I need a motor for my rod lathe. I'm looking at a site right now that sells electric motors. They are pretty cheap. Anyone have tips for what I should look for in a motor? I'm looking at a few that turn at 40 RPMs but I'm not sure if I want A/C, D/C, A/C geared or D/C geared.

Anyone want to help?

Thanks

Order the rod and lure craft catalog from Cabelas. They have motors.

Patrick, A 40 rpm motor is very fast. I have an 18 and think it's too fast at times. There are lots of different motors, Flexcoat has one that I am sure you could adapt to your lathe. Cabellas has a bunch of different motors as well as Jaiem mentioned.

Oops, my bad, I thought that you were referring to drying motors. Now that I think of it, I am not sure what my wrapper's rpm is. I'll check tonight. But cabelas and Flexcoat do have wrapping motors. Not sure of the specs. Are you planning on buying the motor and wiring it by yourself?

Charlie

I was talking about a drying motor.

Artie Herbert says he uses a 90 RPM motor for drying. I've seen some of his work and his finishes are impressive. Sure I'm copying him but if it works for him, why the heck not?

I figure a 90 might be too much for a novice so a 40 would be good enough for me. I also figured since I might wind up building my own lathe, the heights of the storebought motors might not correspond with my personal preference for the height of lathe. I like a lot of the designs of the cheaper lathes but most of them are only 7 feet or so. Not long enough for 9 and 10 foot rods I want. And, with all the tension the V-Cuts are going to cause, it might slow the motor down a tad. I'm going to put felt in there but it's still friction. I have to check out the workload versus free running RPMs.

I was looking at AllElectronics.com and they have motors for a lot less than the premade gizmos you get from the rod building specific sites. I'm not sure but I think the American system out door wires run on DC and then when it gets inside, it converts it to AC which is much safer. I believe that's how it works. I'm not too sure. I guess that means you need to use an AC motor then? I emailed the guys at AllElectronics as well to get their take on it.

I figure I'll just make 5 or 6 supports out of wood. Then on one, I'll counter sink a bolt through the bottom, put a wing nut on top and use that as a thread tension device. Then just using a carpet tack or screw eye on a sliding dato for a thread positioner. Then I'll make another support for the drying motor and just put it on a bracket. The whole thing will probably run under 30 bucks. All it's gonna be is a few pieces of wood, some l-brackets to keep the uprights square, two bolts, two nuts. A few screws to hold the l-brackets and that's about it.

I tried the coathanger thing and it didn't work too well. The worst was when my mom went to hang up her clothes! :)

Wohhh!!! TOO FAST. You want your drying motor to be 6 to 18rpm. At 90 rpm, the epoxy would get slung off the blank. No too mention it would be near impossible to do any kind of detail work.

I have both an 18 and a 6. I got the 6 after feeling that the 18 was just too fast...

Patrick,

I fabricated mine out of a rotissierre(sp) from a gas grill. Turns just perfect. Have done about 25 rods plus mine and all my friends repairs. I stole the idea from an old rod wrapper in the area. He never bought commercial equipment, so when I saw him using it, I copied his idea. Easy to make if you are handy with tools.

Bill

I use a 60 RPM motor with a dimmer switch.
this lets me set the RPM to what ever I want.
I apply the finish at about 20 RPM and when I am finished applying the finish I turn it down to about 6 RPM till the rod is set up.
I found that you need different speed depending upon the brand of finish you use.
Dura Gloss LS2000 and urathane finishes need to spin at faster speeds. While High Build finishes like Flex Coat, Crystal Rod Coat and regulas Dura Gloss can use slower speeds.

Mike, excellant idea with the dimmer switch. Can I just use a normal dimmer that you would buy for light fixtures? Home depot is just down the road. Anything I have to look out for as far as my own personal safety or the motor's safety?

I'll probably have to mount it on a box since I have a cat that likes to sniff everything new. I just hope the little weasel doesn't get hair in my epoxy as it cures.

Hay Radar, Use a rotisserie motor, it works the nuts. I use mine on rods and for turning plugs with apoxy for drying..............