This series was very timely for me. I bought a VFD to provide 220v for my Unisaw so I don't need many of the features it gives your lathe, but I can take your basic instructions (my operator's guide was a joke) and do what I need to do. Yours is the best demo on TH-cam for VFD's. Thanks.
Thank you for this entire series. The detail at each step was no more/no less than required. This is class act. In my 49 years, I have not had the privilege of sitting at the feet of any instructor and reach session-end with no core gaps in knowledge, prior to now. You sir are gifted. Thank you for the balanced breadth, depth, and detail you present in this series. Not once did you drop the ball - perfectly executed!
Your videos are the best! Very informative and thorough. But the little story about your Grandfather buying you your first wrench and the fact that you still use it is priceless. You had a great teacher from a young age. Love it.
I know you did this build over three years ago so it's old to you. I am looking at doing some work with a VFD so I watched your entire series. It was great and I really appreciate how you explain all of the details. I think my chances of succeeding are much better now,
I was given my little 4" crescent wrench back in 92 by a former boss. I supplied each apprentice under me with 1 as well. It's in my pocket from start to finish daily!
Got the gear and now the knowledge to convert my lathe. Love to have that low speed feed for threading up to a shoulder. Thanks for a brilliant series.
This whole series was interesting and informative, and I was feeling engaged throughout. Somehow, though, seeing you run it through its paces once the installation was all complete was just… a whole delight unto itself. That automatic ramping on the VFD controller made the forward and reverse switching perfectly safe… it felt like “noooo, don’t switch it at speed!”, and then… it’s fine! It just ramps. Very cool. Great work, past James! :)
Stumbled across this video series after looking for info on VFD to run a 2 post vehicle lift. This has to be one of the most excellent, informative video series i've seen on them, thank you for taking the time to make them. It was especially good as you explained a lot of the info that people are looking for on the supplementary controls and external switching can be used, that there's so little info out there on. Many thanks for taking the time again James it's very much appreciated!
Great set of comprehensive videos… probably the ultimate TH-cam guide for potential VFD installers like me..! A nice addition might be a cheap Chinese tachometer to show spindle speed..? Thanks from the UK.
Excellent job. Also given me scope for thought re: my VFD that recently arrived which I'm planning to use to supply three phase generically to several devices in my shed. They will all receive three phase via one contactor but via an arduino control will ONLY receive power on a first come first served basis. First one powered on gets the power provided the other three devices are off. A panel driven by the Arduino will indicate which device currently has power so it will be easy to safely identify which is causing a lockout. VERY impressed with the smoothness of speed increment, the relatively low noise (including the lathe gearing) and the instantaneous ability to go from full forward to full reverse. Great wiring job too.
You sir, are amazing. Just watched all 6 videos (and I see you have an addendum, gonna watch that too). I have been thinking of getting a VFD for my old school Oliver wood lathe with a reeves drive but I have been as little intimidated. You did am excellent job explaining everything. There were times while watching that I didn't seem to understand, but like magic, you made sure to explain everything in detail.
Hello Sir. I had my new G0602 delivered 3 days ago and realized I really want variable speed control. In hindsight I should have moved-up to the next lathe in the Grizzly food chain. It would have been cheaper than upgrading via your videos. BUT I really thank-you for all your hard work. I have used your links to order the parts as you did. Note, the motor you used has been replaced with a newer model. Casually looking at the specs I did not see any problems. Hopefully not blue smoke in my future. Thanks again!
Update, today I get all the motor controls functioning from the lathe front panel. Tomorrow I will install the motor. I plan to hang if from an automotive lift to get access to those bottom screws. Thanks again!!
Absolutely brilliant. In just 6 episodes you have cleared up so many questions that I and I am sure others have had; but could go nowhere to get the answers. Great job kind Sir. May Jesus continue to bless you with gifts like you have been given. I am going to look at all the videos in this series again and again. Then put it to use on my many wood and metal machines. Thanks so much.
Excellent project! So glad you explained about the contactor and how it works into the system. Now I can approach my conversion with somewhat less trepidation.
One of the best how to series I've seen yet on TH-cam about using the original switches as they were intended to control the same functions on the VFD Clough. That said even watching how you did it I'd feel a lot more comfortable with my inept electrical knowledge to pay a professional industrial electrician to do the same on my lathe. My Bridgeport clone was the first machine I've ever operated with a 3 ph VFD combination and it's amazing just how smooth and quiet they are. I very much suspect you'll see a decent improvement in the surface finishes you now get as well. Other than the extra cost I am a bit surprised you didn't upgrade the Chinese OEM switches to something a little more industrial rated since they seem to be a bit failure prone sometimes.
Interesting...I hadn't thought about surface finish. It'll be interesting to see if I can tell the difference. I'm already loving how smooth it is. I need to find another big lathe project so I can put it through its paces. I didn't mess with the switches because I was trying to not alter the control panel too much. I guess drilling a hole in it is a pretty big alteration. :) But I have some other stuff coming that may require more controls, and I haven't decided yet exactly how I want to do it.
I'm quite sure you will see an improved surface finish Clough. However that much smoother power delivery starts showing up any other problems that might have been disguised by the OEM single ph motor. The cheap factory supplied drive belts might not be the best and possibly any gearing that maybe isn't as concentric as it should be can then start to show up in the surface finish. I had to change out my mills drive belt since I was seeing a very slight and repeating surface pattern with my mill while fly cutting after I got it. It's a lot of effort and I haven't done mine yet, but adding cast in access holes for any bolts and guarding the spindle bearings then filling both the headstock and tailstocks hollow castings with an epoxy / granite mix can show some definite improvements as well. The castings are a lot lighter than they should be on these lathes. My opinions and design preferences have been changed a great deal from drooling over too many top quality European built machine tools like the Deckel mills. To me the Swiss, German, Austrian designs seem to be more observant about ease of use for the operator than most others. The Deckel FP 2 and especially FP 3 uses a heavier built version of what most DRO head units use for a two arm pivioting mount and Deckel has all the machines controls mounted on a sloped face and almost always the dro mounted above that. The whole thing can be set for easy access yet out of the way of the current job no matter what size it is. Everything is positioned right at your finger tips. Harrison, Colchester, Clausing branded lathes today use a very well thought out addition to the lathes splash pan with all the controls mounted and centralized on an angled extension of that splash pan on the far left side. I'm seriously thinking of doing something much like it at some point. Years ago there was an article in the Model Engineer's Workshop magazine where the author mildly modified his Myford super 7 top slide to incorporate a Newall magnetic scale inside the top slide because of the space restraints like your looking at on your lathes cross slide. No idea if the DRO you bought has the small diameter magnetic scales available for it or not. Because of the usual layout of the carriage lock, cross slide locking screw and the gib adjustment bolts plus maybe losing a bit of room to get the tailstocks casting as close to the right hand side of the carriage as possible then coming up with a decent workable mount for the X axis scale is always a problem on these smaller lathes like we have. My Newall micro syn scales and reader heads on my mill are the smallest I've seen for any dro and it might be worth checking if your dro's head unit is compatible with there signal type? For something like the cross slide I'd want the extra resolution and accuracy those micro syn scales have anyway. If you need dimensions I can measure my scales and reader head.
Looking for word to use the VFD device in my 2 hp lathe (warco) after having this tons of informations from your series I am not really sure that i am able to find these equipments in my country (sudan) but.. yaa i will give it try Thanks man i really appreciate that
Awesome again. You gave me enough incentive and your perfect teaching method means I will btr trying this as well. I have a Sieg Lathe C6. Thank you for your patience and willingness to share all of this. Sincerely Laurence
Excellent presentation thank you. I’ve already done similar on a bandsaw a few years ago pre UTube but it would have been brilliant to have seen your ideas first. Looking at my pillar drill now for vfd and 3 phase conversion so your considered approach is very welcome. Great workmanship.
Great series, but from personal experience: make certain you have both logical and physical printed schematics with every node numbered, and number both ends of every wire and teriminal block position with the corresponding node in the schematics. Use wraparound wire labels or printable heat shrink tubing. Also: bakelite heptagon knobs: a total classic. Go look at the control panel of a Spitz A3P planetarium some time 😁.
Another round of questions. The (L) in on filter is grounded to case?? Also, I am having a bit of a tough time clearly seeing the in/out connections on the contactor, could you clarify please? Thank man!
Very well done, but as you asked for suggestions here goes ! So the 110 V & low voltage wiring cables are held in place by weak single wires with some vibration present when in use. Cable clips on the bundle please ! Don't want to find the VFD low voltage side cooked by 110 a few years down the line when the wires wear through. Also there should probably be a suppression capacitor across the contractor latching coil. It might be built in already. Typically an X1 but that also means a suitable fuse in the hot/live wire required. The correctly screened cable you've done (one end grounded drain) should couple high frequency switching noise to ground. The mains filter doesn't protect the vfd signal wiring. High current low frequency noise such as the motor power is the one to keep away from signal wiring and earth loops as the magnetic field goes through the screening or with an earth loop forms a transformer adding some high power motor drive to weak control signals.
done the same type of conversion but started with a 3 phase motor lathe , took me some headscratching to get the forward and reverse switch setup to the vfd to work like it should and have the emergency stops to work like it should its been a while and i can even remember how i did it one thing you might want to add is an rpm gauge , make it eazier to repeat speeds that worked for certan materials suprized the teco vfd was making noise on the electric network , from wat i seen it had a build in filter (have the same brand for my mill)
I have some ideas for an RPM gauge. I'd really like to build an electronic leadscrew, and the electronics for that would have all of the data needed to display RPM. That's the only reason I haven't done it yet. I suspect the VFD has some filtering, and it's probably enough for an industrial environment, but it was causing some trouble with my video setup.
How do people know that you did everything unless it's visible and properly hot glued (especially lighted displays)? All the rest of the controls on the face of the lathe should have proper sticky notes labeled "see above" with arrows pointing to the new control. BTW, that is really nice. The sound generated is actually relaxing. Good job.
I spy most of a resistor color code in your wire color code :) I waited for you to finish the info about the drain wire... that was awesome. There aren't many that know grounding the shield on both ends is asking for noise. And you topped it off with heat shrink. That's much neater (looks better too imho) than electrical tape. Now back to the video...
Good eye. The cable had all the right colors to use the standard IEC color code, so I figured that would be the least surprising thing to whoever works on this machine after me. You're right--grounding can be tricky. It seems like the simplest thing, but there are lots of ways to get in trouble. And don't get me started on electrical tape. I guess there are some very nice high-quality products fit for some purpose or other, but I can't stand the stuff. It doesn't stay put long-term, and everything ends up sticky when you have to work on it later.
One of the best instructional videos I’ve seen and you have an impressive range of talents and skills. Thanks for sharing. Still not sure I want to tackle a vfd install on my yet to be ordered new lathe but I’m convinced that 3ph/vfd is the way to go.
Thank you for the compliment. I put the project off for a long time before I finally took the plunge. Part of the challenge was that I couldn't find anyone who really showed the details. So that's what I was hoping to create.
Great tutorial on selecting and installing your Techo VFD as I am planning on installing one for my drill press (L510 220v single phase in 220v three phase out). I have downloaded the manual and just completed my first reading. So my question for you is why did you decide to install a contactor for the external controls instead of wiring directly into the VFD?
The contactor addition seems popular. The logic is, if the power goes out and is restored, the machine doesn't resume running without a reset. I set a parameter in my VFD that requires the "forward-off-reverse" switch to be cycled to off before restarting due to power failure or stop button/brake activation.
Hello James. If I got a metal lathe and has a 3 phase motor, stop and start bottoms and reverse switch and the Contactor. Can I install a VFD Single phase in, 3 phase out and just wire the lathe's leads in the VFD? Thank you for the video. it is amazing.
you've done an excellent job and very detailed. I saw your monitor again off while you turn on the machine and again you hit the stop button is that normal??
Can you please please please make a video with detailed instructions on how to connect the centroid acorn to a vfd and how it is set up in the wizard!? Please, I have been struggling with this part alone for the last year and it is the final step before I can have a working Cnc router. I am embarrassed that I can’t figure it out and I humbly ask for your help. You have a way of explaining things to is easy for me to comprehend most times and I hope that you maybe able to help me get it through my thick scull how to set it up correctly.
James, I have watched your entire series on installation of the new motor and VFD. Kudos! I appreciate what you have done, as I am about to install a VFD on my equipment. I am going to attempt to use the same VFD for my lathe (3 HP), milling machine (2 HP), and surface grinder (3 HP). I also have a pantograph but it has such a small motor, it will function off its own VFD. You have run your system now for sufficient time to know if there are any wrinkles. I was a touch concerned when you mounted the aux fan directly on the housing for the fan of your motor. I envisioned that the external fan would impede the draw of the fan on the motor and for that reason you would actually be better off running the two fans simultaneously on all speeds. Any issues on this count?
Very nice and neat installation. Good job. VFD's make running machines so much more enjoyable. My CNC Mill has a VFD. I have a three phase motor and drive to install on my Lathe. Just need to find the time to install it. Great idea switching on the electric cooling fan at lower speeds. I hope my VFD is capable of doing this? Keep up the good work with your videos. Found your channel when looking for examples of electronic gear boxes. Hope you continue with this project. Cheers Willy
Great Video!! I am about to add a variable speed motor to my wood lathe. My question to you is, what electrical contactor did you use? I could not find a description of it in your list of tools. Please advise and thank you!!
Nice, but I'm surprised you bother to leave the contactor in place. A VFD does that job for you. If you lose power and then the power comes back on, the VFD will not provide power to the lathe. The user must punch the run button again. I do appreciate that you basically put in a remote keypad. I run quite a few VFDs and most folks don't take the trouble to remotely place the VFD. You want to keep them cool and dust free as possible. For my lathes and big bandsaw I have put in remote keypads. (some lathes have a keypad that is easily removable, and all you need is a cable set up for that). But for other machines, like my table saw, I just run a 2 wire start stop (usually between GND and X1 or such) With that switch close to my hip, it is very convenient for turning off a powered machine.
That was a great job I would like to do the exact same thing to my step pulley Bridgeport's mill I'm a retired machinist but electrical is not one of my things sounds like you have a background in electrical my brideport has a 2hp motor on it and I think it is 440 3phase would this work on it i love the variable speed option
Great series which really helped answer some questions but left me with two more. Why does the cable for the contactor look so underrated for current? Also , how can you safely run the motor at twice the rated frequency?
I purchased everything from your links....very helpful, glad it supports your efforts here. One question about aux fan on motor, Do you want it blowing in it blowing out away from motor? I'm unsure what the motor does (primary in its forward rotation....) Don't want to counter act it!
Which contactor are you using? I see Teco specs the CN-11 which has now been replaced by the CU-11, which is impossible to find in stock anywhere. I have a switch/pot design I’m working on with a couple on/off switches. Contactor looks like the only way I’ll be able to make it all work properly. I truly appreciate these videos. They’re the best L510 videos I’ve found, and probably the best VFD videos in general.
Awesome series!Can you explain the "ground loop" you referred to?What does it do to the equip?I've always connected at both ends out of habit,and nothing blew up.Only time I had problems was running dual antennae on the mirrors of my truck grounded,but I thought it was an RF thing....Thanks for sharing!! I didn't see you torroids,is that why the monitor still freaks/crashes?BTW,you coulda used your 3M tape to make sure the cables were held down behind the panel,lol
Can you show on this how you updated the fan in the box with the charger on your last video you hooked it up straight to live and neutral on the noise reducer. So how did you hook it up to the vfd to run?
Excellent video James, I wanted opinions from your viewers on a VFD controlled Lathe or Milling machine, I have been doing a ton of repairs on the VFD where the capacitors have gone bad or the IGBTs have been blown. That would be typical on the Chinese cheap VFDs, A siemens or other VFD would cost you an arm and a leg or more than what you paid for your setup.
I don't think he's on here anymore Don Zanotti. Not sure if maybe something happen to him or what. People have asked questions from months ago and NO response from James. Hope Not hella a teacher and Mentor for sure. Best by far.
Hello James I have enjoyed the vfd series video series. I was wondering what recommendation you would have for a wood lathe control panel as far as dust control. Still being able to use cooling fans. Thank you for any input!
Really enjoyed this video series on the vfd the one thing that you failed to say was how much was the conversation and where did you purchase all of the components if you can let me know I would appreciate it
Well James, since my electrical knowledge isn't at your level, and I cannot make out the wiring very clearly, I'm passing on the line filter as neutral seems to be just another "hot" wire to me and grounding it seems illogical. Hopefully you'll shed some light and I can add at another date.
You explained the use of the latching contactor so the machine won't start after a power failure. I believe that most VFD's have a parameter that you can set (off by default) for start after power. When off, the motor will not restart after a power fail unless you repress the start button, so the contactor is probably not necessary as it is on an ac motor.
James: have you lost the braking power of the Vfd with the 3 phase motor by connecting the e-stop to the single phase input to the VFD. I am rewiring my larthe with the e-stop in series with an off/on toggle and the for/rev switch an I maintain my breaking . ( just bench testing, no permanent wires yet) Just looking for your thoughts . Dave
Thank you for a very informative series for the installation of a variable speed upgrade for your lathe. I am hoping to do this to both my WARCO 300 metal lathe and to my woodturning lathe as well .Hopefully the VFD I have ordered will be as versatile as your Westinghouse one. Time will tell. I had no idea you could double the speed like that by increasing the frequency so much. Is your new motor a two or four pole? Given that you said it was around 1800 rpm i suspect that it is a 4 pole. Here in the UK we are on 240 v lot and running 50 Hz so the 3 phase motors which have 4 poles run around 1420 rpm and 2 poles 2840.
Great video James, but I do have a question: Why didn't you just use a 120VAC muffin fan in the enclosure instead of the 12VDC fan? If you had, you could have eliminated the need for the wall wart. Additionally, you could have done the same for the muffin fan on the motor. I am not being critical of your use of 12VDC fans, but I am curious as to why you used them instead of 120VAC fans.
Thanks James. Very well done. Very informative. I bought the motor and VFD from your links. Hope it helps you to do more excellent videos. This is for my CNC-converted G0602. I never upgraded the motor to CNC, just to motion. I will have to figure out how to configure the VFD and connect it to the Acorn controller board. Any advice on that would be appreciated. Thanks again.
Thanks! It looks like the Acorn board can provide the standard 0-10V output to control the VFD. I've never done it, but if I understand correctly, you can connect this to AVI and AGND on the VFD and control the speed. I think the potentiometer I used is wired to provide a 0-10V signal to AVI, so it's probably already set up to work without any additional configuration. I'm not sure about switching the drive on and off or reversing the direction. The Acorn looks like it has additional outputs that could be used to drive the S inputs, but I have never attempted this.
How did you arrive at 2 kilo ohm for the size of your pot/speed control? I have seen other VFD installation videos which refer to 10 kilometers ohm. ????
What contactor is that? do I need to use one of them and a noise suppressor? I was just going to use a wall switch to turn the l510 on and off via a switched outlet.
2 questions. 1. Did you do your mill conversion yourself? and 2. Do you have a schematic of how you did this wiring? I have watched these videos 10x over and have learned a lot from them but I am trying to use the same motor and vfd, and be controlled by a centroid acorn board. Thank you for this series. It's great!!!
Yes, I did do the conversion myself. I don't have a schematic per se, but I did do a little tour of the electronics in one of the Z motor upgrade videos.
hi james. can you provide or post control wiring diagram for vfd to control panel component wiring. I am little confused as not remember video in mind. i hope u understand.
What wiring size are you using for high voltage and low from lathe control panel from the lathe panel to VFD panel ? Where can you get the wire and do you have a affiliate link for the wire ? By any chance do you have a full diagram for wiring the control panel ? Any help appreciated. BTW awesome videos on this conversion.
The wires to the control panel are small--probably about 20-22AWG. Just be sure that the insulation is rated for the voltages you want to use. Off the top of my head, I think the cable I used is rated for 300V, which is typical. I don't have a full wiring diagram, but I did show a diagram for the contactor latching circuit in one of the videos.
@@Clough42 Yes you did show the latching contactor. You done a very good job explaining everything. I was in the process of ordering parts to do a VFD upgrade then saw your video and it helped me very much! Have you done much threading with this new motor ? How slow can you run it and still get good threading ? The lathe is stock for 150RPM and is a little fast for threading for me. I am hoping it can thread smoothly closer to 100RPM. Thanks again for such a great video series.
Thanks excellent video series on VFD conversion, I've considered a conversion on my gear head lathe 7.5 kw motor, lowest speed is 25 and highest 1165 , I would like to goes as low a 3 rpm for metal wrought iron twisting and scroll attachments and also have a higher rpm range for matching, do you think this could be possible ?? Thanks David
It's possible. If the motor is rated for 10:1 inverter duty, like the one I used, and you gear the lathe for 25 RPM, you should be able to turn it at 2.5 RPM. The question then becomes one of torque. 7.5KW is a lot of power, and if you can gear it for 25 RPM, there will be a lot of mechanical advantage. So basically, the motor will be pretty weak because it's running so slowly, but it's a big motor and will be geared for a lot of torque, so I'm not sure what to expect.
very interesting, thank you for share it. but I would like to ask an question, other than noise improvement comparing to old motor (1 phase), what is the benefit of swap the motor to 3 phase for the lathe? for the same HP does any improvement to the lathe operation?
yes, I planned also to put VFD to my lathe, but I'm thinking which one is better single phase or three phase for lathe operation. my power sourch is 220v single phase, and if I change the motor to 3 phase, is there any benefit?
thanks! i keep learning a lot from your videos. i have a question. is there a reliable way to read the RPM, that doesn't cost a fortune? you know, to show you on a diplay the exact RPM. it would make this project whole i think. Next stop DRO for the lathe? (i guess those do cost a bit haha)
Yeah there is a way, a cheap $15 digital display off of Ebay and you'd need to probably remove the headstocks sheet metal to access the lathes spindle to mount whatever rotary pick up sensor type it uses.
Yes, there are lots of cheap tachometers all over eBay. Usually, there's a magnet you have to glue to the spindle or one of the gears and a hall-effect sensor. I'm actually thinking about building an electronic leadscrew someday (so many projects...) and that will have an encoder on the headstock that I can use to read the RPM. Though that's going to be a much more involved project than you probably have in mind (mechanical, electrical, microcontroller, software, etc.)
Oh, and yes. A DRO is also in the project backlog. In fact, I already have one, sitting in boxes in the corner of my living room, waiting. The only reason I haven't done it yet is because the X axis install is going to be very tight and I'm still waiting for the good idea that's going to make it easy. :)
How were you calculating the spindle speed from the vfd frequency. eg. When you set lathe to 120rpm at 6Hz you got 15rpm at spindle and at 1200rpm at 120Hz you were getting 240rpm at spindle? Thanks.
I have the spindle belts set up in the 1200RPM position. Since the new motor has the same RPM rating as the original, when I run it at 60Hz (normal power frequency in the US) the spindle will turn at 1200RPM. 6Hz is 1/10 of 60 Hz, so the spindle will turn at 1/10 of 1200RPM, or 120RPM. When I dial it up to 120Hz, this is double 60Hz, so the spindle will turn at double 1200RPM, or 2400RPM. It would be possible to get different speeds with different belt positions, but I haven't found the need to do this yet. The general calculation for the resulting speed is * / 60. So 1200 * 6 / 60 = 120.
For stuff like this, there's always someone on eBay selling shorter lengths off a spool. Try searching for "shielded 9-conductor cable" or something similar.
@@Clough42 James what size wire is the 9/4 wire plus ground. I have ordered the same motor and very from your links I would ask if you could list those grade wires it would be very helpful so I can order them also. Thanks
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This series was very timely for me. I bought a VFD to provide 220v for my Unisaw so I don't need many of the features it gives your lathe, but I can take your basic instructions (my operator's guide was a joke) and do what I need to do. Yours is the best demo on TH-cam for VFD's. Thanks.
Thank you for this entire series. The detail at each step was no more/no less than required. This is class act. In my 49 years, I have not had the privilege of sitting at the feet of any instructor and reach session-end with no core gaps in knowledge, prior to now. You sir are gifted. Thank you for the balanced breadth, depth, and detail you present in this series. Not once did you drop the ball - perfectly executed!
Fantastic series, thanks for sharing the story of your grandpa
Your videos are the best! Very informative and thorough. But the little story about your Grandfather buying you your first wrench and the fact that you still use it is priceless. You had a great teacher from a young age. Love it.
I know you did this build over three years ago so it's old to you. I am looking at doing some work with a VFD so I watched your entire series. It was great and I really appreciate how you explain all of the details. I think my chances of succeeding are much better now,
I was given my little 4" crescent wrench back in 92 by a former boss. I supplied each apprentice under me with 1 as well. It's in my pocket from start to finish daily!
Got the gear and now the knowledge to convert my lathe. Love to have that low speed feed for threading up to a shoulder. Thanks for a brilliant series.
This whole series was interesting and informative, and I was feeling engaged throughout. Somehow, though, seeing you run it through its paces once the installation was all complete was just… a whole delight unto itself. That automatic ramping on the VFD controller made the forward and reverse switching perfectly safe… it felt like “noooo, don’t switch it at speed!”, and then… it’s fine! It just ramps. Very cool. Great work, past James! :)
Stumbled across this video series after looking for info on VFD to run a 2 post vehicle lift. This has to be one of the most excellent, informative video series i've seen on them, thank you for taking the time to make them. It was especially good as you explained a lot of the info that people are looking for on the supplementary controls and external switching can be used, that there's so little info out there on. Many thanks for taking the time again James it's very much appreciated!
Great set of comprehensive videos… probably the ultimate TH-cam guide for potential VFD installers like me..! A nice addition might be a cheap Chinese tachometer to show spindle speed..? Thanks from the UK.
Excellent job. Also given me scope for thought re: my VFD that recently arrived which I'm planning to use to supply three phase generically to several devices in my shed. They will all receive three phase via one contactor but via an arduino control will ONLY receive power on a first come first served basis. First one powered on gets the power provided the other three devices are off. A panel driven by the Arduino will indicate which device currently has power so it will be easy to safely identify which is causing a lockout.
VERY impressed with the smoothness of speed increment, the relatively low noise (including the lathe gearing) and the instantaneous ability to go from full forward to full reverse. Great wiring job too.
You sir, are amazing. Just watched all 6 videos (and I see you have an addendum, gonna watch that too). I have been thinking of getting a VFD for my old school Oliver wood lathe with a reeves drive but I have been as little intimidated. You did am excellent job explaining everything. There were times while watching that I didn't seem to understand, but like magic, you made sure to explain everything in detail.
I love all your teachings it's very clear and understanding
Hello Sir. I had my new G0602 delivered 3 days ago and realized I really want variable speed control. In hindsight I should have moved-up to the next lathe in the Grizzly food chain. It would have been cheaper than upgrading via your videos. BUT I really thank-you for all your hard work. I have used your links to order the parts as you did. Note, the motor you used has been replaced with a newer model. Casually looking at the specs I did not see any problems. Hopefully not blue smoke in my future. Thanks again!
Update, today I get all the motor controls functioning from the lathe front panel. Tomorrow I will install the motor. I plan to hang if from an automotive lift to get access to those bottom screws. Thanks again!!
Thank you for your videos that you present so professionally. I learned a lot and really enjoyed watching them.
Absolutely brilliant. In just 6 episodes you have cleared up so many questions that I and I am sure others have had; but could go nowhere to get the answers.
Great job kind Sir. May Jesus continue to bless you with gifts like you have been given. I am going to look at all the videos in this series again and again. Then put it to use on my many wood and metal machines.
Thanks so much.
Thank you! I'm glad you found it useful.
Excelent, I learn so much from these clips. Thank you. There is one thing to need more: attach a screen on the panel to view speed.
Thanks! Working on a Hardinge HC lathe controls Retrofit with 4 Motor controls.
Very helpful
Excellent project!
So glad you explained about the contactor and how it works into the system.
Now I can approach my conversion with somewhat less trepidation.
I'm glad it was helpful. A contactor latch is a simple thing, but if you've never seen how it works, it might as well be magic.
One of the best how to series I've seen yet on TH-cam about using the original switches as they were intended to control the same functions on the VFD Clough. That said even watching how you did it I'd feel a lot more comfortable with my inept electrical knowledge to pay a professional industrial electrician to do the same on my lathe. My Bridgeport clone was the first machine I've ever operated with a 3 ph VFD combination and it's amazing just how smooth and quiet they are. I very much suspect you'll see a decent improvement in the surface finishes you now get as well. Other than the extra cost I am a bit surprised you didn't upgrade the Chinese OEM switches to something a little more industrial rated since they seem to be a bit failure prone sometimes.
Interesting...I hadn't thought about surface finish. It'll be interesting to see if I can tell the difference. I'm already loving how smooth it is. I need to find another big lathe project so I can put it through its paces. I didn't mess with the switches because I was trying to not alter the control panel too much. I guess drilling a hole in it is a pretty big alteration. :) But I have some other stuff coming that may require more controls, and I haven't decided yet exactly how I want to do it.
I'm quite sure you will see an improved surface finish Clough. However that much smoother power delivery starts showing up any other problems that might have been disguised by the OEM single ph motor. The cheap factory supplied drive belts might not be the best and possibly any gearing that maybe isn't as concentric as it should be can then start to show up in the surface finish. I had to change out my mills drive belt since I was seeing a very slight and repeating surface pattern with my mill while fly cutting after I got it. It's a lot of effort and I haven't done mine yet, but adding cast in access holes for any bolts and guarding the spindle bearings then filling both the headstock and tailstocks hollow castings with an epoxy / granite mix can show some definite improvements as well. The castings are a lot lighter than they should be on these lathes.
My opinions and design preferences have been changed a great deal from drooling over too many top quality European built machine tools like the Deckel mills. To me the Swiss, German, Austrian designs seem to be more observant about ease of use for the operator than most others. The Deckel FP 2 and especially FP 3 uses a heavier built version of what most DRO head units use for a two arm pivioting mount and Deckel has all the machines controls mounted on a sloped face and almost always the dro mounted above that. The whole thing can be set for easy access yet out of the way of the current job no matter what size it is. Everything is positioned right at your finger tips. Harrison, Colchester, Clausing branded lathes today use a very well thought out addition to the lathes splash pan with all the controls mounted and centralized on an angled extension of that splash pan on the far left side. I'm seriously thinking of doing something much like it at some point.
Years ago there was an article in the Model Engineer's Workshop magazine where the author mildly modified his Myford super 7 top slide to incorporate a Newall magnetic scale inside the top slide because of the space restraints like your looking at on your lathes cross slide. No idea if the DRO you bought has the small diameter magnetic scales available for it or not. Because of the usual layout of the carriage lock, cross slide locking screw and the gib adjustment bolts plus maybe losing a bit of room to get the tailstocks casting as close to the right hand side of the carriage as possible then coming up with a decent workable mount for the X axis scale is always a problem on these smaller lathes like we have. My Newall micro syn scales and reader heads on my mill are the smallest I've seen for any dro and it might be worth checking if your dro's head unit is compatible with there signal type? For something like the cross slide I'd want the extra resolution and accuracy those micro syn scales have anyway. If you need dimensions I can measure my scales and reader head.
I'm a very new subscriber. I just wanted to say that I really appreciate the way you do your videos. Thanks!
Looking for word to use the VFD device in my 2 hp lathe (warco) after having this tons of informations from your series
I am not really sure that i am able to find these equipments in my country (sudan) but.. yaa i will give it try
Thanks man i really appreciate that
Even if you never run the spindle that slow it's fun to see it happen!
Awesome again. You gave me enough incentive and your perfect teaching method means I will btr trying this as well. I have a Sieg Lathe C6. Thank you for your patience and willingness to share all of this.
Sincerely Laurence
Excellent presentation thank you. I’ve already done similar on a bandsaw a few years ago pre UTube but it would have been brilliant to have seen your ideas first. Looking at my pillar drill now for vfd and 3 phase conversion so your considered approach is very welcome. Great workmanship.
Great series, but from personal experience: make certain you have both logical and physical printed schematics with every node numbered, and number both ends of every wire and teriminal block position with the corresponding node in the schematics. Use wraparound wire labels or printable heat shrink tubing.
Also: bakelite heptagon knobs: a total classic. Go look at the control panel of a Spitz A3P planetarium some time 😁.
You will like the videos of my Avid CNC control box. I used printed heat shrink for that.
WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR THIS SERIES .....THANKS ALOT
Very well presented I have this VFD on my Harrison m300 and it works very well
Another round of questions. The (L) in on filter is grounded to case?? Also, I am having a bit of a tough time clearly seeing the in/out connections on the contactor, could you clarify please? Thank man!
this is the best presentation in all the videos i have seen all your videos were very informative thanks for all the info.
Very well done, but as you asked for suggestions here goes !
So the 110 V & low voltage wiring cables are held in place by weak single wires with some vibration present when in use. Cable clips on the bundle please ! Don't want to find the VFD low voltage side cooked by 110 a few years down the line when the wires wear through.
Also there should probably be a suppression capacitor across the contractor latching coil. It might be built in already. Typically an X1 but that also means a suitable fuse in the hot/live wire required.
The correctly screened cable you've done (one end grounded drain) should couple high frequency switching noise to ground.
The mains filter doesn't protect the vfd signal wiring.
High current low frequency noise such as the motor power is the one to keep away from signal wiring and earth loops as the magnetic field goes through the screening or with an earth loop forms a transformer adding some high power motor drive to weak control signals.
done the same type of conversion but started with a 3 phase motor lathe , took me some headscratching to get the forward and reverse switch setup to the vfd to work like it should and have the emergency stops to work like it should
its been a while and i can even remember how i did it
one thing you might want to add is an rpm gauge , make it eazier to repeat speeds that worked for certan materials
suprized the teco vfd was making noise on the electric network , from wat i seen it had a build in filter (have the same brand for my mill)
I have some ideas for an RPM gauge. I'd really like to build an electronic leadscrew, and the electronics for that would have all of the data needed to display RPM. That's the only reason I haven't done it yet.
I suspect the VFD has some filtering, and it's probably enough for an industrial environment, but it was causing some trouble with my video setup.
Good job man, very informative, its very useful for my future DIY projects. More power.
One of those Wago multiple connectors on the DIN rail would be a nicer solution for multiple earth connections.
How do people know that you did everything unless it's visible and properly hot glued (especially lighted displays)? All the rest of the controls on the face of the lathe should have proper sticky notes labeled "see above" with arrows pointing to the new control. BTW, that is really nice. The sound generated is actually relaxing. Good job.
I spy most of a resistor color code in your wire color code :) I waited for you to finish the info about the drain wire... that was awesome. There aren't many that know grounding the shield on both ends is asking for noise. And you topped it off with heat shrink. That's much neater (looks better too imho) than electrical tape. Now back to the video...
Good eye. The cable had all the right colors to use the standard IEC color code, so I figured that would be the least surprising thing to whoever works on this machine after me. You're right--grounding can be tricky. It seems like the simplest thing, but there are lots of ways to get in trouble. And don't get me started on electrical tape. I guess there are some very nice high-quality products fit for some purpose or other, but I can't stand the stuff. It doesn't stay put long-term, and everything ends up sticky when you have to work on it later.
One of the best instructional videos I’ve seen and you have an impressive range of talents and skills. Thanks for sharing. Still not sure I want to tackle a vfd install on my yet to be ordered new lathe but I’m convinced that 3ph/vfd is the way to go.
Thank you for the compliment. I put the project off for a long time before I finally took the plunge. Part of the challenge was that I couldn't find anyone who really showed the details. So that's what I was hoping to create.
Perfect, very nice without any problem set up , good luck man
Amazing job and very informative,
Please keep posting more videos!
Nice job and very informative. Time to do one for my G0602
Great tutorial on selecting and installing your Techo VFD as I am planning on installing one for my drill press (L510 220v single phase in 220v three phase out). I have downloaded the manual and just completed my first reading. So my question for you is why did you decide to install a contactor for the external controls instead of wiring directly into the VFD?
The contactor addition seems popular. The logic is, if the power goes out and is restored, the machine doesn't resume running without a reset. I set a parameter in my VFD that requires the "forward-off-reverse" switch to be cycled to off before restarting due to power failure or stop button/brake activation.
Hello James. If I got a metal lathe and has a 3 phase motor, stop and start bottoms and reverse switch and the Contactor. Can I install a VFD Single phase in, 3 phase out and just wire the lathe's leads in the VFD? Thank you for the video. it is amazing.
Excellent Series! Thank you, Sir
you've done an excellent job and very detailed. I saw your monitor again off while you turn on the machine and again you hit the stop button is that normal??
Hi James, what contactor are you using?
Can you please please please make a video with detailed instructions on how to connect the centroid acorn to a vfd and how it is set up in the wizard!? Please, I have been struggling with this part alone for the last year and it is the final step before I can have a working Cnc router. I am embarrassed that I can’t figure it out and I humbly ask for your help. You have a way of explaining things to is easy for me to comprehend most times and I hope that you maybe able to help me get it through my thick scull how to set it up correctly.
I haven't done it either (yet). That project will be coming up at some point.
James, I have watched your entire series on installation of the new motor and VFD. Kudos! I appreciate what you have done, as I am about to install a VFD on my equipment. I am going to attempt to use the same VFD for my lathe (3 HP), milling machine (2 HP), and surface grinder (3 HP). I also have a pantograph but it has such a small motor, it will function off its own VFD. You have run your system now for sufficient time to know if there are any wrinkles. I was a touch concerned when you mounted the aux fan directly on the housing for the fan of your motor. I envisioned that the external fan would impede the draw of the fan on the motor and for that reason you would actually be better off running the two fans simultaneously on all speeds. Any issues on this count?
Very nice and neat installation. Good job. VFD's make running machines so much more enjoyable. My CNC Mill has a VFD. I have a three phase motor and drive to install on my Lathe. Just need to find the time to install it. Great idea switching on the electric cooling fan at lower speeds. I hope my VFD is capable of doing this? Keep up the good work with your videos. Found your channel when looking for examples of electronic gear boxes. Hope you continue with this project.
Cheers
Willy
There seems to be a very conspicuous lack of ferrite rings in the final wiring. Anything you might want to share...? ;)
Great Video!! I am about to add a variable speed motor to my wood lathe. My question to you is, what electrical contactor did you use? I could not find a description of it in your list of tools. Please advise and thank you!!
@clough42 What gauge of wire are the multi-colored control wires?
Nice set of videos. It helps me plan my mill 3ph in stall. Witch I am doing at this time. Thanks
Cool. Enjoy!
Nice, but I'm surprised you bother to leave the contactor in place. A VFD does that job for you. If you lose power and then the power comes back on, the VFD will not provide power to the lathe. The user must punch the run button again. I do appreciate that you basically put in a remote keypad. I run quite a few VFDs and most folks don't take the trouble to remotely place the VFD. You want to keep them cool and dust free as possible. For my lathes and big bandsaw I have put in remote keypads. (some lathes have a keypad that is easily removable, and all you need is a cable set up for that). But for other machines, like my table saw, I just run a 2 wire start stop (usually between GND and X1 or such) With that switch close to my hip, it is very convenient for turning off a powered machine.
Great job sir. Thanks 🙏
what a great 6 part .looking forward to more videos
Thanks!
fantastic all 6 videos thank you
That was a great job I would like to do the exact same thing to my step pulley Bridgeport's mill I'm a retired machinist but electrical is not one of my things sounds like you have a background in electrical my brideport has a 2hp motor on it and I think it is 440 3phase would this work on it i love the variable speed option
25:07 thats amazing, you start lathe and turn off video XD at the same time.
I was anxious to see if the EMI protection were enough ... (i giggled when the camera ange changed immediately)
Great series which really helped answer some questions but left me with two more. Why does the cable for the contactor look so underrated for current? Also , how can you safely run the motor at twice the rated frequency?
I purchased everything from your links....very helpful, glad it supports your efforts here. One question about aux fan on motor, Do you want it blowing in it blowing out away from motor? I'm unsure what the motor does (primary in its forward rotation....) Don't want to counter act it!
Blowing in, over the motor body fins.
Which contactor are you using? I see Teco specs the CN-11 which has now been replaced by the CU-11, which is impossible to find in stock anywhere. I have a switch/pot design I’m working on with a couple on/off switches. Contactor looks like the only way I’ll be able to make it all work properly. I truly appreciate these videos. They’re the best L510 videos I’ve found, and probably the best VFD videos in general.
Thank you! I reused the contactor that was originally in the lathe for the stock controls. It's a Siemens 3TB41 22E 110V.
Can you share motor info and vfd info. Great video. Excellent outcome. I would like to do this upgrade on my g0602. Thank you for sharing.
look at part 1
What gauge is the wire in the control/shielded cables?
Awesome series!Can you explain the "ground loop" you referred to?What does it do to the equip?I've always connected at both ends out of habit,and nothing blew up.Only time I had problems was running dual antennae on the mirrors of my truck grounded,but I thought it was an RF thing....Thanks for sharing!! I didn't see you torroids,is that why the monitor still freaks/crashes?BTW,you coulda used your 3M tape to make sure the cables were held down behind the panel,lol
Can you show on this how you updated the fan in the box with the charger on your last video you hooked it up straight to live and neutral on the noise reducer. So how did you hook it up to the vfd to run?
Looks outstanding! Never thought of using a VFD in that way. Totally neat and professional. You must be some sort of engineer.
Thank you. Yes. I am some sort of engineer.
Excellent video. Very well explained. 👍
Excellent video James, I wanted opinions from your viewers on a VFD controlled Lathe or Milling machine, I have been doing a ton of repairs on the VFD where the capacitors have gone bad or the IGBTs have been blown. That would be typical on the Chinese cheap VFDs, A siemens or other VFD would cost you an arm and a leg or more than what you paid for your setup.
I don't think he's on here anymore Don Zanotti. Not sure if maybe something happen to him or what. People have asked questions from months ago and NO response from James. Hope Not hella a teacher and Mentor for sure. Best by far.
Hello James I have enjoyed the vfd series video series. I was wondering what recommendation you would have for a wood lathe control panel as far as dust control. Still being able to use cooling fans. Thank you for any input!
very helpful video thanks
Really enjoyed this video series on the vfd the one thing that you failed to say was how much was the conversation and where did you purchase all of the components if you can let me know I would appreciate it
Check the video descriptions for links.
Great video could you share the wire ring diagram for the contactor please, Happy subscriber
Well James, since my electrical knowledge isn't at your level, and I cannot make out the wiring very clearly, I'm passing on the line filter as neutral seems to be just another "hot" wire to me and grounding it seems illogical. Hopefully you'll shed some light and I can add at another date.
Outstanding!
You explained the use of the latching contactor so the machine won't start after a power failure. I believe that most VFD's have a parameter that you can set (off by default) for start after power. When off, the motor will not restart after a power fail unless you repress the start button, so the contactor is probably not necessary as it is on an ac motor.
Very cool! Is the torque good enough at all RPM's for you?
So far. I can still use the belt reduction if needed.
James: have you lost the braking power of the Vfd with the 3 phase motor by connecting the e-stop to the single phase input to the VFD.
I am rewiring my larthe with the e-stop in series with an off/on toggle and the for/rev switch an I maintain my breaking .
( just bench testing, no permanent wires yet)
Just looking for your thoughts .
Dave
Thank you for a very informative series for the installation of a variable speed upgrade for your lathe. I am hoping to do this to both my WARCO 300 metal lathe and to my woodturning lathe as well .Hopefully the VFD I have ordered will be as versatile as your Westinghouse one. Time will tell. I had no idea you could double the speed like that by increasing the frequency so much. Is your new motor a two or four pole? Given that you said it was around 1800 rpm i suspect that it is a 4 pole. Here in the UK we are on 240 v lot and running 50 Hz so the 3 phase motors which have 4 poles run around 1420 rpm and 2 poles 2840.
So for the four wire plus ground cable, did you fold the white wire out of the way. i.e. you appeared to only use 3 of the 4 wire. ????
Great video James, but I do have a question: Why didn't you just use a 120VAC muffin fan in the enclosure instead of the 12VDC fan? If you had, you could have eliminated the need for the wall wart. Additionally, you could have done the same for the muffin fan on the motor. I am not being critical of your use of 12VDC fans, but I am curious as to why you used them instead of 120VAC fans.
Noise. I need a quiet fan because I shoot video in my shop. Everything new is getting Noctua fans now.
Thanks James. Very well done. Very informative. I bought the motor and VFD from your links. Hope it helps you to do more excellent videos. This is for my CNC-converted G0602. I never upgraded the motor to CNC, just to motion. I will have to figure out how to configure the VFD and connect it to the Acorn controller board. Any advice on that would be appreciated. Thanks again.
Thanks! It looks like the Acorn board can provide the standard 0-10V output to control the VFD. I've never done it, but if I understand correctly, you can connect this to AVI and AGND on the VFD and control the speed. I think the potentiometer I used is wired to provide a 0-10V signal to AVI, so it's probably already set up to work without any additional configuration. I'm not sure about switching the drive on and off or reversing the direction. The Acorn looks like it has additional outputs that could be used to drive the S inputs, but I have never attempted this.
Clough42 Thanks for the reply. I will try this next week when I get the parts installed per you instructions.
How did you arrive at 2 kilo ohm for the size of your pot/speed control? I have seen other VFD installation videos which refer to 10 kilometers ohm. ????
Did you solve the monitor turning off when you shut the contactor off?
What contactor is that? do I need to use one of them and a noise suppressor? I was just going to use a wall switch to turn the l510 on and off via a switched outlet.
2 questions. 1. Did you do your mill conversion yourself? and 2. Do you have a schematic of how you did this wiring? I have watched these videos 10x over and have learned a lot from them but I am trying to use the same motor and vfd, and be controlled by a centroid acorn board. Thank you for this series. It's great!!!
Yes, I did do the conversion myself. I don't have a schematic per se, but I did do a little tour of the electronics in one of the Z motor upgrade videos.
great job!
Do you use gfci protection for VFD?
What size wire did you use for the control wire?
hi james.
can you provide or post control wiring diagram for vfd to control panel component wiring. I am little confused as not remember video in mind. i hope u understand.
Thanks alot sir can I have an f700 programming using the panel on its face
Outstanding thank you for sharing
What wiring size are you using for high voltage and low from lathe control panel from the lathe panel to VFD panel ? Where can you get the wire and do you have a affiliate link for the wire ? By any chance do you have a full diagram for wiring the control panel ? Any help appreciated. BTW awesome videos on this conversion.
The wires to the control panel are small--probably about 20-22AWG. Just be sure that the insulation is rated for the voltages you want to use. Off the top of my head, I think the cable I used is rated for 300V, which is typical. I don't have a full wiring diagram, but I did show a diagram for the contactor latching circuit in one of the videos.
@@Clough42 Yes you did show the latching contactor. You done a very good job explaining everything. I was in the process of ordering parts to do a VFD upgrade then saw your video and it helped me very much! Have you done much threading with this new motor ? How slow can you run it and still get good threading ? The lathe is stock for 150RPM and is a little fast for threading for me. I am hoping it can thread smoothly closer to 100RPM. Thanks again for such a great video series.
Thanks excellent video series on VFD conversion, I've considered a conversion on my gear head lathe 7.5 kw motor, lowest speed is 25 and highest 1165 , I would like to goes as low a 3 rpm for metal wrought iron twisting and scroll attachments and also have a higher rpm range for matching, do you think this could be possible ?? Thanks David
It's possible. If the motor is rated for 10:1 inverter duty, like the one I used, and you gear the lathe for 25 RPM, you should be able to turn it at 2.5 RPM. The question then becomes one of torque. 7.5KW is a lot of power, and if you can gear it for 25 RPM, there will be a lot of mechanical advantage. So basically, the motor will be pretty weak because it's running so slowly, but it's a big motor and will be geared for a lot of torque, so I'm not sure what to expect.
very interesting, thank you for share it. but I would like to ask an question, other than noise improvement comparing to old motor (1 phase), what is the benefit of swap the motor to 3 phase for the lathe? for the same HP does any improvement to the lathe operation?
Berry, no bet swaps with VFD, just turn the knob, and if needed only swap belt for low and high range. Awesome Job James
yes, I planned also to put VFD to my lathe, but I'm thinking which one is better single phase or three phase for lathe operation.
my power sourch is 220v single phase, and if I change the motor to 3 phase, is there any benefit?
Was it necessary to use shielded cable for the contactor control wires? And what gauge did you use?
Probably not, since they're just 60Hz AC. I knew I was eventually going to be adding an electronic leadscrew, so I shielded whatever I could.
@@Clough42 What gauge of wire is in the multi conductor cables?
thanks! i keep learning a lot from your videos. i have a question. is there a reliable way to read the RPM, that doesn't cost a fortune? you know, to show you on a diplay the exact RPM. it would make this project whole i think.
Next stop DRO for the lathe? (i guess those do cost a bit haha)
Yeah there is a way, a cheap $15 digital display off of Ebay and you'd need to probably remove the headstocks sheet metal to access the lathes spindle to mount whatever rotary pick up sensor type it uses.
Yes, there are lots of cheap tachometers all over eBay. Usually, there's a magnet you have to glue to the spindle or one of the gears and a hall-effect sensor. I'm actually thinking about building an electronic leadscrew someday (so many projects...) and that will have an encoder on the headstock that I can use to read the RPM. Though that's going to be a much more involved project than you probably have in mind (mechanical, electrical, microcontroller, software, etc.)
Oh, and yes. A DRO is also in the project backlog. In fact, I already have one, sitting in boxes in the corner of my living room, waiting. The only reason I haven't done it yet is because the X axis install is going to be very tight and I'm still waiting for the good idea that's going to make it easy. :)
How were you calculating the spindle speed from the vfd frequency. eg. When you set lathe to 120rpm at 6Hz you got 15rpm at spindle and at 1200rpm at 120Hz you were getting 240rpm at spindle? Thanks.
I have the spindle belts set up in the 1200RPM position. Since the new motor has the same RPM rating as the original, when I run it at 60Hz (normal power frequency in the US) the spindle will turn at 1200RPM. 6Hz is 1/10 of 60 Hz, so the spindle will turn at 1/10 of 1200RPM, or 120RPM. When I dial it up to 120Hz, this is double 60Hz, so the spindle will turn at double 1200RPM, or 2400RPM. It would be possible to get different speeds with different belt positions, but I haven't found the need to do this yet. The general calculation for the resulting speed is * / 60. So 1200 * 6 / 60 = 120.
Thats great. Cheers.
Where you get the cable?
What gauge of wire are the multi-colored control wires?
Having problems finding small amounts of the 9/4 wire plus ground, foil shield, where did you get yours?
For stuff like this, there's always someone on eBay selling shorter lengths off a spool. Try searching for "shielded 9-conductor cable" or something similar.
@@Clough42 James what size wire is the 9/4 wire plus ground. I have ordered the same motor and very from your links I would ask if you could list those grade wires it would be very helpful so I can order them also. Thanks