I have a 2HP 3 Phase BP Mill that I would like to run on 220VAC 1 Phase. MXtras and other have used a VFD like this one:

http://www.jhchoppers.com/photobucket/vfd.jpg

L200-015NFU (http://www.driveswarehouse.com/Drives/AC+Drives/Compact+VFD/L200-015NFU.html)

Is this better than a rotory convertor?

Also, can this kind of VFD be interfaced with Mach3 to control the Speedle Speed?

If anyone has used something like this, please let me know how it worked out for you. Some pictures of your setup would also be great.

Joel

Yup, and yup.

I have had mine (very similar to your pic) for about 3 years and I just recently hooked it up to Mach. Prior to hooking it up, I just controlled the on/off and speed manually - now I have less to mess with during a run and if I am across the shop, I know when the cycle is complete because the spindle shuts down. Too cool!

You need a speed board. I bought mine from cnc4pc.com. (it's this one http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=58)

It's easy to set up. I can pitch in when the time comes and I am sure there are others that will help.

Scott

Thanks Scott... I was hoping you would point me in right direction.

Q: How did you set the pullies on your mill then? 1:1 Ratio? What about Low / High Spendle Speeds and Torque? Do you use the VFD for a limited ranges of RPMs based a pully settings ?

Thanks...

Yup.

You set all the pulleys up in Mach for max speed per pulley set. There is a box on the left side of the Program Run screen for identifying the pulley set you are currently set up on. Then when you call an RPM in Mach, it will scale it based on the pulley set. If you call a speed that's too high for the pulley set, it will run the fastest that it can and it will give you a message stating this.

For torque, I alter the pulleys and then fine tune the speed through the program if necessary.

I also have my c'panel arranged to where I can switch between Auto and Manual spindle control. This was a little complicated, but it allows me to switch to manual spindle speed control without stopping the spindle - I can do it in the middle of a cut if I wanted. I can switch to manual and adjust the speed or I can just adjust it using the spindle override. Let me know if you want to know how this was done - I would have to sketch it up.

Most of my cutting is aluminum, so my spindle is running wide open most of the time, but the other night I ran a job requiring 5/8" reamed holes in 3/4" steel and I had to switch the belt for the drilling and reaming - the fastest pulley setting did not have sufficient torque at slower speeds - as expected.

Scott

Awesome information… thank you so much!

Let us know what happens with this.

And let me know if you need any assistance once you get all your stuff.

Scott

Scott,

One more Q: Have you connected up a resistive load for fast spindle stopping? Something like a 'Stove Element' on your VFD?

I have seen these types of things on VMCs. After reading the VFD PDF, it looks like you can connect one up, just wanted your thoughts on it.

Thanks,
Joel

I do not have one. I have my braking set at around 2 seconds. I had it set to far less (1/2 second) but when I run larger tooling (like a large fly cutter) on the lower speed pulleys I had issues with the drive tripping out as it attempted to decel the mass too quickly for the parameter setting. That is where the braking resistor would come in. It would allow very rapid decels.

At least that's the way I understand it. I still don't really see the need for a rapid decel of the spindle since I have no tool changer.

Your mileage may vary.

Scott

The Hitachi is the cats meow. With Mach you can interface to control direction and speed. Mach also can set up the back gear so the normal direction is correct and the Spindle RPM is correctly shown. If you install a spindle rpm interface then you can sync the spindle to the Zaxis for threading(almost perfect Rigid Tapping) THe resistors make it really nice not to have to wait on the spindle to come to a stop for tool changes and work really well when tapping. You can also remote mount the front display of the VFD on the mill to monitor the loading of the spindle motor for max cutting loads. You can also set of a PID loop control of the spindle motor to maintain a constant spindle speed(cruise control) Plus a whole lot more
(;-) TP

Any news, Joel? Did you get this hooked up?

Scott

I went with a WEG Electric model instead of the Hitachi. Both look to be very simulare in their design and I think it will work just fine on the BPs.

I have not recieved them yet. I found 2 on eBay that are rated at 2HP for $159 ea with Free Shipping, I purchased them on 11SEP2007

http://www.jhchoppers.com/photobucket/CFW10.jpg

Here is a link to CFW10
CFW10 (http://www.wegelectric.com/catalog/index.asp?p_Grupo=7&p_Categoria=54&p_Produto=&p_PNFIX=YES&p_PartNumber)

When I get them installed, I will post more.

Thanks,
Joel

I finally have the Weg VFD Installed on the BP and SuperMax. It works great on both systems. On the BP, I have it connected to Mach3 (currently only ON and OFF, no speed control yet...)

Here is a picture of it installed in the old Analim 1100 CNC Control Box. I gutted it, saved the amplifies and power supply. Added pixies and a home made DB25 break out board with buffers. Also, some solid-state relays for the power supply ON/OFF connected to the charge pump, one for the auto-lub system, and one for the coolent motor too..

47952

Wow good timing for this thread to come out from bellow. I just took delivery of the very same Hitachi VFD & (thanks Scott) just purchased the speed control board. I've got a surplus machine control touch panel pc that i've just installed Mach onto ....... plan it as an upgrade for my V2XT.
Great info here, thank you guys.
Owen