Can I use a 350w motor on my 7X12 lathe?

[chronic]

Probably a dumb question, I'm not a very electrically inclined person.

If I was able to mount it for starters, could I use a 350w mill motor in place of my 250w lathe's motor? Or will that just pop fuses every time I start it up. Or worse, blow the speed controller?

No I'm sure, just figured I would ask while I'm poking around here.

[photomankc]

Your controller will need to have the electrical capacity to drive the motor. If it doesn't then you can blow more than a fuse. It may well have the capacity but best to check and be certain.

[Dano523]

Better question is do you need to upgrade the motor at all, hence is the motor controller the weak piece in the link.

Hate to say it, but most controllers are underrated in the first place, and done so to save the gears on the smaller machines.

Less face it, I do believe that your gears are plastic on the machine, and if you put down more power through them, they may not hold up.

Since I don't have a small lathe, but do have a X-2 mill, let me put it this way.

The motor on the machine is well capable of taking a 125V, 6Amp controller, but not in stock form. Instead the stock controller on such is 90V, at around 2 amps output due to the plastic gears only being able to survive at that rating.

So by changing out the plastic gears to a belt drive unit instead, not a problem installing the KBLC-19PM board to get everything out of the stock motor (read a total of about $20 including the new pot and resistor as well).

To sum it up, take a look at the specs on your current motor, then check out the output on your motor controller (read is the stock motor getting all the current and voltage that is can handle). You may find that by just changing out the controller, you may be able to gain the powder you are looking for in the first place (if the gears can handle it).

[chronic]

Thanks for the idea, I'll look into that.
On this lathe the motor drives the spindle by a belt, however the feed screw is driven by plastic gears.

Something I may try for some more torque is just simply reducing the side of my motors gear by one tooth.

The KBLC-19PM has got me interested though, for both my mill and lathe. I read one article on it with a guy installing it on his mill. I only browsed through it, so I have to put some time into actually reading.

[Dano523]

If the feed gear is connected to the spindle, then you are set on carriage feed speed for threading (will not change), so you only need to change the pulley ratio for the motor to spindle to gain more torque (and will gain the lost speed back with the new controller)

Chances are your motor is rated at 120 volts, and is only now seeing 90 volts from the controller now. The KBLC-19PM puts out 130 volts at 6amps, so with more voltage going to the motor, gearing/pully'g down the spindle will not be a problem since you can get it back with the increased voltage with the new controller. Also, the controller has full pot controls as well, so you can back off the pots and adjusting the controller to the motor is snap so the board kicks out long before the board has a chance to throw every thing it can put out to the motor and smoke it.

There is a guy on ebay right now selling used boards for $18 shipped, radio shack for a 5k pot (around $2), and you will need a power resister P/N 9840 (1/3hp) for the board (around $2). If you decide to up grade the motor down the line, all you need to do is change out the power resister to the new motor output and your set.

So between a smaller motor pulley (or a larger spindle pulley) and the new controller, you out a whole $25, and should be able to find the torque you are looking for on the mini lathe. Trust me told, with the same above pulley motor/spindle change and a higher HP motor, you would almost be at the point of over powering the machine, and start bending the ways or cross side trying to put the extra torque to the work piece. Yes, you can wind up the spindles at 2k, but lets face it, your not going to be using the machine at that speed, so pulley the spindle down for the max speed you are going to be running the machine at with the motor full open, and gain added torque right there.

Here is a write up on the board to give you an idea of the size. as for the controller being sold on ebay cheap, it has a clip on top sister board you are not going to use, so don't let the photo of such throw you off (its the main board under the top board that you are going to be using).
http://szabaga.com/x2/power/