Clausing lathe reeves drive

[Walkers]

I have a Clausing 1300 lathe and it has a bad Reeves drive. Common problem for this lathe, parts are available, but at $1600 last time I checked. I have seen several repairs, but it is tough to repair with no lathe. I have also heard of installing fixed pulleys and a VFD.

Does anyone have any experience with this repair/modification?

 

[dutchgray]

I have not fitted a VFD to a lathe but have drills and a power hacksaw.
You will lose torque at slow speeds and it can be hard on the motor running at slow speeds, if the lathe has a backgear this will not be a problem, machines which do all the speed range with the variator drive (which is unusual) will not respond well to a vfd if you want to run low rpm.
Those have a clutch drive I believe which is of great advantage to VFD installation as you do not have to worry about ramp up times and needing a rapid motor brake.

If the lathe is in great condition (those pictures suggest it probably isn't because of how dirty it is, but sometimes a great machine has been stored uncovered and just got dirty) then I would fix with correct parts.

If the lathe is in average condition then fixed pulleys and a vfd is a sensible conversion and will work fine.

If the lathe is in poor condition then selling it on as is and buying something better might be the best way to go, though it does depend on how much you have invested in it already.

 

[Walkers]

Well, the decision got made for me about which method to repair. I have work coming in for the lathe. It is fabrication work that requires about 2 days of lathe work. So I ordered the parts from Clausing.

It took me a while to even want to do this, because it required removing the motor and drive system out the left side of the cabinet. It is heavy, and access is hard on that side without moving the lath. I decided on some minor machine mods. I cut away the angle iron that the chip tray slides on, and trimmed some of the cabinet sheet metal. I could then take the drive end off without pulling it all out of the cabinet. I will countersink a couple 14-20 bolts to remount the track.

I found it to be the upper portion of the Reeves drive that was bad. There is apparently a nylon bushing the rides betwixt the shaft and sheave. Mine had not a hint of one.

So, back up and running, and have speed control and reasonable sound levels. Eleventy hundred bucks for the complete upper assembly.

 

[cnc-me]

I have a Clausing 1300 lathe and it has a bad Reeves drive. Common problem for this lathe, parts are available, but at $1600 last time I checked. I have seen several repairs, but it is tough to repair with no lathe. I have also heard of installing fixed pulleys and a VFD.

Does anyone have any experience with this repair/modification?

Yes, go with a VFD, been running one of my Clausing since 1997. Not once have I ever missed the old noisy Reeves setup.
I did go with a 5HP motor over the original 3HP, mainly because I wanted a lot of low end torque without going into back gear.
If you can get a 6 pole, or even an 8 pole motor, they have more torque than the standard 4 pole. Don't ever use a 2 pole unless
you need a lot of speed, like for a router or something.

 

[Walkers]

Yes, go with a VFD, been running one of my Clausing since 1997. Not once have I ever missed the old noisy Reeves setup.
I did go with a 5HP motor over the original 3HP, mainly because I wanted a lot of low end torque without going into back gear.
If you can get a 6 pole, or even an 8 pole motor, they have more torque than the standard 4 pole. Don't ever use a 2 pole unless
you need a lot of speed, like for a router or something.

In the post right before yours I indicated that I ended up ordering factory parts due to expediency, as I have some lathe work coming into the shop. It was fixed and up and running the following Monday when the parts arrived. I don’t find the machine overly loud, and it seems to function well.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Keep it routinely lubed. I think most Reeves drives had the cabinet door shut on them and never got any lube the rest of their lives.

 

[Iron-Iceberg]

I think it is great that we can get parts for a 30,40,50,60 year old tool from the original manufacturer. It may cost some money but we support them they support us.