Cheap Chinese Motor

[Highpower]

(02-19-2013, 07:28 PM)stevec Wrote: Mind you even single point threading to a shoulder would be possible
if you didn't fall asleep in the first inch of thread.

That is the very reason I did the conversion in the first place. Because I have the lightning fast reflexes of a tortoise!

On the opposite end of the scale - eventually I want to put a VFD on my mill as well. The top speed on it is only around 3250(?) rpm. With a VFD I could run it much faster without having to change the motor, although I may have to put some higher quality bearings in the machine.

[stevec]

So, I should re-install the 3 phase motor in my 16x60 lathe and feed it with a VFD. Hmmm, let's see, rewire the control panel back to 3 PH, buy a VFD to drive a 5 hp 220V 3 PH motor, disable all the switches downstream of the VFD, then have lunch and do some work with the lathe in the afternoon.
It's not gonna happen in the near future.

[dallen]

Steve,

The main reason that I changed the motor on my mill to 3 phase and a VFD wasn't the speed increase that came along with the change or the ability to change speeds on the fly without stopping. But because I had already lost one cheap chinese motor (I think to a lightening strike) and the motor that I replaced it with was of the same type.

I now have a motor that is a full rated 1.5 HP and not something that the Chinese dreamed up some number to put on it. If I could of ran the motor without having the VFD I probably would of went that direction but since I don't have a RPC or Rotary Phase Converter I went with the VFD which can be used in a static mode by simply setting the Frequency at 100 percent output.

[Highpower]

Nobody said you should do anything Steve. You asked a question, and we tried to answer it.

[stevec]

(02-21-2013, 10:28 AM)Highpower Wrote: Nobody said you should do anything Steve. You asked a question, and we tried to answer it.

Willie, were you refering to my latest post?
If so I didn't ask anything I just stated.

(02-21-2013, 07:49 AM)stevec Wrote: So, I should re-install the 3 phase motor etc.

I didn't say "should I". I was mad at myself for having done the conversion to single phase before I learned of RPCs and VFDs.
Dallen, I laud your conversion, Great Job and I am jealous.

[Highpower]

Steve, I was referring to your original question.

(02-18-2013, 07:08 PM)stevec Wrote: Looks great! So, is the 3 phase drive as much an improvement over single phase as touted to be?

As far as being mad at yourself, welcome to the club. I wouldn't have spent several hundred dollars on a RFC if I would have known about the benefits of VFD's at the time.

My original thought was to run both machines (eventually) from the same RFC. But the infinite speed control made more sense in the end, and now I'm a VFD short. Hindsight and all that...