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  #1  
Old 04-19-2019, 02:20 PM
tadol tadol is offline
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Default My first VFD!

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!
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  #2  
Old 04-19-2019, 03:11 PM
mattyc71 mattyc71 is offline
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VFDs are very cool toys - my company uses them on our machines. I'd be interested to know how much of a load you can put on that bandsaw. Have you tried to cut a big block of wood yet? Good Luck in the new space!
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  #3  
Old 04-19-2019, 03:11 PM
murrmac123 murrmac123 is offline
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Congratulations on your success ! These old American made machines are way superior to the modern lightweight Pacific rim machines being peddled nowadays.

Of course I have to add that the British and European made machines of that era were of equal quality (Wadkin ... Robinson ... Dankaert )

Keep us posted on how the machine behaves, and if there are any problems down the line.
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Old 04-19-2019, 04:01 PM
charles Tauber charles Tauber is offline
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If your motor is air cooled, over heating might be an issue if the motor is run at slower speeds.
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Old 04-19-2019, 06:33 PM
tadol tadol is offline
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Haven’t tried a big block - had some 4” roughsawn cedar, and handled that no prob - especially considering I’m using the old rusty blade it came with, and it is only a 1hp motor. This won’t be my main resaw, so I think it’ll be great

I wish I could find older european machines! I do have a wonderful Ulmia tablesaw, and a Hapfo spindle lathe, but those are only about 35 years old. Now that I feel like I can easily deal with 3ph motors, I will be looking harder -

The overheating is the one thing I am concerned about - the inexpensive VFD has alot of ventilation slots, and seems poorly designed for woodworking machinery. I just mounted it inside a large steel electrical junction box that I bolted to the belt guard (the belt guard is heavier steel than most newer machine frames are made of) so it should have plenty of air space and minimize dust and chips, and I will never run this at really low speed - so I’ll keep fingers crossed. Its an old GE Triclad motor, so it’ll probably outlast me! My next trick is setting up remote controls on the face of the saw, especially a big red stop button.

I like machines with great big red stop buttons -
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Old 04-19-2019, 07:50 PM
mirwa mirwa is offline
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I made a belt knife sander years ago and fitted a 3 phase motor to it as my workshop has three phase.

Dont have three phase at home, so did a vfd install, i can really feel the difference when i bring my knife grinder home and use the vfd compared to it at work. Big torque difference.

I would not use one for a lathe too much torque needed.

Steve
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Old 04-19-2019, 08:31 PM
difalkner difalkner is offline
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Good move on not only getting some old 'arn' but in getting it running with the VFD.

I built a CNC router a couple of years ago and am using a Hitachi WJ200 VFD for my 3kW (4HP) water cooled spindle. It takes my available single phase 230V and nicely turns it into 3 phase for the spindle. Works like a champ!

David
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Old 04-19-2019, 08:52 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
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Hooking up a three phase speed drive to single phase cuts out one diode feeding the dc supply. This means the working diodes will be pulling more current through them than if run off three phase. Just something to keep in mind when running off of single phase, it might be good to up size the drive as compared to the hp you want to run. I have a drive kicking around, never thought to put a 3 phase motor on my band saw. Might have to keep an eye out for a motor.
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Old 04-19-2019, 10:31 PM
tadol tadol is offline
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Well, you don’t get something for nothing - I used the 2.2kw unit even though my motor is only 1hp - It was only $20 more, and I figured it would possibly be slightly less efficient, but the components would hopefully be a bit heavier duty. I tried solid state inverters and rigged up three phase rotary inverters (both many years ago), but those were not at all acceptable to me, and decided I’d avoid any 3ph equipment that I couldn’t swap out the motor on. This (so far) seems very acceptable, and I haven’t even gotten into the many options you can program into the controller.

As soon as I can get a shiny new blade on there, I’ll try slicing up some 8” material and see how it runs -
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  #10  
Old 04-26-2019, 01:39 PM
Quickstep192 Quickstep192 is offline
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I put a VFD on a 3 phase late I got from a school.

The VFD fives me infinitely variable speed and reverse, which is handy.

I do notice some torque loss at low speeds, but I compensate by switching the reeves drive to a lower speed and cranking up the VFD a bit.
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Old 04-26-2019, 03:31 PM
tadol tadol is offline
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I’ve got things pretty well put together now - I’ve mounted the interface panel to the face of the saw, and added a pair of low-voltage momentary contact buttons to start and stop the saw. I’m beginning to really grok the benefits of this device - it has so many options in its programming, I’m pretty sure I’m just scratching the surface. Next up - a large red momentary stop button within reach of my knee, that is more for peace of mind than regular use. I mean, $9 worth of parts? No prob -
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  #12  
Old 04-26-2019, 03:39 PM
tadol tadol is offline
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Default My first VFD!

Trying to post pic -
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Last edited by tadol; 04-26-2019 at 03:47 PM.
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  #13  
Old 04-27-2019, 08:58 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tadol View Post
I’ve got things pretty well put together now - I’ve mounted the interface panel to the face of the saw, and added a pair of low-voltage momentary contact buttons to start and stop the saw. I’m beginning to really grok the benefits of this device - it has so many options in its programming, I’m pretty sure I’m just scratching the surface. Next up - a large red momentary stop button within reach of my knee, that is more for peace of mind than regular use. I mean, $9 worth of parts? No prob -
Yeah, we have manuals with hundreds of parameters that can be configured, Sometimes you wish they give you a dumbed down mode. The manuals don't come on paper they are so big.
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