Stick in in the garage door when it snows and no more shoveling..........
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Too good to pass up.
- Thread starter gggGary
- Start date
It makes me think of fat boy for some reason.Nice!
At first I thought it was a WW-2 German jet aircraft engine.....or some sort of weird Wisconsin (is that superfluous?) slow-cooker.
To me it looks like a cat standing on the back of a fat little bulldog. Bet I'm not the only one to notice...
Bet you are....Bet I'm not the only one to notice...
I'm using one of these VFDs on my mill. Got it black Friday for $80, needed it because my teco vfd decided it didn't like moving and died. Seems to work well and the detachable display is nice. A little wire solder and time and the control panel is on the mill head.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07D76365G/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_track_package_o0_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07D76365G/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_track_package_o0_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1
My lathe has a bottom speed of about 120 rpm. I would like to get it down to about 60 rpm for thread cutting in tight places. Will a VFD do this? What considerations are needed regarding the motor i.e. does it have to be 3phase?
Thanks guys.
Thanks guys.
3 phase are the ones you can use a vfd to control. If your set up is similar to the atlas/craftsman lathes you can swap to a treadmill motor to get speed control. Had a buddy do it on a vintage drillpress to use drills at the proper speeds. I've thought about it for my lathe, but it seems with covid everyone is using their treadmill instead of giving it away.
My motor can be wired 3phase or single. Isn't there a VFD for driving single phase at different speeds?
Edit: VFDs for single phase motors do exist but are extremely rare and require a special type of single phase motor.
Edit: VFDs for single phase motors do exist but are extremely rare and require a special type of single phase motor.
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There are some limits to slow turning a motor, heat increases power decreases as the RPM drops off.
The 1 horse on the mill seemed to be fine with half RPM for some big diameter drilling but did have to watch out for the reduced power. It's a bit of an easy habit to get into reaching for the speed dial rather than changing gearing on the machine. True VFD motors have some design changes to help handle the varying hz but there are a lot of old 3 phase motors living fruitful lives on VFDs.
The 1 horse on the mill seemed to be fine with half RPM for some big diameter drilling but did have to watch out for the reduced power. It's a bit of an easy habit to get into reaching for the speed dial rather than changing gearing on the machine. True VFD motors have some design changes to help handle the varying hz but there are a lot of old 3 phase motors living fruitful lives on VFDs.
Yes I think it can be done but you will have to use a VFD with twice the KW rating fed from a circuit with twice the amperage rating, compared to a VFD fed from 220 single phase. That gets unworkable pretty quickly as motor HP goes up, some of why it could work has to do with "single" phase being a bit of a misnomer, it's actually split phase. That single wire alternates between +110 and -110 so "two legs" of power can be had from one wire.
I'll toss in some how they work links;
http://www.vfds.org/what-is-vfd-how-it-works-964803.html
more detail
http://www.vfds.org/understanding-vfd-circuit-370326.html
Short version; every VFD takes whatever incoming AC you feed it, beats (rectifies and adds some capacitance) it into more or less DC then uses powerful transistors run by fancy programming to chop it up into exactly the kind of 3 phase AC your motor needs to do the job at hand. It's all smoke and mirrors, especially the smoke part if you don't pay attention to the rules.
Minor? point; most of the Chinese VFD designs really do not allow a Code installation. Wire terminals, high and low voltage, are all hopelessly close, tiny, open and mixed. So if you are fussy or will be inspected it's going to be tricky getting them enclosed, high and low voltage circuits separated and keep the VFD cooled. Running machine tools with coolant flying around especially hard.
Didn't say it was ideal, just that it could be done and works for an application where you need accurate speed control. Used it where I work for a low, 1/2 hp, application where power wasn't the issue as much as controlling the surface speed.
It's opened up some possibilities related to powering a mill or lathe at home where I'm limited to single phase.
It's opened up some possibilities related to powering a mill or lathe at home where I'm limited to single phase.
Sorry, Wasn't trying to push your buttons.
I'm merely an airchair electrician no training or certification. Just passing on a bit of what I found when I decided to try these new fangled VFDs
'cuz well sometimes there's real deals floating around on 3phase machinery.
like, you know, the subject of this thread. 
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All VFD manuals are adamant that the motor be directly connected to the 3phase output terminals, no switches,disconnects "direction changers" or other electrical shenanigans. Most all of them have terminals for an Emergency push off button
that meets requirements for same on a lot of equipment. It is an extremely good idea to install one in easy reach of the operator on any equipment with exposed moving parts.
No buttons, looks like you've got the button thing handled ROFLMAO
Just purchased a chinese lathe that runs on 220 single phase, partly due to size and weight constraints and because I wasn't thinking that I could do otherwise.
It will come in handy though when I get a used Bridgeport type mill at a later date.
