Spped reducer on Ebay

[billmayo]

They just went on sale at the mothership



Shipped and out the door $297.49 for one brand new!

I believe the purchase of a new Speed Reducer should satify anyone wanting to get down to the 200 RPM range on the Mark V headstock. This attachment along with the use of a a 1 1/8 HP reversible motor should give you almost all the capability of the PowerPro headstock for a lot less money. Contact me for more information on the reversible motor.

Buying any used part for more than half its new price could be money wasted along with its problems. I would have to see an actual demo before paying more than half price. Of course, you should always see a demo of any expensive used machinery before buying it.

[nil]

After seeing the speed reducer sale email from shopsmith, I couldn't help but think about the possibilities of a mark 7/power pro going down to 36rpm.

Imagine the cuts you could make in materials that might otherwise melt on you...

This made me wonder why shopsmith artificially limited the low end of the powerpro headstock to 250rpm.. why not let it go down to 25rpm? or at least the 100rpm that nova dvr lathes go down to?

I emailed shopsmith support and they said "because no one is asking for this."

I suspect if Shopsmith provided a $150 DIY kit to upgrade the pcb in the power pro to go from 10 to 10krpm, everyone with a power pro would buy it... since I actually write software for a living, and I have the right programming tools, if I'm not careful I could find myself reverse engineering the software in the power pro headstock.

[reible]

After seeing the speed reducer sale email from shopsmith, I couldn't help but think about the possibilities of a mark 7/power pro going down to 36rpm.

Imagine the cuts you could make in materials that might otherwise melt on you...

This made me wonder why shopsmith artificially limited the low end of the powerpro headstock to 250rpm.. why not let it go down to 25rpm? or at least the 100rpm that nova dvr lathes go down to?

I emailed shopsmith support and they said "because no one is asking for this."

I suspect if Shopsmith provided a $150 DIY kit to upgrade the pcb in the power pro to go from 10 to 10krpm, everyone with a power pro would buy it... since I actually write software for a living, and I have the right programming tools, if I'm not careful I could find myself reverse engineering the software in the power pro headstock.

When I upgraded to the powerpro I almost thought selling the reducer to reduce my out of pocket expenses. I have several machines so the more I thought about the more I thought I should keep it. That and the option farther lowering the rpm of the powerpro. I think I made the right choice for me.

BTW for a while the thought was that the powerpro would have a speed range down to 100 rpm. When it came out some of us were surprised it was not 100 but 250 rpm. I'm not sure that was a change because no one ask for it or a change because of technical reason. It could be that there are some limits that make 100 to slow. For example, the fan spinning that slow may not provide acquitted cooling. Maybe the sampling rate would have had to be a lot higher and more data stored might have limited things. Perhaps the motor would not have enough torque when running that slow. I think the only one at shopsmith that could answer that is Jim.

If they were to provide a kit that gave a remote control I'd buy it in a second. I see that as what I would most like, surely more then a lower rpm, but then that is me.

I find I use the speed reducer mostly for drilling with larger bits (on my drill press set up 500). In fact since I got the powerpro that is all it has been used for.

If you are thinking of buying one you might want to think of using the money instead for a powerpro, taking $300 off the price of that helps right?

Ed

[nil]

If they were to provide a kit that gave a remote control I'd buy it in a second. I see that as what I would most like, surely more then a lower rpm, but then that is me.

I find I use the speed reducer mostly for drilling with larger bits (on my drill press set up 500). In fact since I got the powerpro that is all it has been used for.

If you are thinking of buying one you might want to think of using the money instead for a powerpro, taking $300 off the price of that helps right?

Ed

I would also buy a remote control in a second.. I've already used information I found in the forums to start designing one, but I'm not ready to open my powerpro since it's still so new... so no, since the mark 7 is my first shopsmith and I bought it about a year ago now, it's not possible for me to save anything... and yet here I am, still wanting it to go even more slowly.. but yes, I can see how maybe it might be lacking in torque < 250rpm (using electronics to get that low vs the belts and wheels of the speed reducer)... I bet they made some changes to get the high end to 10krpm that knocked out the possibility of a 100rpm low end.

It seems to me that using the speed reducer in drill press mode means you're stuck raising the table to the bit? or do I misunderstand how the speed reducer works? (keep in mind that I didn't even know shopsmith existed before 2012).