vertical bandsaw preference and VFD?

[Scotts]

Originally Posted by cutter

Ya'll are gonna keep screwing around 'til you make me start wanting a VFD.
But first I'd have to find another old machine to play with.

Careful now. They can be addictive. I don't know of any cure. WHEN you get one you can read the book and add more bells and whistles than you could ever imagine.

These new ones are very forgiving.

Do you know if your local bearing house sells them? They usually have the factory reps on a schedule to come by and visit with interested parties.

Scott

[allessence]

Originally Posted by cutter

Ya'll are gonna keep screwing around 'til you make me start wanting a VFD.
But first I'd have to find another old machine to play with.

Well, if that just doesn't spank the chickens.

Since when is a new (old) machine something that has to be found!! I wish I had more room. I just saw an add for a milling machine for 600.00, A huge Doall 36" bandsaw for 500.00 (which I'm going to see next week) several lathes.

Oh, my goodness. If only I had a shop up

Cutter, by the way, what else do you need to add to the collection????

I can see where the VFD is going to be awesome to have, but it is definetly a learning curve for me in more than one way. I've used conduit for running wire and have used steel boxes and the like, But moving into the sealed stuff is a little more problematic since I will have to buy more supplies.


The only thing that really complicated the install for the VFD is the ports/cutouts are on the bottom. If they were on the back it would be a piece of cake. A new metal plate with cutouts to feed the wires thru and straight into the VFD. Now I have to extend the wires out then 90degrees and then into the VFD.

[precisionworks]

The only thing that really complicated the install for the VFD is the ports/cutouts are on the bottom.

+1

You have to wonder how many drive engineers actually skinned up their knuckles while wiring the drive they just designed

My first SMVector NEMA 4X was a "standard" drive, and the terminal strip is tight (photo 1). The second drive included the optional filtered input ... don't ask why (because it was there) ... but is much easier to wire (photo 2). The next drive will also have this option only because of ease of wiring.

On both drives, the motor terminals are the three on the far left.

[allessence]

mine is the first type. all pin terminals are on the same rack. I bought all the wettight connectors today and plan on at least getting a start on it. It's 3:00pm just ate lunch and I''m supposed to be meeting a friend at 5pm for dinner. So, maybe I'll get 1 hour in.


I decided to mount the VFD on the front. I'll make a panel to cover the opening from the mag switch and I'll feed the new fittings thru that.

Barry, I did discover that the blade welder throws tons of sparks each weld cycle. I'm going to mount the VFD high enough up with a shield underneath.

The real reason I wanted to mount it where the mag starter was is to retain the factory stickers on blade length and safety. I ended up removing them from the machine before lunch. I'll see about glueing the blade length back on once I have it all wired.

[precisionworks]

the blade welder throws tons of sparks each weld cycle.

Can you tell that its been a while since I've used one

Now I have to extend the wires out then 90degrees and then into the VFD.

A 90 degree EMT connector will help.

[allessence]

Hi, the conduit inside the machine is actually sealtite. go figure right. A non wet sump machine and all the motor and outside connections are watertite...


I picked up a set earlier today. A few 90's, some straights and some new sealtite conduit. I figured they would make/have a pass thru connector for this stuff, Like a panel mount thing. And no one did. I stopped at 3 places. Then finially a guy at Graybar said I could use 2 straights and a union. just drill the pass thru the same size as the threads, Tighten up the union and I'd be good to go.

The distance from the back of the VFD to where they go in is about 3" I figure I'll have one running on the motor side and one of the input side. This should keep things tidy.

As to the front of the box fuse box I' think I'm going to pull the 220 for the welder and transformer for the light right from there. This will cut down on the clutter to/from the VFD.

I'm going to pick up a wet location box tomorrow.

Never did have a chance to get a start on it though I did at least get the parts today. I'll post pic's of the parts tomorrow.

[allessence]

Well, I was able to get some done yesterday, but didn't have anytime to post pictures.

Had time today to. Made good progress. I figure a few more hours and it will be up and running.

Some of the first pictures are a little blurry. Didn't realize the camera settings had been changed. Sorry.


The later ones are better.

[allessence]

One of the biggest concerns was how to cover up the hole from the Mag starter.

I figure it out this way. Picture tells all.

Was one of the better ideas I had this week.

[allessence]

VFD up close and personal.

[allessence]

Here I have made the connections between the cover plate and the VFD. The sealtite stuff is pretty decent to work with and it's only a little more expensive than the EMT.


I was able to pretty much keep the connections in the extension box mounted above the fuse /on/off and all the other stuff is direct.

I was thinking some stainless steel plate would look nice to replace the 18gauge steel I'm currently using for the cover plate.

I'll weld a weld splatter shield on the cover plate at some point. May hold out to see if I can find some stainless.