- Joined
- Sep 22, 2010
- Messages
- 7,223
This question was asked on another forum, and was not really answered (or answered in a flippant way), so I wanted to post it here and see if we can get some salient answers.
Thanks,
Nelson
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I hope to finish up the rebuild on my 10L this Fall. One of the things I need to look at is the spindle drive. As a bit of background, I got the lathe without a cabinet, so I need to build one. It is a 4' hard bed, large dial, D1-4 spindle with a taper attachment. I have the underdrive pulley assembly but will not use it. I plan on doing a direct drive with a PM servo motor and I already have all the electronics. I would like to use a toothed belt like an HTD or XL series so I won't need a second encoder directly off the spindle shaft to compensate for belt slip when threading with the servo driven leadscrew. I would make or modify the spindle pulley for the toothed belt.
I am worried that a toothed belt could induce vibration that would affect the surface finish. All the small lathes I am familiar with use a flat or V belt. I am sure that the larger CNC lathes must use a toothed belt with their higher horsepower, but they have a lot more mass in to soak up any vibrations and they are using tapered or roller bearings not a plain bearing. So, am I over-thinking this? I'd appreciate any pro's and con's.
Thanks,
Nelson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope to finish up the rebuild on my 10L this Fall. One of the things I need to look at is the spindle drive. As a bit of background, I got the lathe without a cabinet, so I need to build one. It is a 4' hard bed, large dial, D1-4 spindle with a taper attachment. I have the underdrive pulley assembly but will not use it. I plan on doing a direct drive with a PM servo motor and I already have all the electronics. I would like to use a toothed belt like an HTD or XL series so I won't need a second encoder directly off the spindle shaft to compensate for belt slip when threading with the servo driven leadscrew. I would make or modify the spindle pulley for the toothed belt.
I am worried that a toothed belt could induce vibration that would affect the surface finish. All the small lathes I am familiar with use a flat or V belt. I am sure that the larger CNC lathes must use a toothed belt with their higher horsepower, but they have a lot more mass in to soak up any vibrations and they are using tapered or roller bearings not a plain bearing. So, am I over-thinking this? I'd appreciate any pro's and con's.