The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

fred23 · Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 4

Hi Members,
I need help with the turntable on my Rek-o-Kut. It is currently working perfectly however the turntable runs slower than 78 and 33. Does anyone know how to speed it up or adjust the speed or what might be causing this strange problem?

tsullivan · Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 27

Hi,
This might seem elementary, but what country are you in? If your cutter originally came from North America or some other country with 60 cycle current, and you are in a country with 50 cycle current, that would be your problem right there. In that case, you will have to get a set of 50 cycle idlers.

Its easy enough to change the voltage between 120 and 240, but you also have to change the frequency, and that is not easy nor cheap to do. Since both of your speeds are off, that sounds like the problem to me.

Tom

cuttercollector · Joined: 11 Jun 2006 Posts: 268 Location: San Jose, CA

I have a Rek-O-Kut that is similar. If the speeds are just a little slow and you are using it on the correct line frequency (60Hz in the US) then probably the motor needs lubrication. They will run somewhat slowly if there is too much greese drag. With the platter off, and the idlers disengaged, does it come up to speed quickly? does it seem to increase if left on for a time? Does it run warm? I forget if these have a motor run capacitor or not. That could also be an issue. The idlers could also be hard and slip. You will not have enough torque to cut on speed if this is the case. I learned with mine that both diameters have to be exactly right, because unlike some systems, the speed change is accomplished by the fact that the idler has 2 different diameters, one driven by the motor and the other driving the turntable.