PowerPRo

[dusty]

Here is what I think I've seen:
- Speed fluctuations as such are not so much obvious in the working operation or the "rpm" indicator. I suspect -- if they are really there -- they may happen faster than you can observe, other than via this chatter sound in the upper spindle area.
- They can happen with or without a wood-sanding load applied on the steel sanding disk.
- For that matter they can happen whether driving the sanding disk on the normal quill side or on the opposite end of the machine. So I'm not 100% convinced the chatter comes from the quill-to-drive-sleeve slip-fit area. But I haven't taken the quill out to completely eliminate that possibility.

It does sound to me like inertia working against the power control system as it attempts to lower and increase rpm. I believe that I would discontinue sanding disc operations and bandsaw (driven by the headstock) operations until I heard from Shopsmith that this is NOT a problem.

[drl]

Sorry about using the word "forum". I should have said "thread" in regards to the fluctuations.
Regards,
Dwight

[nuhobby]

Here is what I think I've seen:
- Speed fluctuations as such are not so much obvious in the working operation or the "rpm" indicator. I suspect -- if they are really there -- they may happen faster than you can observe, other than via this chatter sound in the upper spindle area.
- They can happen with or without a wood-sanding load applied on the steel sanding disk.
- For that matter they can happen whether driving the sanding disk on the normal quill side or on the opposite end of the machine. So I'm not 100% convinced the chatter comes from the quill-to-drive-sleeve slip-fit area. But I haven't taken the quill out to completely eliminate that possibility.

Just a quick update before Spouse Pro kicks me out of the house:o :

(1.) I got an aluminum sanding disk today via eBay. Back-to-back, the aluminum disk is smoother than the steel disk, for the vibration issues noted above.

(2.) Contrary to what I said above, the accessory-side driving of the sanding disk IS smoother than the quill side driving the disk. So the quill-to-drive-sleeve rattle is apparently a factor. When I stopped tonight, I finally had it so the quill-sleeve rattle only happened under friction applied to the disk. Other confusions/resolutions detailed below:

(3.) Aside from the above, if the 2 Belts aren't tight enough, there is some very similar belt-slap or idler-bearing rattle at lower speeds with big-disk loads (with or without friction applied). This rattle did improve/reduce by tightening the belt-set via the motor-mount fine adjustments. And it seems like there's a pretty small sweet-spot to get both a robust low-speed power-transfer and a 9500rpm capability.

(4.) Getting overall-belt-tightness and belt-tightness-balance both satisfactory is a challenge! The tighter you make the belts overall, the harder it is to turn/adjust the eccentric. (At least for me.) So I did some iterating to get where I wanted.

Note, this is all my own conjecture and experiment. I haven't called Shopsmith about it. Will be interested to see if charlese might have some of the same fine-tuning to do for low-speed rattle?

[riot_nrrd]

...with this question, but I am have not yet gotten my PowerPro upgrade installed.

Interstingly, the Nova DVR XP Lathe has some functions for tweaking the control algorithm based on the kind of load - "normal" "soft," and "hard." See page 31.

http://www.teknatool.com/products/Lathes/DVR%20XP/Downloads/Nova_DVR_XP_manual_July_09.pdf

Based on what I could find on PID controllers at Wikipedia, it looks like these paramters would probalby help in this situation.

I booted my PowerPro to see if I could find any similar settings, but it looks like the PowerPro has eliminated the "program" button from the panel. It looks like maybe we have "confirm" instead of "program" (or maybe "lock" instead). But hopefully, this functionality is there someplace so we can tweak the control algrotihm.

I have to call SS tomorrow to ask about them shipping me a new motor anyway (the one the sent me does not have the Shopsmith mounts, nor a ground screw - it also errors everytime I try to start it, so I suspect it is a standard Teknatool motor, rather than a PowerPro modified motor). I will ask about the PI control curves at the same time.

[charlese]

There are some unanswered questions in this thread for which I believe I have found answers.

1) There might be bugs in the computerized control system. Yes! I found one that caused severe noise and vibrations at lower speeds around 600 RPM to 950 RPM. I had thought it to be a mechanical problem - BUT - A call to Shopsmith got me a response from Wes who talked me through a series of button pushing steps to re-set the control module, thereby getting rid of any vibrations. At this point I can't recommend trying to tweek the system by yourself. Too many possibilities.

2) What about "Speed Increaser" output speed? There is a warning printed on one of the safety decals. It says Do not operate the Speed Increaser above 4700 RPM.

3) Low speed on my PowerPro is 250RPM - High Speed is 10,000 RPM.

4) Once set, speeds only seem to vary by plus or minus 5 or so RPMS

[thedovetailjoint]

I was fortunate enough to be one of the beta testers, and I posted a couple videos on my Youtube channel of a couple of the tests. Ripping, cross cutting, dados, resawing, etc. This was a converted 1955 Mark V, which brings the added challenge of no access hole in the back of the headstock. I had a blast performing the conversion and the tools runs like a dream. Check-out www.youtube.com/mrtoolhunter

[heathicus]

So, there WAS beta testing going on...

*cough*reible*cough*

:D

[JPG]

So, there WAS beta testing going on...

*cough*reible*cough*

:D

Was there ever any *cough* doubt *cough*?:D

[dusty]

So, there WAS beta testing going on...

*cough*reible*cough*

:D

I always believed that there was "beta" testing. The question in my mind was
"Are there any "frequent" forum members performing beta testing.

To the best of my knowledge, NO.

[thedovetailjoint]

I always believes that there was "beta" testing. The question in my mind was
"Are there any "frequent" forum members performing beta testing.

To the best of my knowledge, NO.

Dusty, I'm a frequent lurker, and it was killing me to not post. As you might imagine I was sworn to secrecy.