- Joined
- Jan 5, 2014
- Messages
- 952
I am working on a VFD for my lathe, a Grizzly G0509G, 16" gear head lathe. The lathe nameplate rates the RPM at 1800. I'm trying to get an idea of how much faster I can safely run this lathe with a small chuck or collet chuck for 2" and smaller diameter, short parts. The spindle bearings are rated for at least 4000 RPM, maybe 5000 RPM (NHK HR32016 is the PN of one of them). But, there are other bearings and gears in there to worry about too. I'm thinking 20% faster would easily be safe enough. I wonder if 50% or even faster would be out of the question for short periods, maybe 30 minutes at a time and not very often. I realize there is no "right" answer to this but does anyone have experience with this or have recommendations? (Warranty is long gone so that is not an issue.)