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Home made remote pendant

Steven Forrest

Steven Forrest

Joined
Dec 23, 2014
Messages
227
Likes
367
Location
Sebastopol, California
Hi, all,
I have an older S750 Stubby. It has a remote pendant on a cable with just your basic start/stop buttons, but the main controls are fixed in the headstock. I would like to move them off the headstock onto their own movable remote pendant, comparable to what is now a standard feature on modern lathes. (I'm not thinking rigid pendant, like the Oneway - rather, a pendant on a cable, like the Robust, PM, etc.) Does anyone have any experience with building their own? The switches all fit particularly in the headstock casting - with a 7/8" bore for each, but with an unusually long body spanning the thickness of the headstock wall. I was thinking that all the relevant wires (all 16 gauge) from the VFD could be simply cut and spliced to rung the additional cable to the box. The box will need to be customized to hold the switches and wires.

I have an email in to Rod Caddaye at Stubby, but thought I would see what the hive mind of resourceful folks here would advise. Thanks for any words of wisdom you can offer.
 
I don’t have any experience with a Stubby, but I did what you are talking about with my 3520b. I spliced in an emergency off switch where all the controls used to be and moved the main switch,variable speed control and fwd/rev switch to a mobile box (conduit box) with magnet attached. I used trailer light wire which had enough conductors to attach The new box. Overall I couldn’t be happier.
 
Kent Jaffrey said:
I don’t have any experience with a Stubby, but I did what you are talking about with my 3520b. I spliced in an emergency off switch where all the controls used to be and moved the main switch,variable speed control and fwd/rev switch to a mobile box (conduit box) with magnet attached. I used trailer light wire which had enough conductors to attach The new box. Overall I couldn’t be happier.
Click to expand...
Kent - would you have any photos of the finished set up to share? Thanks, Steve
 
RichColvin said:
Check the Mustard Monster site (https://MustardMonster.ColvinTools.com). There is a design there for the PowerMatic lathe.
Click to expand...
Rich - Thanks for the suggestion. I checked out the site, but none of the referenced links in the PDF that I found under the Electrical Items tab are live. Am I doing something obvious wrong, or have the links just not been wired up yet? Thanks, Steve
 
Steven Forrest said:
Rich - Thanks for the suggestion. I checked out the site, but none of the referenced links in the PDF that I found under the Electrical Items tab are live. Am I doing something obvious wrong, or have the links just not been wired up yet? Thanks, Steve
Click to expand...
I did a version of the mustard monster mod for my PM 3520B (and Jet 1642), and have some documentation on my web site: https://dlwoodturning.com/remote-control-for-my-lathe/ - it's not terribly thorough, but probably enough to give you an idea.

The simple version is: I cut the wires to all the controls, spliced in a cable, and moved the controls to a box with a magnet. All the VFD controls (on the PM and Jet) are low voltage so the electrical safety concerns are minimal.
 
Steven Forrest said:
I'm a member of the Stubby owners group on FB - don't know why I didn't think to post there. Thanks.
Click to expand...
And, I'm a forgetful dope. I did post there over a month ago, but got limited feedback, which I'll use as an excuse for why I forgot... One fellow showed me how he repositioned his vfd (but he had to replace it anyway) and his pendant with ones supplied by Stubby, one suggested I contact Rod Caddaye, the manufacturer (I have, but haven't heard back), one is sending me his photos soon. So even though I'm a dope, it was still good to post here!
 
Dave Landers said:
All the VFD controls (on the PM and Jet) are low voltage so the electrical safety concerns are minimal.
Click to expand...
If I understand correctly, except for the RPM readout which is powered off the input voltage of 220/240. The readout is not part of the control panel, so it would not typically be part of the remote switch, but somebody out there might just try to include it and get hurt.
 
Last edited:
I did a lot like Dave above, but included another “emergency” push pull switch that I left in he original control panel position. It is simply in series with the existing switch wires. This was the video I loosely followed to get he ball rolling (but I am familiar with circuits and wiring so it may or may not be as useful to you)
 
Steven Forrest said:
Hi, all,
I have an older S750 Stubby. It has a remote pendant on a cable with just your basic start/stop buttons, but the main controls are fixed in the headstock. I would like to move them off the headstock onto their own movable remote pendant, comparable to what is now a standard feature on modern lathes. (I'm not thinking rigid pendant, like the Oneway - rather, a pendant on a cable, like the Robust, PM, etc.) Does anyone have any experience with building their own? The switches all fit particularly in the headstock casting - with a 7/8" bore for each, but with an unusually long body spanning the thickness of the headstock wall. I was thinking that all the relevant wires (all 16 gauge) from the VFD could be simply cut and spliced to rung the additional cable to the box. The box will need to be customized to hold the switches and wires.

I have an email in to Rod Caddaye at Stubby, but thought I would see what the hive mind of resourceful folks here would advise. Thanks for any words of wisdom you can offer.
Click to expand...
Steven, I can't help you with what you want to do, but can tell you why your Stubby is like that. When I started to import the Stubby, I had them do a number of things, one of which was to add a remote switch that could be positioned where needed, mostly intended for hollow turning at the end of the lathe. My reasoning for not including the speed control and reverse switch was that I felt those things should be intentional and not be where they might be inadvertently moved. That caution probably comes from having taught so many not-so-experienced students over the years, and I personally only adjust speed a time or two when making a piece. When I sold the US Stubby business to Bill Rubenstein, he moved all the controls to the remote box, and pretty much every lathe includes all the controls on the remote box or pendant.

That doesn't help you, but thought it might be interesting. To be honest, I wish my Robust just had an on/off switch on the box! But I'm outnumbered.

John
 
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