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Rpm indicator

Michael Sweet

Michael Sweet

Joined
Oct 1, 2014
Messages
23
Likes
26
Location
University Place, WA
Has anybody else had a problem with their RPM indicator fluctuating? My new RIKON 70-3040 has the rpm’s going from “0” to maximum speed reading and everywhere in between. The actually speed of the spindle is not affected. Rikon sent a computer board for me to replace with no effect on the indicator. Now they are sending an RPM pick up.
Sometimes the speed works and sometimes it doesn’t. A real pain.
 
Michael Sweet said:
Has anybody else had a problem with their RPM indicator fluctuating? My new RIKON 70-3040 has the rpm’s going from “0” to maximum speed reading and everywhere in between. The actually speed of the spindle is not affected. Rikon sent a computer board for me to replace with no effect on the indicator. Now they are sending an RPM pick up.
Sometimes the speed works and sometimes it doesn’t. A real pain.
Click to expand...

This happened with my new Laguna 1836, 4 days after I assembled it. They sent a new DRO and after I installed it the display went nuts. It turned out that there's a sensor off the board that monitors shaft speed. Repositioning the sensor fixed my problem.
 
No issues with mine. Of course, my Powermatic 3520A does not have one.

Honestly, a tach is not needed. It is a case of "if you can measure it, measure it". The piece spinning tells you all that is needed. As long as it is spinning fast enough to cut clean, and not so fast that the lathe walks around the room, all is good.
 
Speed readout is a nice feature but not really a necessity, but after 20+ years of using them it is a feature I use. 5 of the 6 lathes I kept after downsizing have readouts the only one that doesn't have one is the Vicmarc. It is nice to know that for me a certain wood turns better at 2000rpm or any speed that you can dial it in.
 
I've occasionally used lathes that had them, but never really saw the point. In working with early stage turners I often see them having problems going either too fast of too slow based on what someone told them was the "correct" speed. My suggestion is always to put a piece of black electrician's tape over the readout and watch, listen, and feel what's going on with the particular piece of wood instead and adjust accordingly. Plus I can't do the math in my head any more to know that if a certain wood cuts well at xx feet per minute with a particular tool how to adjust the speed to achieve that rate as the diameter of the piece changes.
 
None of the first 4 or 5 lathes I owned had a read out. I learned to turn without it, and as a rule, I don't bother to look on the lathes I have that do have it. It is one question that gets asked a lot on all the You Tube channels I watch. Important to some, but not to me. I can see it as being useful to a beginner who knows nothing, but I would never encourage any one to "rely" on it because every piece of wood is different. Maybe suggest that spindles are usually turned at higher rpms than bowls.

Side note, the old Shop Smith is going out of business. Saw that on a woodworking channel the other day. The down side to them for a lathe was too high of a minimum speed unless you were only turning spindles.

robo hippy
 
I don't need the DRO either but it's nice to know when polishing that I've a high enough speed without guesswork. And for me, if there's a component on my equipment, I want to work like it's supposed to.
 
robo hippy said:
None of the first 4 or 5 lathes I owned had a read out. I learned to turn without it, and as a rule, I don't bother to look on the lathes I have that do have it. It is one question that gets asked a lot on all the You Tube channels I watch. Important to some, but not to me. I can see it as being useful to a beginner who knows nothing, but I would never encourage any one to "rely" on it because every piece of wood is different. Maybe suggest that spindles are usually turned at higher rpms than bowls.

Side note, the old Shop Smith is going out of business. Saw that on a woodworking channel the other day. The down side to them for a lathe was too high of a minimum speed unless you were only turning spindles.

robo hippy
Click to expand...
I’ve never had one before. Had a Shopsmith and a small Jet. If the piece they sent me doesn’t work I will just ignore the readings. Right now it’s just the thought of something not working after buying it less than a year. Other than that I am extremely happy with the Rikon 70-3040.
 
Michael Sweet said:
I’ve never had one before. Had a Shopsmith and a small Jet. If the piece they sent me doesn’t work I will just ignore the readings. Right now it’s just the thought of something not working after buying it less than a year. Other than that I am extremely happy with the Rikon 70-3040.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. If they stick a part on their equipment then it should work.
 
Mark Hepburn said:
I don't need the DRO either but it's nice to know when polishing that I've a high enough speed without guesswork. And for me, if there's a component on my equipment, I want to work like it's supposed to.
Click to expand...

DRO=?
 
I've got a rpm indicator on my new Vicmarc VL240 lathe. The Vicmarc is my 4th lathe, and I've never needed a DRO before.

An exact RPM is very important from my POV......for minimizing vibration. The way I did it before was to have a magnetic marker on the rpm dial. The marker is positionable to indicate one precise rpm. I never knew the exact rpm I was turning at, but I was able to return to an exact rpm by using the magnetic marker.....and finding that exact rpm was the product of using my vibrometer.

Now, the one and only function of my new DRO is to cross-check the actual rpm with the magnetic marker.

=o=
 
It's a nice feature to have, isn't it?
 
Mark Hepburn said:
I don't need the DRO either but it's nice to know when polishing that I've a high enough speed without guesswork. And for me, if there's a component on my equipment, I want to work like it's supposed to.
Click to expand...
I installed the new pickup. Everything seems to work correctly but time will tell. If it doesn’t work then I will just ignore it or cover the screen. It doesn’t take away from the quality of the lathe. We’ll…a little, but I can learn to live with it since I’ve never had one before.
 
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