The Importance of Speed Controls

speed controls

The importance of speed controls

Having control over the speed of your motors and machinery is vital for you to be able to get the full potential of your tools. Giving yourself full speed control will ensure that you experience little to no tool chatter and a perfect machined finish every time. For every machining job, there is a cutting speed that will be the optimum – with full speed controls you can find this speed and keep your machine working at this pace in order to give the optimum result. Speed controls usually involve inverter and motor packages, which vary in price according to the hp value. At Newton Tesla, we offer inverter and motor packages 1/3hp all the way up to 3.0hp.

There are a number of different machine operations that are made much easier with variable speed control provided by these packages. Screw-cutting, tapping blind holes from the tailstock, parting off or facing off large diameter bars and drilling operations from the tailstock are a huge amount easier with speed controls. Reaming operations and the setup or cantering of 4 jaw chucks are also made easily achievable. Not only are machining jobs made easier with variable speed controls, but wood turning and bowl turning operations will be made simple too. There are always variations in the diameter of the work piece, and thus the spindle speed has to be constantly adjusted as the work continues to progress. With speed controls, you are able to continuously change the spindle speed without having to stop the machine, and you can adjust the speed as the diameter changes. Like with machining jobs, this will limit tool chatter and achieve a perfect finish.

Arguably the best type of speed controls for all kinds of matching jobs is a motor and speed controller combinations. These are basically DC motors that can be controlled by turning a knob on a controller, which changes the speed from slow to full speed. They also include a brake which will stop the motor, and a reverse which can change the direction of the rotation in seconds. The brake is a particularly useful health and safety feature, as it will stop all activity instantly in the case of an emergency or if something goes wrong. The reverse function is especially useful for sanding. Some speed controls work by slipping the belt onto different steps in the machine drive and step pulleys, which does work just as well but can be a bit of a pain. The main problem with this type of speed control is that the slowest setting is often still too fast for certain jobs, so doesn’t really help when you need a really slow speed.

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