[tadol]

Just had to report on my success at installing my first VFD - wish I’d tried it sooner!

Some time ago, I got a new workspace that I thought had 3 phase power, and I found a great deal on an older Davis & Wells 20” bandsaw - these are really great machines, 700 lbs of cast-iron sweetness - but when I got in, discovered no 3 phase installed - so, plan B -

After looking at options, I decided to experiment with something I’d not tried before, but knew had great potential - a Variable Frequency Drive. For just over $100, you can get a box that wires up in front of a 3 phase motor, and allows you to run it on single phase power. And not just run it, but also give you variable speed, soft start and stop, forward reverse, and much more. There are a number of specifics about type of motor, power rating, insulation class and more, but for my use (occasional) it wasn’t hard to find a rather generic control.

It arrived from Amazon, and after trying to make sense of the many options, I decided that I’d just try the “default” programming and see if I had any problems. To test it, I unhooked the 3 motor legs coming off the old switch unit, and attached them to the three terminals at the bottom of the unit. Then I pulled the female plug off one of my 220v single phase extension cords, ignored the ground/neutral and wired the two single phase leads to the 2 screws on the top of the unit. I plugged it in, and the unit lit up, telling me I had 60hz power coming in (normal) and quietly blinked at me. I hit the start button, and the saw quickly and quietly ramped up to full speed. I turned the knob on the unit down to 30hz, and the motor slowed to half speed. I hit the stop button, and the motor came to a controlled stop. Success! Now, it was spinning the wrong direction, so all I had to do was swap 2 of the legs on the motor leads, and that was solved. I’m still refining my mount and set-up, but so far its fantastic.

So - for anyone looking for a great used bandsaw, or sander, or lathe, or drill press, the option of getting a great deal on a used industrial machine and installing your own VFD should definitely be on your radar. I’m sure there’s alot more I need to learn, but when I took my first test cut on my new bandsaw, I couldn’t be happier!