Rockwell Beaver 3400 Jackshaft setup

[stevem]

looking great paul, especially hanging from the ceiling!!

a chuck would increase the capabilities of any lathe, i use a oneway stronghold

the reversing switch has me curious, ive figured out how to do it on a standard induction motor, i wonder if this is done the same way

the cable between the motor and reversing switch should be 4 conductor(or 2-2 conductor cables)

[paulrhorne]

Thanks Steve!

I did not pull the switch apart and rewire but I do believe it is a 4 conductor setup. Basically just reversing the wires in the switch. The switch is a mechanical cylinder with copper conductors around the cylinder. It has 3 positions, forward, neutral ( off ) and reverse. I like the neutral as it is another way to disable the machine other than the switch. I have been trying to source a better on off switch, and would love a big paddle switch with a big stop on it so I could hit it with my knee, but finding one locally has been almost impossible. So if anyone knows of a place to pick up one around Kitchener-Waterloo I am all ears.

So my next query. There is a Mastercraft 55-4508 12" variable speed that I can get for $80. Do you think it is a replacement for the Beaver? I don't personally think so but given I can get a variable speed ( sans belts ) etc. for the price I am tempted.

[stevem]

nonono!!, The 3400 is 10 times the machine the mastercraft is, sure the variable speed is nice, but when the reeves drive goes south you're screwed

a good well designed manual 4speed is bullet proof, and add a 2 speed jackshaft to the beaver? well ive done nothing to mine for 2 years and i turn a lot

[paulrhorne]

That is the reaction I was hoping for and yes I have heard that the Reeves drives are weak. Plus it reinforces the $$ that I have put into making the 3400 work. ( and I really enjoy using it so I should not look elsewhere.....for now :0) )

One small pet peeve I have is moving the toolrest and tailstock. I have see discussions here on how to make changes etc to make it more easily movable. Do you have any advice on this subject? If it was a bit easier I would have very little to gripe about and even that is kinda being picky.

As for the chuck. I am leaning toward the Talon for the $$ and the size. I might have to drop to the basic Oneway chuck if my budget won't go over $200 but I am trying to stick with the Talon. If anyone has seen any deals I am more than interested.

Thanks for the input Steve.

[billh]

nonono!!, The 3400 is 10 times the machine the mastercraft is, sure the variable speed is nice, but when the reeves drive goes south you're screwed

a good well designed manual 4speed is bullet proof, and add a 2 speed jackshaft to the beaver? well ive done nothing to mine for 2 years and i turn a lot

Well, I don't think you should put down the cast-iron Mastercraft so quickly. I started with one and turned at least 14-16" bowls and even larger platters with the rotating headstock. I didn't have to jump through hoops trying to figure out what to do with no Morse taper and funny spindle threads since the Mastercraft had very standard MT2 in both headstock and tailstock along with a 1x8TPI spindle. The lathe is very close to the same machine as the Jet1236 but with a smaller motor. The Reeves drive never failed and I ran it with a link belt but like most non VFD lathes had too high of a lowest speed for large, unbalanced blanks. The small motor turned out to be a feature because I could slow down the motor with the heavy application of the bowl gouge before it got running too fast. Kept doing this until I got the blank better balanced.

I turned on a Beaver owned by a friend of my BIL one afternoon and couldn't wait to get back to the Mastercraft - primarily because of fooling with wrenches to move anything and this likely could be fixed up.

I did a jackshaft arrangement for the Mastercraft combined with the Reeves drive so I still had some variable-speed. Came to the conclusion there is more to a big lathe capacity than a slow speed so I upgraded.

billh

[stevem]

bill does have some valid points and like him, ive used both the older mastercraft and the beaver, althoigh the beaver much much more

ok, the beaver 4 speed is a pain to change speeds but the system is bullet proof, my 8 speed has operated for 3 years faultlessly

sure moving the toolrest isnt convenient, but i keep a 3/4 wrench hanging on the stand, after a while it becomes second nature to grab it

and really how often do you move the tailstock? or for that matter, how often do you really need to change speeds

duriing a run of pepper/salt mills/shakers last winter id start in low/2nd or third for roughing, then low/low for drilling, then high range 2nd or third for shaping, then high range fourth for final work and sanding

ps i know the talon would be a fine chuck as would the basic oneway for the beaver, i just happenned upon a stronghold on kijiji out of pure luck

btw, im not that far from you, if you'd like to see a 3400 in full operation at its ultimate limits including outboard turning, just pm me and drop by

[paulrhorne]

This is an update to my Journey with my "New" lathe. Having had my Beaver 3400 running almost continuously for the last 2 months I am feeding my addiction almost nightly. I thought I would post a few of my more notable projects for the perusal of others. I must say this is a very rewarding hobby and thoroughly enjoy the things that I expose from the middle of the wood.

The Spalted Birch Bowl I love the most as it was from a tree we took down at our cottage. Saved it from the woodpile as it were. The jewel is the 9" walnut bowl. Lovely to turn and probably as large as I would like to turn inboard.

Enjoy. I did.

Paul Horne