Mechanical tachometer, on a DP?

[skeer]

Weird and possibly dumb idea but anyone ever contemplate a mech tach on a piece of shop equip? I’ve heard they aren’t as accurate as an electronic style but man are they better looking (analog vs digital). I found a good like 5” one off a Mack pto unit. Reads from 0 to 3200 rpm and is in good shape.
Just a thought.

 

[no704]

Optical ones are pretty cheap

 

[Stuart in MN]

Older Monarch 10ee toolroom lathes had an analog speed dial, I imagine it was basically a mechanical tachometer. I don't know of any specific examples but there were probably other machine tools that had a similar feature.

 

[skeer]

@Stuart in MN Any idea how those were interfaced?

 

[skeer]

Optical ones are pretty cheap

Talking about the laser and reflective spot? In any case, not related to what I want to use.

 

[skeer]

Think I’ll try to rig up something with a small rubber hose, connect it to the bench top press with the digital tach just to compare.

 

[Stuart in MN]

@Stuart in MN Any idea how those were interfaced?

Not really. I did a 30 second search online and it appears they used a worm gear that was connected to the main shaft but I can't say for sure.

 

[skeer]

Gotcha. I’m pretty positive that I could make this work but, IDK how accurate the gauge is yet, nor no clue how aesthetically pleasing the end result might be. The hall-effect digitalis are just so damned ugly.

 

[laser3kw]

what is the piece of equipment? I wanted to do a tach on a Bridgeport mill but ran head on into a problem getting access to the spindle to get a reading. The top end is all pulleys and back gears so the only accessible spot is the draw bar on top and the spindle snout on the bottom.
On a lathe, if you got a through chuck you can do a electronic fairly easy. A mechanical ?????

 

[skeer]

@laser3kw Yeah the device is the Delta DP. There’s enough room under the belt cover to rig up some sort of gearing or something that could possibly engage with the spindle pulley

 

[rustyzman]

My Sheldon Lathe originally had a mechanical tach hooked up to the original worthington drive. It was just basically a speedometer cable interfaced to the lower spindle pulley shaft.

I had all the intentions of hooking it up to the replacement drive, but have not done it yet.

 

[skeer]

spitballing here… I think I could cut teeth into a bolt head, meshing with corresponding teeth on the outer lip of the pulley step my belts riding on. Use a steel sleeve, bracketed to the upper spindle pulley support. I found the cable “wand” for my Dremel… I think that might make a solid tach cable.

 

[Bill T]

Lust for the Monarch 10EE -great precision machine. I have a larger Monarch 12CK. It is a good machine, but I would prefer the 10EE.

 

[larry_g]

I think you need to look into a mechanical speedometer drive. Same cable and screw on mounting. Then to calibrate drive your tach with with a known speed source and figure the ratio you need for the drive if it is not 1:1. Do you have an old single speed drill motor?

That is just a speedometer with a different face.


lg
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