Good evening,

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This is my first post to the site so apologies if I ramble a little.

First of all, many thanks to all involved in sorting out the recent situation.

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I am a retired combustion engineer from the steel industry and have developed an interest in the repair of grandfather clock movements.

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Very quickly it became apparent that some form of lathe was required for this and after much internet searching, during which I found this site, went for the EMCO Unimat SL due to it's compact size.

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After repairing, repainting and general repairs the original motor was refitted but I found it too noisy and time restrained.

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The lathe also came with an old 90w sewing machine motor controlled via a foot pedal.

I tried this but it proved problematic due to not being able to control my left foot and the old motor was not powerful enough to achieve higher speeds under load.

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After research I bought a 230v 550w DC servo motor from Amazon, designed for an industrial sewing machine.

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It was simplicity itself to fit and is more than adequate for my needs Very quiet, up to 4500 rpm and reversible at the touch of a button.

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It comes with sufficient brackets to fit most needs. I inverted the original motor bracket and mounted it through the idler pulley bearing hole. This gives the ability to adjust belt tension as well.?

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It has a very efficient electrical braking system, sensible as it is designed for a sewing machine and an operator would not want it to run on if they were in difficulty.

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It will stop, with a thump, from 4500 rpm to zero in the blink of an eye.

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Unfortunately for a Unimat SL this leaves more than enough momentum in the chuck for it to screw itself off and end up anywhere in the workshop, at speed.

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This motor braking is simple to turn off in the parameters of the controller, but by default it is set to maximum.

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The normally foot pedal activated on/off and speed control switch was fitted in an appropriate place for hand operation and the return spring removed.

This switch increases the motor speed in steps from 0 to 100% of the desired speed set in the main motor controller. It does this with a Hall effect sensor with a magnet.

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There is a hole in the top of the switch and this means it does occasionally get swarf on it and in it. This would eventually cause electrical problems.

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As part of a normal lathe clean down I inspect and remove any debris to avoid this.

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Some photographs of the setup have been included for your perusal.

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I am very happy to provide any information you may require.

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kindest regards,

David