Advice on a VFD for 3-Phase Lathe
#10
Hey guys, I have this 1947 Homecraft/ Delta 11" lathe with 3/4-Horse 3-Phase motor. (pics attached)

https://i.imgur.com/iueGQ1w.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FcIBlWg.jpg

The lathe has 4 pulleys and the motor does too. Just like this: http://www.old-woodworking-tools.net/del...o-930.html

I'm going to email FactoryMation.com and Dealers Electric for their advice but can anyone here recommend a VDF?

Searching the archives here I see mention of "sensorless vector drive, vs V/Hz mode." What does this mean? What do I need?

Thanks in advance.
Reply
#11
(01-31-2019, 01:10 PM)The Mick Wrote: Hey guys, I have this 1947 Homecraft/ Delta 11" lathe with 3/4-Horse 3-Phase motor. (pics attached)

https://i.imgur.com/iueGQ1w.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FcIBlWg.jpg

The lathe has 4 pulleys and the motor does too. Just like this: http://www.old-woodworking-tools.net/del...o-930.html

I'm going to email FactoryMation.com and Dealers Electric for their advice but can anyone here recommend a VDF?

Searching the archives here I see mention of "sensorless vector drive, vs V/Hz mode." What does this mean? What do I need?

Thanks in advance.

What is motor voltage?
Reply
#12
(01-31-2019, 01:10 PM)The Mick Wrote: Hey guys, I have this 1947 Homecraft/ Delta 11" lathe with 3/4-Horse 3-Phase motor. (pics attached)

https://i.imgur.com/iueGQ1w.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FcIBlWg.jpg

The lathe has 4 pulleys and the motor does too. Just like this: http://www.old-woodworking-tools.net/del...o-930.html

I'm going to email FactoryMation.com and Dealers Electric for their advice but can anyone here recommend a VDF?

Searching the archives here I see mention of "sensorless vector drive, vs V/Hz mode." What does this mean? What do I need?

Thanks in advance.
Guess I should have looked at the photos. Looking at the motor I am sure that it is not made to handle a a VFD. VFD's have a tendency to send voltage spikes into the motor and cause premature failure of the motor windings. Inverter duty motosr have a much higher insulation class than what you have. I have a similar lathe (Delta 1460) that I replaced the 3/4hp with a 1hp 3 phase motor and a Lenze VFD.

Hope this helps.
Reply
#13
tons of old non-vfd rated motors running happily on vfds.  I have 4 vfds, no vfd motors
Reply
#14
That’s an old motor, being that it’s 220/440V (rather than 230/460V).

You don’t need a vector drive for a lathe, but it won’t hurt anything to use one instead of the usually cheaper V/Hz type. The Mick is not wrong about inverter duty motors, but on a home wood lathe, I doubt it will run long enough under heavy enough load to break the insulation down.

One thing in your favor is you’ll be running at 240V and not 480V, so the Voltage peaks will be much lower. Also try to use the lowest operating frequency the VFD can be programmed for. Something like 8kHz.* The longer the rise time of each pulse, which comes about from fewer cycles per second, the lower the peak induced voltage spikes in the windings. Also keeping the wiring between the VFD and the motor as short as reasonable will help with these spikes.

*Not to be confused with the synthesized output frequency, like 60Hz (same as wall power in North America) and up or down from there. Operating frequency is the number of tiny slices of on/off power per second to create the output frequency (like 60Hz) that’s driving the motor and controlling its speed.
Tom

“This place smells like that odd combination of flop sweat, hopelessness, aaaand feet"
Reply
#15
They make 120v single phase in 220v 3 phase out vfds for 1hp and less motors. I ran a 120v wj200 hitachi vfd on a 618 atlas lathe. Their potentiometer remote panels are cheap too so I had the panel close to the lathe and the vfd in a covered enclosure. WJ200-007MF is the hitachi one. Fuji makes one too.


Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.

Reply
#16
Thanks for all the replies.

Oldwood2409 You're probably right that my old motor won't last too long but I think I'll wire it up and try it out for a bit anyway before I invest on an inverter duty motor.

A couple more questions:
Is there any advantage to running the input @ 240v opposed to 120v?


Are there any VFDs that will display the RPM of my tool as opposed to the Hz, on it's LCD display? If not I could just attach a separate tach and display and use the VFDs pot to tune it to where I want it.
Reply
#17
Oh and I forgot to ask what you think about the vector controled WEG CFW300. The base price looks good but maybe all the modules you have to buy will add up.

https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/sho...04p2s2nb20
Reply
#18
the big advantage to 240 vs 120 is the current is half and the wiring in the wall can be smaller.
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

Product Recommendations

Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.