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Downwindtracker2

Super User
Finally after 10 years my metal lathe works ,sorta. The VFD and I have come to terms. It still doesn't do Jog or E-Stop. But it does do Forward,Off, Reverse and the speed adjustment pot works. To me, this is huge victory. I had used it on the power up setting for a while. It was awkward going around the end to access the VFD control panel for on/off. That was just a single speed forward at 60hz.

The lathe is a '91 BusyBee DF1224g . After doing the bearings and belts , I was hitting in the 1/10ths . That's the lathe because it certainly wasn't the operator's skill !.
'
It's still not finished. There is the E-stop and the jog buttons to sort out. I have to fit backing plates for the 6" 3jaw. It's a nice Bison with removable jaws. Soft jaws ! And the 8" 4jaw. It came with an 8" 3jaw. I should make a spider too. The MachTach needs a VFD filter. It giving erratic rpm, about <+/- 50. It changes when I move the power cord in the control box it shares with the VFD.

The VFD is a Hitachi WJ200-015SF . It's the second one, the first didn't work.At least for me. It did power up, once for a while, and that was it. The motor is a 2hp Baldor.

About a month ago I told my wife she should pick up a bottle of Baileys . She said the 40 pounder was a better deal. I said we weren't going to open it until I had a victory.
 
Downwindtracker2 said:
Finally after 10 years my metal lathe works ,sorta. The VFD and I have come to terms. It still doesn't do Jog or E-Stop. But it does do Forward,Off, Reverse and the speed adjustment pot works. To me, this is huge victory. I had used it on the power up setting for a while. It was awkward going around the end to access the VFD control panel for on/off. That was just a single speed forward at 60hz.

The lathe is a '91 BusyBee DF1224g . After doing the bearings and belts , I was hitting in the 1/10ths . That's the lathe because it certainly wasn't the operator's skill !.
'
It's still not finished. There is the E-stop and the jog buttons to sort out. I have to fit backing plates for the 6" 3jaw. It's a nice Bison with removable jaws. Soft jaws ! And the 8" 4jaw. It came with an 8" 3jaw. I should make a spider too. The MachTach needs a VFD filter. It giving erratic rpm, about <+/- 50. It changes when I move the power cord in the control box it shares with the VFD.

The VFD is a Hitachi WJ200-015SF . It's the second one, the first didn't work.At least for me. It did power up, once for a while, and that was it. The motor is a 2hp Baldor.

About a month ago I told my wife she should pick up a bottle of Baileys . She said the 40 pounder was a better deal. I said we weren't going to open it until I had a victory.
Click to expand...
Did you put controls on the lathe or are you just using the VFD controls?
 
I'd love to see pics as I have the 12x37 version of this lathe and am planning a 3-phase conversion this year.
 
From the 10 year programing challenge, you can see computers are not in my skill set. However, writing was a requirement of our education in those days.

I have 8"x8"x14 3/4" control box bolted to left side. It's bolted with 3/4" stand offs so as to clear the headstock lid. The bottom is above the door to the belts., not by much. I should have added more, maybe.There is a top lid and a front door on the box, for air flow as much as access . I didn't put in a control box fan. I'll just open it up when in use. The pot and the tach are mounted on the side facing the lathe front. I used a couple of connecting blocks for wiring ease.

The front control panel used four holes, E-Stop, a drum switch for forward/off/reverse, and two jog buttons. I held this panel by a couple of screw knobs at the top corners. That is so I could move it to get at the gears for oiling on the Norton gearbox. Mine has drip holes. Oiling is a PITA on this lathe.

My wood lathe uses a factory installed VFD with a pulleys and a belt for speed ranges. So for the metal lathe I wanted to be able to use the belts and back gears. Of course the motor shaft had to be a different size, so the two step sheave wasn't going to work. I bought a quality sheave and bolted the cut off small sheave to the front. I had to cut some sheet metal for the motor box and I made sure the fan side had air flow. Running low hertz can build up heat.

I hope this helps you. You probably program it in 10 days .
 
I've been tacking stuff onto orders for the last little while to complete my VFD remote setup, and the last part, the braking resistor arrived last night. Now that everything is here, I'll let it acclimatize for a few months before getting around to it :D.
 
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