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Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998

Nova 3000 First Impressions

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Nova 3000 First Impressions

#1

Nova 3000 First Impressions

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>After the ordeal of ordering a new lathe and getting an incomplete one and 4 phone calls and resulting waiting periods later, everything was together a couple weeks ago, but I was very busy, finally this weekend I got to "meet the beast", so to speak.

I made a stand out of 5/8" plywood pieces I had around, over a 2x4 spruce frame, with a bottom compartment with 3 - 70 pound bags of sand for ballast, the stand itself is very heavy, at least 100 pounds, plus 210 of sand and 185 of lathe very close to 500 pounds. The stand is 2' x 4' and the spindle is at 46".

It is a lot more lathe than the Midi and I mounted a big chunk of green ash, quite unbalanced and it took it without complains, no waltzing Mathilda in here, even when I was taking quite a bite and getting big fat shavings. I tried diferent speeds, and had to grind the cam some to make it work, changing speeds is not easy!

In general it works quite well, but it has a vibration that have not been able to pinpoint, it sings when loossening the slider of the tool rest when the motor is running, also when touching the tool rest with a gouge, not major but it is there and I would like to eliminate it.

I was dissapointed that the surface of the bed is quite rough, it was flattened with a very coarse grinder, also there are issues with the handles of the tool rest and the tail stock getting in each other way. The tool rest itself, a 12" one seems to big most of the time, a 6" would be more useful to me, I ordered one already. A dissapointment is that it does not have a hand wheel and has to be purchased, I think it should come with the lathe.

After the ash chunk that was made totally into shavings, I mounted a chunk of red maple and you can see in the photo the resulting shape after reducing the diameter quite a bit to get rid of galleries made by beetles, and they did not add the nice looking Ambrosia stains, just black. It ended being 11" across by 6" deep.

To the right it is the largest piece I ever made in the mini, a 9 1/2" x 3" bowl that still is unfinished, now I have to get small face plates for this machine, the one that came with it is a 6" whooper.

so there it is, mine must be one of the smallest turning shops...

Thanks for looking

Jorge


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Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#2

JL

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

JL

>That's turning studio, not shop. :)) Size ain't important - it's the shavings.

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#3

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

Larry

>Changing belts is easy if you remove the "safety cover" over the belt & pulleys. Take it off and you can reach in from the side rather than down in from the top. I expect a lot of comment about how this isn't safe, that the space will be invaded by shavings & dust, etc. I've been using my Nova this way for quite some time. First, even with the cover off you have to deliberately want to get your hand in there. If you do that while the lathe is running you shouldn't go near power tools. Second, chips and sawdust do not accumulate any more than they do when the cover is on, which is nil. Finally, the cover provides no structural support, so there is no reasson not to remove it. It's there solely for liability reasons.

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#4

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

Dallas H

>Glad to see you got a larger lathe. Sorry your experience with Nova was not so good in getting all the parts a once.

I have a Nova 3000 DVR. No belts, No pulleys, No covers, all the parts were there. Including a small hand wheel. I am very pleased with it.

I agree about tool rest and banjo screws being in wrong location. It looks like they did it to simplify there machining setups during manufacture. The bed and banjo are, I think, the same on 3000 and 3000 DVR, and it does have course finish, another time saver in manufacture and possably there idea to give better bite by the tailstock and banjo when they are locked down.

Have fun with your new �beast�.

Question doesn�t it make your knees hurt working on the Mini in its new location?

Dallas

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#5

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

TomW in SouthJersey

>I also have a Nova 3000. It is not the DVR model. First let me add two caviats. I've only been turning for a little over two months and my first lathe was a 40 year old Sears model. So that said. I find this lathe to be very smooth running and belt changes only take a minute. Again, I don't have much to compare it to.

I do wish it came with a hand wheel and a couple times the tool rest does get in the way when I'm using the tailstock but I've always found an angle that will make it work. I haven't tried rotating the headstock yet but am searching for a big enough piece of wood to require it. I'll decide at that point if I'm going to buy the optional outboard toolrest.

I haven't had the speed all the way up yet. I did raise it 2/3rds the way up last night to polish a bowl and was amazed at how smooth it was running.

So far I'm pretty satisfied with my Nova.

Tom

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#6

Studio?

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>Why, of course!

Thanks JL :o)

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#7

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>Thanks for the idea Larry, I will give it a try, you are right, it should be a lot easier.

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#8

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>Dallas H

I was eyeing the 3000 DVR, to me is a better solution to have the motor in the head, so it is a very balanced rig and the convenience of dial up a speed, but it was a cool thou more and the bean counter of the family said no.

I will have lots of fun, don't worry. About the knees, they don't bother me much, as I was a clam digger, what hurts is the head, I keep banging it. :o)

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#9

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>Tom,

I did try only the 4 lower speeds, and you a right, it runs very smooth. I have not tried the swivel head yet either, you can move it around just to get better access, no need to wait for a big chunk of wood. South Jersey is a long way fro Maine, now I have quite a few big chunks of red maple (swamp maple) as we call it around here. If you want, we can arrange something.

Thanks

Jorge

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#10

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

Rodney in Maypearl, TX

>Might try to email Steve Antonucci. He had a vibration with his DVR that Nova tried a lot of things before they figured it out. Seems like the final solution was bearings.

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#11

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>Thanks Rodney, I will contact Steve.

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#12

Steven Antonucci

Hey Rodney-

Steve Antonucci

>Been looking for your new e-mail.

I'm cutting up the main trunk of the big cherry tree, if'n your interested in another wood trade.

As far as the vibration goes, I'm not sure what causes it. Woodcraft sent me a new headstock, and I bought a new 1.5 HP motor (needed more power anyway). Still occurs at certain speeds and I'm 99.9999% sure it's not me.

Steve

No wood in aol e-mail

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#13

Re: Hey Rodney-

Dallas H

>Is that vibration with and empty spindle (no work NO Chuck)? And are the belts at the correct tention? With nothing on my DVR spindle I can hold Speed up button and ramp right up to 3500 RPM no vibrationat all. Sometimes on belt moddle belt slap can cause vibration as it does on table saw.

Dallas

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#14

Re: Hey Rodney-

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>Thanks Steve,

I will experiment with different speeds again, I was mostly in the lower gear with unbalaced blank and then on the 3rd from lowest.

By the way, I tried emailing you and it bounced back.

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#15

Steven Antonucci

Re: Hey Rodney-

Steve Antonucci

>I have a fake e-mail to avoid being picked up by the spambots.

santonucci at aol dot com

steve

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#16

Re: Hey Rodney-

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>Rodney,

After reading your post I went and took the chuck out, the vibration is still there, The work spins really smooth, but when loosening or tightening the banjo, it becomes very audible, I don't know what is the proper tension, I always like my belts rather loose, changing speeds, it dissapears at the top speeds. It must be the belt as you think. When do people use high speeds turning?

Thanks

Jorge

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#17

Thanks Steve

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>I will put it somewhere, just in case, but you answered me already.

Where are you? What kind of wood are you interested on to trade for some of that cherry?

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#18

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

Darryl Hansen

>I have a hunch you may be hearing the belt squeel. The belt is a five ribbed belt. The outer ribs should not be on the pulley so there is no belt rubbing on the shoulder of the pulley. I made that error myself and when correctly asjusted the "noise" went away.

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#19

I should have added

Darryl Hansen

>That if you don't adjust the pulley so the outside rib does not contact the pulley you'll need to loosen the screw and push or pull the pulley to get the belt to ride correctly. Also be careful about the tension on the belt it should only be tight enough to keep from slipping but not so tight that it puts pressure on the motor shaft.

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#20

Steven Antonucci

I'm easy-

Steve Antonucci

>whattaya got?

I live in NJ, and I expect that I will be sick of cherry before I run out. The tree is pretty big, and I still have "two tanks worth of gas" cut and snow covered. A variety of sizes.

e-mail me and we could trade.

Steve

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#21

Replacement belt

tek

>Has anyone had to replace the belt on his or her Nova 3000? I bought one used. It has the 1 HP DC variable speed motor on it. Mine runs fine. I'm pretty happy with it. I just wondered how long the belts last and where they are available. I was thinking of getting one and keeping it on hand just in case.

Tom

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#22

Bingo!!!

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>Darryl,

You are right, moving out the belt one groove, the vibration almost dissapeared. Tomorrow I will move the pulley so the belt aligns perfectly.

Many thanks!

Jorge

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#23

Re: Replacement belt

Darryl Hansen

>Tecknatool has them. They are a Gates micro 230J 584 mm belt. The number is on the side. The main problem finding them is that the stock item most belt houses carry is only four ribs. The regular one for the lathe is 5 ribs . I have replaced mine a couple of times usually just do a web search and run one down. I'll see if I have a reference when I get into my receipt drawer tonight. After I learned how to adjust the belt they lasted about 2 years.

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#24

Re: Hey Rodney-

Rodney in Maypearl, TX

>Steve,

I sent you a coupla emails yesterday with no response (took out the "wood"). Not sure what's happening with them. I'm guessing I've sent you 5/6 emails over the last few months -- nada??

Anyway...yeah, let's do a trade. Just email me.

Re: Nova 3000 First Impressions

#25

Steven Antonucci

check your e-mail

steve antonucci

>

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