# 7x10, 7x12... Chinese Lathe dealing with the motor / drive



## Cipher (Dec 6, 2018)

Hello,
I do own one of these genericly rebranded chinese mini lathes and I'm finished with that DC Drive concept. I would like to discuss some options with you guys, maybe we can put an end to this.

The big issue is the lack of torque in lower RPM and there should be a concept to deal with it: Speed up and Gear down: Combining a high inertia with high torque should be a good combination to solve this.
Next issue: Something has to brake! (In case of emergency). I need one easy to replace component that gives way when something happens. Plastic Gears inside the spindle head, yeah realy good idea...

I'm playing with the Idea of using a benchtop drill press as a drive for this lathe and putting the thing on/in a ikea Bekväm cart: singel phase , reversable 500W Motor, 9 to 12 speeds from the Beltdrive and keeping the small timingbelt drive on the outside of the Lathe as a breaking point. Since these gears are easy access and to 3D print too. Last thing: it is damn cheap, a used drill press is less than two new belts in my area...

Did anybody of you guys try this too and what are your solutions for this problem (apart from throwing it out of the garage)?


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## owl (Dec 6, 2018)

I bought the replacement drive gear and belt set off Ebay.  It might not look like much of a change, but it really helped low end torque.  You get not only the extra torque from the gearset being different, but you also get the motor running faster, hence more torque for a given spindle speed.  In terms of gears inside the head, there are metal ones available.  You will end up with slightly more noise, but that shifts the potentially broken gear to the drive train at the back of the lathe where it is more readily accessible.


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## Cipher (Dec 6, 2018)

I did order the metal replacement gears for inside the spindle as well as some angular roller bearings for the generic spindle upgrade as we see a lot on youtube. That will be dealt with.

Since I'm not linking the auction: Did you buy the 3 to 1 ratio conversion kit that uses XL profile belts? I will have to rework this area on my lathe too, but was looking a 5M profile instead. Would you mind giving me the width of the belt you use?


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## owl (Dec 6, 2018)

Yes, mine uses an xl belt, I think the belt is about 1 cm wide.


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