Need help sizing a converter for a CNC milling machine

[Tom108]

Hi All,

I had the recent fortune of stumbling onto a mid-1990s Lagun FTV1 with an Anilam 1100 controller in very good condition for $1850. I hadn't planned on buying a mill at this time, but the deal seemed too good to pass up, so now I have this beast sitting in my garage.

My first task is to get the electricity hooked up. I have standard single phase residental 230 volt, so I obviously need some kind of phase converter. The FTV1 is 3HP, and I know from reading on these forums that the rule of thumb is to double the HP for CNC mills when picking a rotary converter. Based on this I had picked out the 7.5HP Rotary Converter (AB07) from American Rotary for around $750.

However, a "friend of a friend" who owns a tool supply store and is actually a reseller for Anilam says I don't need that expensive of a converter. He says that you can rewire the servos/computer part to run off of single-phase 240v, so you only need a 3HP phase converter which he says runs about $175.

Since I've learned a lot from reading these forums I decided to register and ask for a second opinion on this idea. Is it feasible and really a cheaper route? I haven't heard of this idea before, and I don't want to damage anything.

Specs on the machine:
1) Mill Motor is a DAVI 3HP MT-90L-4 with 2.2KW rating and what I believe to be the amperage ratings of 8.8, 5.1, and 4.4.
2) The X and Y servos are both SEM MT30M4-59 DC servomotors rated at 142 volts and "pulse amps" 30.
3) The Z servo is a SEM MT30F4-45 DC servomotor rated at 140 volts and pulse amps 21.

Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Tom

[tpodgwaite]

Hi Tom,

I think if you look closely you'll find that the Anilam runs on 110V single phase.
The 3 phase is for spindle motor and coolant pump only.

There is a 110V cord coming out of the Anilam electrical cabinet. If you plug that in to your wall you shoudl be able to run the CNC all around, but not run the spindle.

Usually you'd need a 20A industrial breaker, but you can try it on a regular 15A outlet. Worst thing that will happen is the breaker will trip when you hit the servo reset button.

Look for the black on/off switch on the electrical cabinet then follow the wire that goes back out of the box. Usually it's brown. That cord is the one that goes to 110V single phase.
Good Luck! Tim

[Al_The_Man]

Since I've learned a lot from reading these forums I decided to register and ask for a second opinion on this idea. Is it feasible and really a cheaper route? I haven't heard of this idea before, and I don't want to damage anything.
Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Tom

You will probably find that most go this route, you don't need the noisy and inefficient RPC, just a VFD for the spindle and any small 3 ph motor such as coolant can be changed to 1ph.
The rest of the control can run off the 240/120 1ph, as already mentioned.
Al.

[Tom108]

Thanks guys for the advice! This was of great help. It definitely looks like the way to go is to move the Anilam Controller onto its own 115v circuit (already see how to do this) and just get a VFD for the spindle. I'm not too worried about the coolant pump right now because I'm mostly going to be using this for learning and prototyping. So not a lot of heavy production.

Now I'm off to clean a couple more gallons of packing grease off the machine and then learn more about VFDs.

Thanks Again!
Tom