How Warm Is Too Warm?

hey, being warm or hot has to be better than cold. I can work in my underpants if necessary, but working below freezing really sucks. Tools get painful to hold, all those clothes impede movement and if it gets too cold (like the 20F or below my garage used to be in PA winters) my brain starts fuzzing up after awhile.
 
mattthemuppet said:
hey, being warm or hot has to be better than cold. I can work in my underpants if necessary, but working below freezing really sucks. Tools get painful to hold, all those clothes impede movement and if it gets too cold (like the 20F or below my garage used to be in PA winters) my brain starts fuzzing up after awhile.
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The same thing happens in the heat to me. It's 114* right now and I have a headache. No more outside for me today. Metal in the sun will burn your hands on a day like today.
 
At least we are now beyond the old gallium transistor days. Still, electronics does not like too much heat. I suggest that if you got CNC or brushless DC motors, make sure that the fans are working and the heatsinks are clean. Maybe I'm being too touchy, but I've worked in electronics for over 40 years and I know that heat can do a lot of damage.
 
Funny how my "question about the temp of the mill head" post turned into the "how hot is it in your shop" thread. LOL

Also, it's way too hot again for me today. I got my shop fix in early today, can't wait until tomorrow, it's supposed to be only 74 and showers. Now that's my idea of perfect shop weather.
 
A mechanical variable speed drive on a mill or lathe will often incorporate a variable pitch V-Belt sheave system (often called a Reeves Drive), this itself will generate a good bit of heat. The spindle bearings will also generate heat by their very nature, pre-loaded as installed and then additional load is added when in use, this is normal, if parts of a manual machine become to hot to touch this may be a problem.

Some CNC machines have a "Warm Up" routine that they will perform, this runs the spindle and however many axes it has until some sort of equilibrium is reached. Also many high speed mills have water cooled spindles for this reason. Many machines operate at ambient Temps. well in excess of 85 F.

So don't worry about it.
 
Thanks Wreck. Yes, my machine has the var pitch type drive. That housing also has vents on both sides so running warm must to be expected.
 
sanddan said:
Thanks Wreck. Yes, my machine has the var pitch type drive. That housing also has vents on both sides so running warm must to be expected.
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You are welcome.
Run it for 3 eight hour shifts in a row someday, as intended, and see how how hot it gets.
Once again, Good Luck and don't worry about it, many older machines were designed for just this purpose.

As a side note, Reeves Drives are prone to failure and are also relatively expensive to fix, for hobbyist use it may well last a lifetime.
 
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