foot brake

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TRX
Posts: 162
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:30 pm
Location: Central Arkansas

foot brake

Post by TRX »

Looking at some of the import 12x36 lathes, one of the variations I've seen is that some come with a "foot brake"; a bar near the floor that looks like the pedal on a metal shear.

There are many things I've wished for when running a lathe, but "foot brake" isn't among them.

What am I missing?
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NP317
Posts: 4557
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: foot brake

Post by NP317 »

Emergency shut off, when your hands are full.
BTDT. ...when threading...
~RN
whateg0
Posts: 1114
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:54 pm
Location: Wichita, KS

Re: foot brake

Post by whateg0 »

It saves time when waiting for the work to coast down. Doesn't seem like a big deal until you have 2000 of a part to make and you waste 10 seconds per 30 second operation waiting for the spindle to stop. That's one thing I don't miss about my old lathe. The 10ee with the original DC motor stopped right now, and so does my 3ph/VFD conversion. It's pretty nice to have. That said, if they have a threaded spindle, I think a brake could be a problem.

Dave
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tornitore45
Posts: 2077
Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:24 am
Location: USA Texas, Austin

Re: foot brake

Post by tornitore45 »

have a threaded spindle, I think a brake could be a problem.
No kidding, I have a VFD but to keep the big (for me) 6" chuck from rolling over the shop floor I set it up to coast down gingerly.
Mauro Gaetano
in Austin TX
SteveM
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Location: Wisconsin

Re: foot brake

Post by SteveM »

I saw someone that had rigged up a bicycle disk brake on their spindle. I was thinking I could do that on my motor, as the motor is a double shaft and I could put it on the other end from the pulley.

Steve
whateg0
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Re: foot brake

Post by whateg0 »

SteveM wrote: Mon Sep 17, 2018 12:42 pm I saw someone that had rigged up a bicycle disk brake on their spindle. I was thinking I could do that on my motor, as the motor is a double shaft and I could put it on the other end from the pulley.

Steve
I had thought of something like that, but never thought to put it directly on the motor. I like the idea, and with it on the motor, it could be done pretty cleanly - not so cobbled-looking.

Dave
pete
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Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:04 am

Re: foot brake

Post by pete »

ChrisB257 on Youtube showed how to add that disk brake to his lathe a few years ago. A bicycle disc brake might do it for smaller lathes. For something a bit larger I think I might move up to a mechanical go cart disc brake if I wanted to be stopping a heavier chuck from higher rpms. And for sure if I wanted it as an emmergency spindle brake if a crash happened. There not real expensive. As Dave and Mauro said it might make any crash or sudden stop real ugly with a threaded spindle though. It would still help with chuck changes on those spindle types. But remembering to not use it if you ever had a crash would be the tough part.

My lathe is cheap enough it doesn't have a brake or a clutch between the motor and the spindle. Even better would be to have both to save on motor restarts. There's a few electrically activated industrial units that might work, but they all seem to be fairly expensive. Fwiw some years ago the was an artical in the Model Engineer's Workshop magazine showing the use of an automotive A/C clutch mounted to a Harrison M300 lathe I think it was that was mentioned to work well by the author. There roughly a 12" swing lathe.
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BadDog
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Location: Phoenix, AZ

Re: foot brake

Post by BadDog »

My lathe is a bit bigger than typical at 17", but it came with a foot brake I use pretty much all the time. It uses a band (on-drum) brake much like seen on some of the old go-carts. Very simple, and because the mechanical advantage (akin to drum brake, but reversed) it stops right now even with my big 12" 4 jaw or the even bigger 15" 4 jaw (complete with similarly massive work pieces). I use it with pretty much every job, multiple times as needed, and haven't had to so much as adjust it since I bought the lathe.

If you build something for yourself, make sure it includes an automatic power cut-out switch.
Russ
Master Floor Sweeper
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