VS vs Changing Pulleys

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I had a fixed speed lathe and converted it to a VS and I wouldn't use anything else.

Tomservo helped me do the conversion at it was less then $100. It goes from about 30 rpm to just over 3000 without changing pulleys.
 
Of my three lathes, one has VS, the other two have a belt and pulleys to change the speed. I don't see a big deal either way, and wouldn't pay much extra to get electronic variable speed. Most of my turning is done on the next to highest speed, around 3000 rpm.
txbob
 
Do you finish at that speed too? It is real nice to use CA on a VS also I go from drilling to turning quite a bit and a VS is very handy for various woods and plastics.
 
I've got an el-cheapo VS lathe. My FIL has a nice Jet Mini on belts. I've used both. I have to have a VS, cant stand moving belts.
 
Originally posted by dfurlano
<br />Do you finish at that speed too? It is real nice to use CA on a VS also I go from drilling to turning quite a bit and a VS is very handy for various woods and plastics.
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Well, yes and no. Most of the wood I turn is stabilized so it just gets sanded and polished, and I do that at high speed. Same with plastics of various kinds. When I do turn unstablizied wood I usually apply a sanding sealer, sometimes french polish, final sand, and then remove from the lathe to apply the final finish by hand. I don't use a CA finish, but I agree that variable speed would be nice for doing a CA finish.

I'm not anti-VS. I've just gotten used to turning everything at one speed. I would think VS would be more important for larger items like bowls or platters, but I don't often turn them either.

txbob
 
How many turners who bought fixed speed lathes wish they had spent a little more for VS now that you had the lathes for a while.
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Not me. I don't mind manually changing speeds, its easy enough to do. But Dan's modification does allow really low speeds which I would like, but I don't think you can get those speeds from a stock VS mini. I'll echo txbob's comment about VS being more important to bowl turners and the like.
 
That's an intersting question. I own a PSI Turncrafter Plus VS mini lathe and a Jet mini without the VS option. I find myself turning on the Jet at the highest speed, then changing the pulleys to the lowest speed for sanding. I've never really thought about why I do that before.

I probably do it to prevent getting excess CA on the mandrel I don't use for turning. It's such a bore getting the CA off the mandrel.

I have never found changing the pulley setup to be too time consuming, but I imagine that changing the pulley setup wears the belts out faster. So I'll probably convert the Jet to a VS soon just to prolong belt life.

bob
 
I bought a manual model and am perfectly happy with it.....well, not really. I wish the low end was much lower than 500 RPMs; but that is another discussion. With the money I saved, I bought a very nice scroll chuck. I get a lot more use out of that chuck than I would out of the VS feature.
 
I don't have a "fixed speed" Lathe but I do have 3 lathes that I can adjust the speed by moving the belt on the pulleys.
I have a Jet Min and 2 Rikon `12/16's.
At first the adjustment on the Jet was a pain but I have gotten to the point I can change the speed on it without looking at the pulleys.
The Rikons are a breeze.flip the cover over and everything is right there,I can "walk the belt from one speed to the next with one hand.
With the Jet as I understand it one need to still change pulleys to get the full benefit of the VS feature.
For me, in use with pen turning and that is all I do with my lathes,the added cost for VS is defiantly not worth it.
I didn't buy a chuck with my savings as Randy did,but I certainly agree with his logic.
I see no reason for VS and the money would be better spent on other tools/materials.
If you check the price for the Rikon which is a lotta lathe for $200.00 versus the JET mini VS it is a no brainer.
It depends on what you can get the VS for but the last time I checked it was around $350.00.Even at minimum wage I can change the speeds manually a lot of times for $150.00
(did I say I was "cheap?)[^]
 
For pens, I run at top speed. I also do the CA/BLO there as well and haven't had a problem. For other thing I wish I had the VS. I use the VS on my 1236 Jet, but some of the detail work is better done on my mini. The thought has crossed my mind that it might be time for an upgrade on my mini.
 
PSI has a new Variable speed conversion kit for the Jet and Delta mini lathes. It is 1/2 HP and has speeds from 650-3800rpm. The cost is $114.95.
 
I bought the Non VS jet mini as well. I purchased Non VS for 1 reason... Price. I did not want to blow the budget on a VS model. Especially when I needed other toys to go with it. Pen kits add up you know! I don't regret it at all. This is a hobby I do for enjoyment. I change speeds as needed. As was stated earlier the time spent switching pullies for me is minimal.
 
I have a non-VS Jet mini and have gotten used to dealing with the belt. I don't consider it a big deal. As I understand it, even on the VS models you still have to change belts to move to a different speed range.
 
Originally posted by epson
<br />PSI has a new Variable speed conversion kit for the Jet and Delta mini lathes. It is 1/2 HP and has speeds from 650-3800rpm. The cost is $114.95.
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This was brought up recently and I will ask the same question I asked on the other thread.
"If you are designing a conversion to change the speed, why on earth would you design it so the slowest speed was faster than the original set up?"
The slowest speed on a manual JET mini is I believe 500 rpm's.The $114.00 conversion is faster makes no sense.
 
I have a system that I have to move the belt on the pulleys AND a variable drive system...I hate moving belts, but turning a dial sure is easy.

BTW- someone mentioned TomServo....where has he been?
 
Since my Jet Mini was a gift, I didn't get choice of VS vs Non-VS.. while I've read all the posts and toyed with the idea, don't actually have any problem with changing belts.. Like Eagle, I've pretty much gotten it down to a science.

I don't change speed very often, usually at the high or next highest speed for turning pens.. I've just started using CA, I apply that by hand.. I turn the lathe by hand as I wipe it on the blank... then polish at high speed.

For bowls I will slow down some, but not enough evidently since that's how I wound up breaking the tool rest... high speed and a catch on Zebrawood
 
This has been interesting. It all comes down to MONEY.....no big surprise there. I am surprised though to find out some turners don't realize that even VS lathes have multiple pulleys. Oneways, Stubbys and other lathes costing thousands have multiple pulleys. That offers multiple torque ranges that I guess is more useable on their larger HP motors......Thanks all for your comments
 
I have the little Rikon... and love it. Every time I'm doing a CA finish, or whatever, and have to go from 3900 to 900 rpm's and back again I start to get frustrated. At that point I stop, look around my beautiful little shop area and think about how lucky I am to have what I have. Of course I don't do production work. Another plus is the added few seconds it takes me to change speeds gives me a chance to think, sometimes I forget to think.
 
I started out w/ the Turncrafter Pro w/ the belt change method to save a few bucks. I regretted that; so I now have the other Turncrafter w/ the variable speed in a box and ready to go. But I'm still using the Pro. It has been a sturdy lathe. I'm not nice to it. John Eaton
 
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