- Joined
- Dec 30, 2018
- Messages
- 73
The other day the variable speed control knob on my mini lathe broke:
I turned the knob to the off position and the click sounded weird. I also could not turn on the lathe using the speed control.
The potentiometer has five connectors - three for the variable speed and another two for the switch. The switch has a small plastic part that is pushed left and right by a pin on the bottom of the pot. Very flimsy design and I am not really surprised it broke.
I made a brass replacement part, but getting the thing reassembled turned out to be more difficult than I thought.
So - replace the whole thing.....
As expected, I could not find a pot with an integrated switch locally so I settled for a 5k pot and a separate on/off switch which I mounted on the lathe's panel.
The lathe works 100% and hopefully this should not mess around with the circuit board.
Potentiometer with the 5 connections:
Broken Part:
I turned the knob to the off position and the click sounded weird. I also could not turn on the lathe using the speed control.
The potentiometer has five connectors - three for the variable speed and another two for the switch. The switch has a small plastic part that is pushed left and right by a pin on the bottom of the pot. Very flimsy design and I am not really surprised it broke.
I made a brass replacement part, but getting the thing reassembled turned out to be more difficult than I thought.
So - replace the whole thing.....
As expected, I could not find a pot with an integrated switch locally so I settled for a 5k pot and a separate on/off switch which I mounted on the lathe's panel.
The lathe works 100% and hopefully this should not mess around with the circuit board.
Potentiometer with the 5 connections:
Broken Part:
Last edited: