Duty Cycle Using Electric Power Tools16 of 20 Lead Home Made Casting Pot Magmaw

  Duty cycle--To make a project like this lead casting pot or any project where so much of the success of the adventure rests completely on the tools you need to make something special out of your material --whether out of metal or wood. And the most important consideration for most of us is the large investment in electric tools and getting the most out of them and making them last. It would be well to explain power tools if someone does not or has not known the ins and outs of using them. This is not about safety or how to turn the tool off and on they come with manufactures information for that. Each electric power tool has what is called a duty cycle. This is the amount of time they can run and offer service. Many smaller hand power tools and some larger ones as well can only run for a given amount of time before they need to be shut off and allowed to cool. It does not matter if it is a drill press a hand drill, chop saw, bench grinder, or an electric welder. Covering electric motor driven tools first. Duty cycle can be determined several ways, one is by touch, and the other is by the amount of time the tool is used, or smell. The smell is a sure sign that you worked the power tool too long and you need to shut it down for a while-- you also have begun to lose some of the life of the tool. Your nose can also be used as a sensing devise beyond smell to sense the temperature of the air rising from the vent holes. In a national emergency in making products at home you could no longer buy or have access to, the shop crew might be inclined to over use some tools. This would be foolish as some tools would be irreplaceable and you would be reduced to making products by hand increasing production time by not only hours but in some cases days. Drills, grinders, power sanders, etc with plastic cases will give you a false sense of being cool because of the plastic case and the best determiner is the rise of heat through the ventilation holes. Also a good determiner is to find a main metal part like the metal casing near the drill chuck and touch it. If it is uncomfortable to the touch then set the tool down and let it cool. Steel cased motors and grinders should be shut off when they are uncomfortable to the touch of your hand. Some of these tools have no air ventilation like bench grinders where the dust from the grinding stone and metal filings would destroy the motor if it were not protected.
  Drag or increased pressure  on the tool will also reduce the duty cycle as the tool has to work harder it gets hotter faster. Light pressure like the shaping of the arch in the metal in the picture above will increase the duty cycle in your favor as the tool is not working as hard.    

The change of behavior of a power tool is a sure sign it need service. Sometimes it is no more than a good cleaning. Turn off the tool and unplug it. dissemble carefully, keeping track of where every thing goes, replace the grease, and put it back together.

  Time sensitive tools are welders for home use. Turn off the welder between welds to increase the duty cycle. An assistant would be most useful. Box 120 volt welders have a very low duty cycle 2 minutes and 30 seconds on high with a 7 minute 30 second down time. On low 4 minutes 30 seconds with a 5 minute 30 second down time. You can not glue metal together so losing such a tool would be disastrous in a crises situation.
 Recently my home polisher sander started giving me trouble on this project. I stopped immediately! The rear bearing failed. Had I of continued to push the tool it would have chewed up the worm gear cost of repair $2 +$7 shipping = $9.  The cost of a new sander polisher $80 or more, how long have I had this power tool about 34 years. The motor showed no signs of ever being overheated. It has been treated well since I have had it so it should last my lifetime. Yet this sander or any power tool, welder, chop saw, drill press, bench grinder, belt sander, etc. could be ruined in the hands of a careless worker in an afternoon. There are enough projects going on in the shop to keep you busy giving you time to let a power tool cool. You now know more about using electric tools than most people so you should enjoy your investments for years to come. Richard W Norman                                        To view next post click

A Blog has the ability to up date material and even though time has passed and this is an old post I noticed that a lot of people will only view one page and move on. So it seemed practical to place a photo of the finished product on each post.   

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