# LMS Hitorque speed / power feed matrix



## Road_Clam (Jan 8, 2019)

Gathered some data and would like to share this with those of you whom don't have the spindle tach or a means to calculate  IPM feedrates with the optional power feed. Calculating speed and IPM feeds is a good way to ensure good tool life. It's just as easy to burn out a tool from too high RPM's or too low feedrates as it is with excessive feeds vs RPM"s . I started by using a simple Sharpie marker to divide my variable rpm dial into 16 segments as shown in the pics below (15 segments for my power feed, see my note below). I then tested the RPM's using my Pyle laser RPM meter.  Keep in mind these are not exact rpm readings but they will at least get you close when you calculate SFM based upon your material and tool configuration. I entered all the rpm's into an Excel page and took a screenshot. (I have both the std gears, and the optional 5000 rpm gears as reflected in the chart) These numbers should work on most all the hitorque variable speed mills. It won't be exact but it will be way better than "guessing". If you already have the digital RPM readout your one step ahead of the game, I already had my RPM meter and just don't see the value in spending another $130 on a rpm guage in my situation. 

Pic of my spindle RPM dial :




Pic of my power feed dial:
**NOTE: Disregard that last 2 sharpie dots on the dial. My max IPM feedrate is reached at position #15 
**NOTE: "Pos #1" in the chart represents the FIRST Sharpie dot, not the number "1" on the dial. I do not get any feed rpm from the "1" position on the dial)





Screenshot of the Excel rpm data:




Lastly the link to the easy to use LMS speed and feed caculator:

https://littlemachineshop.com/mobile/speeds_feeds.php


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## hman (Jan 8, 2019)

Nice!  
PS - though the LMS tach, designed to plug into their speed control, is a very nice unit, I can understand your reluctance to shell out the big bux.  If you do want a tach, and at a reasonable price, check out:
https://www.amazon.com/DIGITEN-Digi...1546996129&sr=8-5&keywords=digital+tachometer
-or-
https://www.amazon.com/DIGITEN-Digi...1546996129&sr=8-6&keywords=digital+tachometer


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## Road_Clam (Jan 9, 2019)

hman said:


> Nice!
> PS - though the LMS tach, designed to plug into their speed control, is a very nice unit, I can understand your reluctance to shell out the big bux.  If you do want a tach, and at a reasonable price, check out:
> https://www.amazon.com/DIGITEN-Digi...1546996129&sr=8-5&keywords=digital+tachometer
> -or-
> https://www.amazon.com/DIGITEN-Digi...1546996129&sr=8-6&keywords=digital+tachometer




The LMS tach no doubt looks nice, but where i'm just starting out I have a lot of different accessory priorities ahead of the tach. At this time I'd rather invest $120 towards a small granite digital depth gage inspection table. Thanks for the Amazon tach links !


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## Ken from ontario (Jan 9, 2019)

I had my mill's  speed dial marked like yours for a while, had the same thing done to my mini lathe too, it helped me rely more on how the cutter sounded  or should I say more by feel than by actual speed which is a good thing.
I eventually got a great deal locally and bought two OEM displays for the price of one , I even posted the link here but the shipping from Canada probably was too high.


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## Road_Clam (Jan 10, 2019)

Just an FYI, I was playing around last night with the DRO capabilities and i realized that you can tap on the X axis from the main screen and a different menu box appears and this will give you a live readout for X axis IPM feed.


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## higgite (Jan 10, 2019)

Road_Clam said:


> Just an FYI, I was playing around last night with the DRO capabilities and i realized that you can tap on the X axis from the main screen and a different menu box appears and this will give you a live readout for X axis IPM feed.


That is cool. I didn't know they did that. Which DRO?

Tom


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## Road_Clam (Jan 10, 2019)

It's the DRO pkg that came from the factory with my LMS 4190. It uses a Bluetooth tablet and the DRO app is called "Yuriy's Toys TouchDRO". You can D/L the app from Goggle Play Store. Here's a pic of the sub menu that allows you to view the active X axis feed IPM :


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