VFD Enclosure help please

[fireguy976]

Hi all,

just purchased a Hitachi VFD in order to run my mill. The documentation recommends an enclosure to protect it.

Because of the size the Depot and other home centres do not carry anything near the size needed.

I checked out a local electrical supply and they want $85.00 for something near the right size.

What have the rest of you VFD users done?

Anyone made and enclosure? Would rather put 85 bucks into toling than some plastic box, thats for dam sure!!!!

Thanks,
Ken J

[mactec54]

Hi fireguy976

You don't need an enclosure just mount it well & use shielded cable for the hook up & you will be up & running a photo just to give you an idea

[BobWarfield]

Ken, it depends what you want to accomplish.

If you're going to run flood coolant, you probably do want an enclosure if the VFD is anywhere close to the mill (which it should be). Even without flood, chips go everywhere with my CNC, so I wanted an enclosure for my VFD lest one drop into one of the VFD's vent holes and really cause a problem.

One of the issues to look out for is proper ventilation of the enclosure without letting coolant and chips in. The VFD will throw off some heat, so make sure it can get enough cooling air. In addition to ventilation, the docs on your VFD will tell you how much air space needs to be on each side of the VFD--don't buy one too small!

I got a metal NEMA enclosure off eBay for mine. I think I paid $49 for it. There are probably cheaper enclosures to be had.

There is a little more detail on my web page here:

http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCMillCNCVFD.htm

Cheers,

BW