New jet lathe Did they make a mistake???

[Brian Brown]

The new 1640evs Jet lathe is out. I looked at the specs, and it sounds great until I read about the motor. 1.5 Horse, 3 phase??? It claims to be able to turn 60" outboard. 1.5 horse power seems severely underpowered for 60 inches. Also, I think most turners would need to have their shops rewired for 3 phase. What do you think?

[James Combs]

I think you will find that most,if not all EVS machines 1.5hp and up are 3 phase with single phase feed to the VFD(Variable Frequency Drive) 3 phase speed control.

[Marty Tippin]

I've looked through the Jet website and owners manual and I don't see any such claims about 60" outboard capability. Just because the spindle is far enough off the ground to theoretically turn something that size doesn't mean it could.

[Ed Wood]

Link to the manual of the new model
http://content.jettools.com/assets/m...500_man_EN.pdf

[Brian Brown]

I think you will find that most,if not all EVS machines 1.5hp and up are 3 phase with single phase feed to the speed control.

That makes sense. The way it is listed in the specs makes it sound like you have to be wired for 3 phase.

[Brian Brown]

I've looked through the Jet website and owners manual and I don't see any such claims about 60" outboard capability. Just because the spindle is far enough off the ground to theoretically turn something that size doesn't mean it could.

The link is jettools.com/us/en/p/jwl-1640evs-16-x-40-wood-lathe/719500

• SPECIFICATIONS

• Mounts in 3 separate positions for larger outboard turning or 60" between centers
• Includes tool rest post

Boy, I've got to stop web surfing so early in the morning. One place read 60 inch capacity with extension in lower position (not likely), and the one above read 60" between centers (sounds mere likely). The new lathe is starting to sound much better.

[Reed Gray]

On the lower speed range (haven't checked, but most come with 2 speed ranges), it probably could 'handle' 60 inches, but not some thing you would want to do all the time with it. 1.5 hp motors, especially the newer ones have a fair amount of power.

robo hippy

[Brian Myers]

Swing over 20” bed extension in low position
(optional accessory)
.......................................... 34-1/2 in. (876 mm)

[John Grace]

For those of you who understand the electrical aspects of this far better than I do. What are the tangible differences between a 1.5 HP motor running on 3-phase vs a 2 HP motor running on 220 single phase? Just curious, thanks...John

[James Combs]

For those of you who understand the electrical aspects of this far better than I do. What are the tangible differences between a 1.5 HP motor running on 3-phase vs a 2 HP motor running on 220 single phase? Just curious, thanks...John

John, it somewhat depends on whether you are talking about a 1.5hp"VS" lathe versus a 2hp"VS" lathe. If that's the case both motors will both, most likely be 3 phase with one being fed by 115v single phase and the other being fed by 220v single phase. In both cases the variable speed control circuitry converts both single phase voltages to 3 phase(variable frequency) to run the motors. A 3 phase motor's speed is easy to control by simply varying the frequency of the AC power coming to it with very little loss in torque. As kind of a side note here; most lathes with less then 1hp actually use DC motors with a variable voltage control. The down side of variable voltage is that the torque is also lowered with the lowered speed when the voltage is lowered. As for the tangible difference between a 1.5 HP motor running on 3-phase vs a 2 HP motor running on 220 single phase you are actually comparing apples to oranges assuming you aren't talking about the difference in HP, but read on.

If you are talking about a 1.5hp motor on a lathe and a 2hp single phase motor on say a table saw then it is about the application. Generally speaking the actually power consumed by a 2hp 220volt 3phase motor will be very close to the amount of power consumed by a 2hp 220 volt single phase motor, assuming both are under full rated load. Look up the formula for calculating hp at a given load current. In the table saw application there is no need to vary the speed so a 2hp 220 volt single phase motor would be more appropriate.

Keep in mind that this is a general comparison of power consumption at the motors themselves and does not consider losses in the VF drive circuitry which will cause the measured power consumption at the power source at let's say a breaker panel supplying both a 2hp lathe and a 2hp table saw, to be more for the 2hp 3ph then the 2hp single phase motor.