Craftsman/King Seeley 9x30 Lathe #3: Measuring lathe speed with an ink jet printer and fluorescent light
After switching my lathe to a variable speed DC motor I had no way of knowing it’s range so rather than buying a digital tachometer for a one off measurement I used some old tech… a homemade strobe tachometer. A google image search yielded a variety of discs designed for measuring speeds from 60 rpm up to 7200 rpm. After printing out 4 papers discs I found my lathe is capable of 240 rpm up to an estimated 2,800 rpm (estimated because this method jumps from 2,400 to 3,600 rpm). I did hit 3,600 rpm by loosening the bearing retaining nut but I don’t want to run it that way, 2,800 is fast enough for 60 year old bearings. In the video you’ll hear a knocking sound, I don...
