Posted by Michael James 5 on 26/08/2018 09:57:55:
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so I should perhaps have asked first ' Is this worth doing?' perhaps its not!
As always depends on what you're doing with the lathe. But, as small lathes often turn small diameter parts, 2500rpm isn't ridiculous, even less so if you use carbide.
When I had a mini-lathe I would mostly use low gear (up to 1200 rpm) for anything over, say, 20mm diameter, and high gear (up to 2500rpm) for anything less than about 20mm diameter. I prefer carbide inserts which work better at higher speeds. Low rpm is essential for threading under power, which might make smaller pulley attractive. However, I used a spindle handle for threading on a mini-lathe and found manual threading easier to control all round.
Brushless lathes are still a relative novelty. Yours is the first brushless mini-lathe I've heard of and it's performance is likely an unknown quantity due to lack of experience with them on the forum. I'd expect it to be better than a conventional DC motor but not wildly so. Personally, I'd spend some time getting used to the machine before rushing to modify it. Sod's Law says you discover you need 2500rpm just after going to a lot of trouble altering the pulleys!
If you feel the lack of torque, beware you're not overdoing it. Mini-lathes aren't industrial metal munchers that can be pushed to the maximum. Think Fiat 500 rather than Humvee.
Dave