Telemecanique ATV31HU15M2A VFD

[stemulator]

I have a Telemecanique ATV31HU15M2A and 2 hp motor on my Rikon 70-500wood lathe. Is it possible to index the headstock/spindle to a know location using this VFD and Mach3? I have very little info on the motor. This is the information on the motor's panel:
Volts: 230
Hz: 60
RPM: 1725
HP: 2
Phase: 3/1
Class: B.

Is this even possible? If so, any information provided would be much appreciated. My ultimate goal is to be able to turn spirals on colums and spindles. I have the x and y axis figured out already.

Thank you,
Greg

[Al_The_Man]

I suspect you may need one with a bit more sophistication than that one, also you need a feedback device, encoder or pulse generator on the motor.
Al.

[stemulator]

Al, thank you for your fast reply. Do you have any recommendation for a better VFD, feedback device, encoder, or pulse generator? Would a Delta VFD-M or VFD-VE be more suitable? How about the Hitachi SJ300 and SJ-FD board? Like I mentioned, I cannot get a specific model on the motor as it’s a generic OEM motor used by Rikon, so would I be better off replacing this motor with a vector drive motor from Baldor or Leeson? I'd like to keep the factory motor to cut down on the cost. I’m not very familiar with servo motors and I am in the process of educating myself on them. I’ve been reading your posts on servos and they have been very informative. Do you think this AC motor can be retrofitted to serve as an AC servo for positioning? This is my first CNC build by the way, and this lathe just seemed like a good platform to learn on.

Greg

[Al_The_Man]

There are three traditional ways of creating a C axis on a lathe, one is with a VFD with Motor to VFD feedback and a high quality VFD.
the second is by using a large servo motor in place of the VFD, and the third is by using a VFD such as you posted for a standard 3ph induction motor with no feedback, and using a smaller servo motor on the final spindle shaft for C axis positioning.
All three methods require an encoder on the final spindle shaft.
I prefer either of the last two options.
Al.