TOPIC:

Lathe is now bolted onto a chunk of plywood, I've also hacked up the top of the toolholder to accomodate the bigger cutters on the left hand side... it's a bit of a lash-up, but space is very limited & the only angled bit of metal I had was some alu. channel left over from my home made Wild Willy bumper

Speed control arrived from Hong Kong ... I don't know why I was surprised by it's size (PCB is 60mm square) - probably something to do with not reading the specs beyond the voltage & current handling





I couldn't find a project box that would accomodate it without being overly large, so thought I 'd make my own: 3mm styrene cut & glued up:





... and filled:





... and sanded:





Had to wire it up to take it any further ...





... to make aluminium standoffs to hold a lexan lid on:

Very cool gear. That switch shows well how tiny the new unit is!

Unless it's an unexpectedly huge switch of course. Lol

Edou wrote:

Very cool gear. That switch shows well how tiny the new unit is!

Unless it's an unexpectedly huge switch of course. Lol

It's quite a heavy duty switch - the bit sticking out is 29mm to the styrene sheet & the alloy throw bit is 10mm diameter.

Cool! You'll have to let us know how you get on with it, it was incredibly cheap for such a high-rated speed control board, & I know someone who's looking for one for a rotary welding machine (For repairing digger pivots).
Thing to look out for with DC speed controls is some lack a bit in the torque & smoothness department at low revs, but this shouldn't be a problem for you. (Played that game with controllers for choo choo numpties, & yes it's solved in case anyone's interested).

I will say that you should probably put some holes in the side & top of your box, to get some air flow around the heatsinks - most speed controls can get quite hot, & depending on what sort of semiconductors the switching elements are, you run the risk of murdering it if it gets too hot. MOSFETs are ok, they regulate their own current as they get warmer, but normal power transistors let more current through the hotter they get (& so on) until they die from it. See how it goes, just keep an eye on warmth, it might be ok without holes (Or gimme the number off the components & I should be able to tell you whether or not it'll need holes).

Latest batch of problems - the motor spindle & drive belt have lost all their teeth, and one of the slide handwheels failed & unscrewed itself

At least the genuine Cool Tool Unimat parts are 100% compatible so it's possible to get spares...

I think that this UNIMAT1 will be transformed in a few time in a Jonny Retro heavy duty machining tool

For me, a plastic tool is not adapted to make metal parts. It is not a smoby toy

No, I'm looking to buy a 1950's/60's Unimat DB or SL, or a 1970's Unimat 3 instead - they have absolutely nothing in common with this

I know that my father worked with a UNIMAT "tour" for his work(jeweller). He has it always but it has no pièces in plastic. The only matter with his tool, is that he can't make rims because it is too small 32mm of diameter max.
Same 1/12th are too large