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VFD/Phase Converter from ebay for SB13 lathe?

D

DanMc77

Aluminum
Joined
Aug 23, 2017
Location
Holden, MA
My SB13 came with a 2 hp 3 phase motor, so I'm looking at how to deal with having only single phase 220 volt power.

There are a number of VFDs for sale on ebay through US sellers (I'm avoiding any shipping from China). The one I'm looking at is for a 3 hp, to run the 2 hp 3 phase motor. Just about all these on ebay are made in china.

Does anybody here have any experience with getting a low cost VFD/phase converter off ebay? I'd list the one I'm looking at, but I'm not sure if the forum frowns on the appearance of promoting a specific product (I'm not).
 
Here's what I found so far:

This one is made by "YuanYang" from China and shipped out of Los Angeles. It goes for $141 with free shipping. This unit is sold by numerous sellers. I just noticed that there's a good number of youtube videos covering this unit. Wow, these VFDs can create a lot of nasty motor noise.
UPDATED 2.2KW VARIABLE FREQUENCY DRIVE INVERTER VFD 22V 3HP 1A HIGH QUALITY

Here's a Teco unit that looks like it ships from Germany:
JNEV-23-H1F Teco 3HP 1~/3~ 2.2kW Frequenzumrichter Variable Frequency Drive | eBay

It's pretty amazing that the Teco unit has a 14-day return policy that appears to include shipping. EDIT: The ebay listing at the top says the buyer pays return shipping, but then at the bottom it implies that within the 14 day "no-questions-asked" return policy, the return shipping shipping is covered by the seller. Looks like contacting the seller would be a good idea.
 
Yes, I will run it off 220 volts.

I don't have any requirement to buy off ebay. I buy a lot of things there, and have had excellent results, as long as the seller has 99%+ rating, so I naturally look there first. Additionally, I have purchased Chinese equipment there and had good results as well. The DRO for my mill was a Chinese thing and I'm quite happy with it. Last year I picked up a Chinese made hot water solar panel controller to replace the one that was originally installed in the 80s. The Chinese controller runs perfectly, even with the flaky Chinglish manual. I do prefer to buy American, but I'm not rigid with it either.

This Teco L150 looks really good and it's not that much more $$. Thanks for sharing the link! Plus it already has the pot right there. I'm sure that the documentation will be much more clear, and it looks great with a 2 year warranty, and I'm sure that support will be much more readily available.

Why 3 hp VFD for a 2 hp motor? Seems to me that having a bit of headroom is a good thing, so it makes me a bit more comfy. Wouldn't a 3 hp VFD be able to run a lower power motor? I saw one thread where somebody was trying to run a .5 hp motor on something like a 3-5 hp VFD and he was having issues, but running a 2 hp motor with 3 hp VFD should be just fine. Correct me if I'm wrong about that, but it seems like running a 15 amp load on a 20 amp circuit.
 
There is nothing wrong with a 3HP VFD on a 2HP motor but there is also zero benefit, only increased cost, thus my wondering why- I'm cheap like that:)
as long as the VFD is designed for single phase input there is no need for de rating.
 
I agree, I can be pretty cheap too. But with that YuanYang VFD on ebay, the 3hp is the same price as the 2hp. I like the detachable control panel with the YuanYang. I could bundle up the control down below where it can be protected from chips, etc, and just bring the panel up to the top. Otherwise I have to put the whole VFD up above. I'm sure I'll be fiddling with settings for a while so I don't want to be going around down to the back to get to the panel.

Need to continue thinking this through. I'm in no huge hurry since the machine will sit in the garage until the end of October. That's when I'll have the tractor back here to do the heavy moving to the basement walk-out entrance.

But... It sure would be nice to be able to power it up before then, even if I have to run a big fat temporary cable down to the basement to get power.
 
I used a TECO N3 from Dealers Electric. The N3 is a NEMA 1 version of the L510- this amounts to a sheet metal cover over the terminal strips. This allows the unit to be mounted without another enclosure. I have it mounted away from chips and dirt, but still might eventually put it into some kind of enclosure.

My only installation problem was I had wanted to use the original forward/reverse/stop pushbuttons- my problems with that are described in this thread:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...rnal-forward-reverse-stop-331575/#post2924827

The external controls I have used are a radio shack toggle switch- forward/stop/reverse and potentiometer- all works well. Not many hours on these yet but I have three in use- a drill press- 1/2 HP, Lathe- 2 HP, Grinder- 3 HP. All are working OK. I went with these over a RPC to get the variable speed control
 
I would stay away from the yang yang or whatever it is...if I am not mistaken it is just a variation on the Hyuang(sp???) VFDs that are so problematic they are banned from discussion in the VFD and Transformer section of PM

you may want to post an inquiry in that section to be sure.
 
Hey Iwan,
Thanks for referencing the VFD forum. I didn't know that it was there. WOW, there is a great deal of consternation over these Yuan Yang VFD's!!!! That alone is reason enough to stay away from them, so I'll scratch that off the list.

I'll be looking more at the Teco units.
Dan
 
+1 on Wolf Automation. They're a great place and will answer technical questions. Their prices are not all that different from the stuff you find on the FleaBay offerings.
 
After perusing VFDs for the past few days, this Teco L510-202 stands out.

Dealers Industrial Equipment has it for a good price. They are in NJ, which is a bit closer than IL, so I'll save a little on shipping.

By way, Teco also has this one: FM50-202-C It's also 1 phase to 3 phase and also 2 hp. It seems odd that they have another product that seems to compete with the L510. The only thing I can find on their site is that the FM50 has the comment that it's for harsh environments.

Now I'll need an enclosure for the L510.
 
DanMc77 said:
There are a number of VFDs for sale on ebay through US sellers (I'm avoiding any shipping from China). The one I'm looking at is for a 3 hp, to run the 2 hp 3 phase motor. Just about all these on ebay are made in china.
Click to expand...

Tell us how you are avoiding any shipping from China when "Just about all of these on ebay are made in china". Shipping means ship'in on a slow boat from...
 
rons said:
Tell us how you are avoiding any shipping from China when "Just about all of these on ebay are made in china". Shipping means ship'in on a slow boat from...
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have been more specific in my verbage. My point was that I didn't want to make my purchase from a seller located outside the USA and especially in China. That way if I had issues and wanted to return it, I could ship it back to the US address with tracking. Doing any sort of return to an address in China is virtually impossible to track and it would probably cost more than the unit is worth. I once sold an oscilloscope on ebay to a buyer in Italy. I foolishly shipped it without tracking. He claimed that he never received it. Ebay forced me to refund the cost of the scope and, adding insult to injury, I had to cough up the shipping charges. Big mistake, but I'm a bit smarter.

Anyway, I'm no longer considering the Chinese VFDs. The Teco L150-202 is the VFD I'll use and I'll buy it from a US seller. Incidently, the ebay seller of the Huan Yang sent me a user's guide and it looks like they used the Teco manual as a starting point. Many of the diagrams are essentially the same thing, but redrawn so they are not an exact copy.

EDIT: Oh wait -- Teco has another 1~ -> 3~ 2hp VFD and it has a removable control panel: N3-202-CS-U This looks like the ticket! I don't mind the small buttons and it will save me a bunch of work building a remote control panel.
 
I think all the VFD's in this price range are Chinese made so pick your poison and don't look back. I think it is a good idea to buy from a us vendor so you have some recourse if it is DOA. Also, at least with the VFD's I have gotten from automation direct have excellent manuals. Interestingly at work we use mostly Allen Bradley and ABB VFD's and they have got so many parameters in them these days that generally we have the vendor set them up. We have some really good technicians and on a few occasions they have spent days trying to get some of these drives configured.
 
So.... My plan is to put the VFD down below in a cabinet and to bring the remote panel up above and use that for powering up the machine. I don't see anybody doing this. What I do see is people setting up their machines with large buttons with basic functions like On/Off, Forward/Reverse and a large knob with RPM.

Is there something wrong with bringing the VFD's removable panel up to the top and away from where chips will be flying?

I can see that if the machine is in a factory environment, and operators will be running it, and I want to keep them from fiddling with the settings in the VFD, then it makes a lot of sense to keep that panel out of reach with only basic functions exposed. But I'm the only one that will run the machine, so I don't need to be concerned about an inquisitive operator screwing up the settings.

Now, oh wise ones: Teach me.
 
ok....

IMO the keypads are of little utility on a machine tool such as a lathe.

What you want is a simple FWD/OFF/REV and a speed potentiometer.

The keypad controls a lot of stuff you will never use once the basic parameters are set, and will only give you ON/OFF/Speed control without going into the menu and changing parameters, which is very inconvenient.



the original drum switch is fine, even easier is a DPDT switch and 10K pot
 
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