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Controller board for a C3 mini lathe?

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steampunkpete:
I've acquired a nearly new Clarke C3 mini lathe that was abandoned by its owner because the controller board failed and Clarke wanted £160 for a replacement (the guy had tried to fix it himself and so voided the warranty).

I can either use it for spares or fit a new controller board and sell it on. Taking a £160 hit on the board is not very attractive, but there is a £27 controller on Ebay that might do the job:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181473818094?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It has the right input voltage, but its output is 0V to 220V DC.  I could deal with this by adding a ballast resistor to the speed control potentiometer to limit the unit's output voltage to 180V DC.

Has anybody used these before?
Presumably for a permanent magnet motor one would leave the field excitation output unconnected as seems to be the case with other, similar drivers?

Help and suggestions gratefully received.

John Rudd:
I've used one and sold it on.....

The best by far for a controller is the KB board sold by Amadeal.....£85 new iirc...

The KB boards have a number of adjustments to control acceleration, torque and current limiting...

I have several of these boards as a spare for my Chester mill and haven't had to use one yet(except when I helped someone sort their ailing mill out that had a busted controller...)
One thing to remember, any board other than the original will probably need mods to the wiring especially the potentiometer....it's interlocked with the safety features to prevent startup after power failure...

Shout up if you need help... :zap:

steampunkpete:
Thanks John,

The fact that you stopped using it and bought the Amadeal board suggests that the Ebay control board wasn't as good. Was there a serious issue with using it?

Pete

John Stevenson:
I have one here, bought for a Emco mill but it just blows the internal fuse when it starts.
Not saying the unit is no good as the plate is missing of the Emco so don't know what amperage it needs and I strongly suspect that it needs greater than 4 amps.
Fitted a KB to the Emco and all was well. Kept to Chinese one as a spare for something else. Probably do a C3 OK as it's a far smaller motor than the Emco one but cannot say for definite.

John Rudd:
The standard KB offering is rated for 6 amps with the appropriate hp resistor....
The resistor is used in conjunction with the Current Adj preset.
If the resistor value is incorrect and/or the preset is not set correctly the board will not work as it should.....
The KB manual explains all of this in detail.

I bought the Ebay offering for some other use other than the mill, but wasn't happy with its performance after a technical evaluation....errr didn't buy a board from Amadeal, got them elsewhere...I suggested that Amadeal may be a solution for you, but you may need the KB manual if you go that route as the board does need a bit of setting up.......(I have a copy of the manual if you decide to go that way....) the settings are nothing frightening as long as you can use a Dvm....

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