I'd like to buy a mini lathe, but to make it earn its keep, I'd like to be able to also use it for coil winding. For this role, I'd need a lathe that starts at 0RPM & can be ramped up smoothly right up to 500RPM.
Now I see a lot of lathes advertised as variable speed, but some only show the speed starting at 100RPM.
I have found one 'candidate' that is marketed at variable speed 0-2,500RPM (it's a SPG/0618B ...by the way I live in the UK, but don't let that get in the way of chiming in ...even with feedback about US variants) ...but I was just wondering how easy it is to use the variable speed aspect?
Alternatively, can these lathes be retrofit with some form of speed controller which would allow from say 0-500RPM to be adjusted up slowly?
Many thanks in anticipation.
PS In case you're wondering how it can be used as a coil winder, well a lathe has all the right parts....a chuck that turns & a tailstock to press up aganst the turning bobbin held by the chuck... here's what the Chinese are selling as a dedicated coil winder
http://www.tinyurl.com/n8zv2k - so I reckon a lathe could easily be used for coil winding duties (I've already got encoder disc & optical pickups that could be added on to the chuck to count windings, etc)