>Hello, need some suggestions. I am working on my stand for my new lathe and I need some suggestions on how to mount the motor. It will be contained in the base directly below the headstock. How can I ensure the motor will stay lined up as I switch belt positions and how can i lock it down. Presntly I am planning to mount the motor to a piece of 3/4 plywood which will be attached to the stand with two door hinges. The motor is pretty heavy (3HP) and I'm planing on using the weight of the motor to keep the belt tensioned. Is this feasable? thanks in advance, Guy
>Guy, unless you mount the hinges on rubber pads I think you will transmit a lot of vibration into your workpiece. The weight of the motor will not be enough by itself but a rubber bungee cord will keep it tensioned. A lot of this will depend on whether your controller is a soft-start or not. As far as pulley alignment goes, if you have a matched set of pulleys just line up one pair, the rest will follow; assuming the axis are parallel.
A 3 HP motor is going to need a lot of presure to transfer it's power to your spindle.
I have a Oneway with a 3 HP motor. It uses a multi "V" belt that is nearly 1" wide to transfer the power. I put a lot of presure onto the motor and the motor still doesn't transfer all of it's power.
I would think that unless you have a very wide belt that you would need more than the weight of the motor to keep the belt from sliping.
