the design of the motor and it being beltless, that 100 rpm was as slow as it can turn.. Not an engineer, but I believe it..

In general, I'm very happy with the lathe and it's features, except for the POS stand..

Please remove splinters before emailing

....

Well, I am (and EE) and I suspect that they meant "and retain enough torque"

In message , Ralph E Lindberg writes

One of the issues of low speed is that their is insufficient rotational speed so that the internal fan will provide enough cooling. In my case a controller was added to a 3ph motor, and it was advised not to run at less than 50rpm for periods in excess of 30 minutes without providing extra cooling/ fans.

My own view on this is that the time/speed factor is a safety net, as all motors will have slight varying performance, and the safety net is probably to accommodate the worse case scenario of maximum heating. My own motor exhibits very little heat externally, but internally things are probably quite different.

As I also have a 10 speed gearbox on the lathe I can adjust motor speed relative to gear ratio for best torque

In message , John writes

Just out of interest I found a simple idea on Youtube for an alternative slow speed system, that can apply to probably many different lathes

Hey Mac, I don't check in here as much as I used to. Right now I am doing a lot of sanding. Going down to Davis again this year.

Yea, the lathe had 2 bed extentions on it. I reall don't know why they don't make a long section and then a short add on one if you want it. I was asking at the local WC store about the cast iron legs, and how the lathe spanned that distance. Aparently with just the bed. To me, and with my experience with my PM and my Beauty, the bed wouldn't have enough mass to span that distance without serious vibration problems, but having never tried it, I don't know. If I had that lathe, I would also put the bed up on riser blocks.

One really nice thing about the Robust is that the legs on it extend if you want the lathe higher. I had my old PM up on a 4 x 4.

Well, off to California. Still doing better at getting famous than I am at getting rich.

robo hippy

..the lathe spanned that distance. Aparently with just the bed. To me, and with my experience with my PM and my Beauty, ...

Robo,

I've never had the opportunity to turn on a really upscale lathe. Would you care to comment on what motivated you to upgrade from the PM to the Robust?

I currently own a Jet 1442. I hear testimonials about the DVR that indicate that it is like "night and day" compared to the 1442. I've got to wonder (besides the obvious: capacity, HP EVS) what it's like. The comments in this thread shed some light on the differences bertween turning on a $1K machine and a $2K machine. So what motivated you to upgrade from $3K machine to a $6K machine?

Curiously,

Steve