Thread: What VFD do I get?

I have a 1 HP Bridgeport mill (early 70's) and it is about time I get it running(its been sitting in the garage for 2 years). Which VFD is the easiest to hookup and most affordable?

Also, while moving it there was an incident so I need to replace a few parts. Where can I find handles for the table and a leadscrew for the z-axis?
steve

The Hitachi SJ200 is a good choice as are many others. I have details on how to hook up this one using the Bridgeport Drum switch. I sent these to Jerry in Lapel Ind. (see his posts recently). He says his mill is up and running.

I have used other brands with equally good success.

One of my favorites is the Reliance SP500 washdown duty, as it is dusttight and splash resistant. It is a scalar type (simple VFD), but will give good performance as long as you do not run it below 30% speed. Slower than 30% speed is not good for the Bridgeport motor anyway. You will find the SP500 to be more expensive than the Hitachi due to the superb enclosure.

If you are shopping for used VFDs please do not consider drives more than 5 years old. They do have a shelf life of about 7 years so old unused ones may have capacitor problems.

NEMA 4 versions are available for TECO/Westinghouse FM50 drives.

Three variations are available which provide nearly every combination of disconnect, control panel and speed pot.

An FM50 is about as simple as it gets.

Hitachi, Teco, A C Tech, all similar in features and price. Search those names on this forum for all the info you'll ever need, and then some

Two line wires plus ground input, three motor wires plus ground output. About 15 minutes to wire it including the installation of a disconnect. On a Bpt, you'll also want to wire the FWD/OFF/REV switch (upper left front of machine) to the control terminals on the VFD -- the Bpt switch controls the VFD, the VFD controls the Bpt motor. Again, search this forum for details.

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Barry Milton

Now where is a good place to buy one?

If you are shopping for used VFDs please do not consider drives more than 5 years old. They do have a shelf life of about 7 years so old unused ones may have capacitor problems.

I hate to say this because Murphy may be listening.

I have a Teco-Westinghouse FM100,3HP that has been setting on the shelf in my house, still in the box and never been used, for five years or longer. Don't tell me it may be bad.

The reason it hasn't been used is because there is an old Emerson brand(made for Emerson by WER) that has been running every thing 3-phase in my shop for the past 13 years. It is rated for 5 HP and only accepts single phase input(50AMP). It was new but obsolete when I bought it. I might add that it is hard wired to each machine, with disconnects for each,so only one machine is connected at one time(hopefully). There are also two control stations via an AB switch. If it were to die yesterday, it would have been a good one. I suspect I will die before it does. Also there is no programming to it.
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Jim W.

ABB has a good technical paper on this issue of "reforming" capacitors on VFDs after a long storage period, probably the best available.

https://www.abb-drives.com/StdDrives...iveRefresh.pdf

One thing to notice however, the chart only goes to 6 years.