pipemakersforum.com

hey guys!!


question of the week here. I have the 9x20 jet metal lathe . I have always used it at 1000 rpms. i was thinking 2000 would be faster and cleaner when cutting drilling etc. its seems to be the case. just turned ebonite smoother!! just want the speed to be safe. so what speeds do you guys use??

Tim,

I have the same lathe. I actually use all my gears for different things. As a rule, I think it's good to turn the chamber slow. I think the same could probably be said for the mortise and air hole, but I've had both good and bad experiences with turning those at high speeds.

I've recently found that if you have a shape that is far enough out of round that it makes your lathe vibrate, you need to turn that slowly.

Turn acrylic slow and sharp and ebonite at pretty much any speed.


That's what I've got with only a year experience though, so take it with a grain of salt.

Speed depends on what you are doing. If you spin a 10" buffing wheel on your lathe at 2000 rpm, it'll cut the pipe in half. If you cut a little piece of ebonite at 2000 rpm, it will be fine....

Tim,

I usually use somewhere between 1200 to 1400 for ebonite. 2000 is not too fast though.