Lathe shopping - Reeves drive question

[Roy Turbett]

I can't speak to the new asian made machines but I've rebuilt four Powermatic 90's including a 1955 first year of production and the reeves drives are very sturdy cast iron that require little if any maintenance. It is not even mentioned in the manual. The 1955 is the only one of the four reeves drives that shows any appreciable wear and that is to the positioning pins that the moveable sheave slides on. It also lacks the self lubricating brass sleeve that is found on later models. That said, the reeves drive still works but it is a little louder than my 1980 model until it finds itself after changing speeds. Both have 1 hp 3 phase motors with VFD's that run on standard 240v. In absolute terms the range on the 1955 is 0-4000 RPM, but in practice is more like 300-4000 RPM. The 1980 has a jackshaft that can be configured with different drive and motor pulleys. In absolute terms it has a speed range of 0-3000 RPM, but in practice is more like 200-3000 RPM. Both lathes have 3" riser blocks which gives them 18" of swing.

[Geoff Whaling]

The bad rap that Reeves Drives get comes mostly from very low end budget lathes with crap cast metal conical pulleys and lack of maintenance. Plenty of high end lathes including Vicmarc used Reeves Drives on their lathes in the 1980's - they were akin to the popularity of EVS now.