Foot switch

[Jethro]

I have a hegner hdb 200x witch i think is great,
I would like to have a on/off foot switch is this possible?
Where would i get one?how would i fit it?
Any info on this would be much appreciated, many thanks Geoff

 

[boysie39]

I have never heard of anyone using a foot switch with a lathe (losing it in shavings) comes to mind .I do know that you can get an extension lead with a magnetic base switch which can be fixed to any part of the lathe that is safe to accept it . I'm sure someone will supply the proper information soon .It may be called an NVR switch . I am not sure of this .

 

[Paul.J]

The VB36 comes with an optional footswitch,or used to,not sure now since they was bought out, so when i bought my Hegner lathe back then,i asked Roger Bewes if the Hegner could be fitted with the same footswitch and was told it could but it would need the electronics changing,obviously,but would be expensive.
I also asked Phil Irons if the Vicmarc could which he said he would look into at the tome but i never chased it up as the remote on/off box was good enough.
The VL300 was fitted with a nudge bar all along the length of the lathe so you could just nudge it it with your hip or whatever to stop the lathe??

 

[Vic Perrin]

Hi, I was looking for a foot control switch for general use with a number of power tools. I shopped around and found that they were readily available but they were quite pricy. After a browse through good old EBay I found a supplier in China.
The metal foot switch came in at about £18 including p&p . I wired it up no problem and use it like an extension lead.

 

[Paul.J]

THIS is the company that own Hegner and the VB36 and still do the footswitch for the VB and also the scroll saw so might be worth giving em a ring to see if it can be fitted to the hegner lathe??
Vic,could that switch be fitted to a lathe do you know??

 

[Paul.J]

Come to think of it i think the lathe we used to use at school had a foot switch fitted and taht was a Graduate lathe.
So i suppose once again if you have the know how it could be done??

 

[tekno.mage]

I have friend with a VB36 and that has a footswitch (which as I recall is the latching type). My partner fitted our old Jet lathe with a footswitch (he is an electronics engineer and had one left over from a job). The one fitted to our lathe isn't latching - so to make the lathe run you have to keep your foot on the switch. This is useful for some jobs as you have instant start/stop of the lathe without using your hands. For other jobs it's downright silly (long spindle work for instance) and we don't use it - a latching type would be more useful. I've never found the footswitch gets lost in shavings - it's rather large (like a guitar effects pedal) so there would need to be quite a depth of shavings for it to disappear! The only issue is that if you step on it by accident, the lathe will start up, but you soon learn not to do this!

 

[Vic Perrin]

THIS is the company that own Hegner and the VB36 and still do the footswitch for the VB and also the scroll saw so might be worth giving em a ring to see if it can be fitted to the hegner lathe??
Vic,could that switch be fitted to a lathe do you know??

Hi Paul, the foot switch that I have made up consists of a cable going into the switch fitted with a 13 amp plug and a short lead comming out of the switch with a 13 amp socket.
I just plug whatever tool I am going to use into it and it is then powered bt the foot treadle on the switch.

I built it originally so that I could clamp a powered sander into a workmate by the handle of the sander and the power switch on the sander locked on. You then start and stop the sander with the foot switch giving you freedom in boh hands.

The foot control that I have is of the deadmans type so that as soon as I take my foot off the switch it cuts the power to the tool.

I have used it with my Maxi Lathe plugged into it when I have been doing something awkward and it was fine.

 

[Jethro]

(hammer) Thanks for all your replies, I used a pool wood lath with a foot switch when i did a workshop day with Mark Hancock
and i found it real useful. I just remembered Hegner have a stand at Yandels in a few weeks time they should be able to help

 

[Paul.J]

Mark is a member of this forum.Might be worth sending him a PM and seeing if he had it specially made/fitted or it came with the lathe??

 

[YewTube]

Hi Paul, the foot switch that I have made up consists of a cable going into the switch fitted with a 13 amp plug and a short lead coming out of the switch with a 13 amp socket.
I just plug whatever tool I am going to use into it and it is then powered by the foot treadle on the switch.

I have made the same sort of foot switch. It works fine with hand power tools which have a toggle switch but will not work with bigger tools which have an NVR switch. Once you cut the power to switch it will drop out. To wire in a foot switch with a NVR switch one will have to intercept the power after the NVR switch.

The VB36 has its foot switch wired into the inverter which cuts the output but leaves the inverter powered.

Bill