prototrak smx running on single phase

I don’t post a lot but have found the answer too many of my questions by searching, I have a manual lath and Bridgeport, both which have VFD on them, so I thought I knew what I was doing. I thought I would step up to a CNC, I got a great deal from a friend, and the machine is in good shape.

I bought and now have a southwestern industries sport b3 mill with proto trak smx control. Before getting the machine I thought I did my homework looked at the semantics. The only item that is 3 phase is the spindle, the Prototrak is all 120 single phase and has its own power source nothing to do with the 3phz. I have a 5hp VFD and thought this would be good. I hooked it all up and the spindle dose not start.

I went to swi and they say I need a cnc rotary converter $3k item, they referred me to this doc

https://www.southwesternindustries.com/documents/SWI/swi/Support/Documents/White_Papers/wp050905-_-My-customer-has-single-phase-power-what-type-of-phase-converter-should-he-use.pdf?rev=52315

The reasoning sounding like it is also controlling the CNC parts not just the spindle. The people I was talking to did not seem very knowledgeable about the subject or were not allowed to say anything but look at the Manuel.
I have put in a few pics of the setup, I would like to know what people have done, and am I really looking a 3K item or is there another way of doing this? Thank you for your advice this community is so free with their knowledge it makes me confident that this will work, I hope I can gain the experience to help someone else out soon.

And that is why I don't own a Prototak! I was about to buy one and when I told them it needed to be single phase they told me to pound sand. They said were too busy to talk to me about selling me a single phase machine - they did not care. Called Atrump and zero issues getting it in single phase.

I see ZERO reason that machine will not run on single phase. I can't read the drawings as they are too small. Do you have a full set of schematics?

I would break it down into a couple of steps. If you have not done so already, get the spindle drive running manually without interfacing to the control. Does the rest of the control and rest of machine work ok when you put single phase on it?

I looked at the Prototrak mill I was looking to buy and I did not see any barriers to converting it to single phase.

I run an older Trak DPM with an AGE 3 control on single phase only the spindle motor is 3 phase and I run it off a static phase converter. You lose 1/3 of your HP by using a static phase converter but I have never had an issue with it in 10 years. Try changing the phases on the VFD to machine it may have to have a non manufactured phase in a position you have the manufactured phase on that is just a guess but it won't hurt to try. I would think the VFD would work.

Sorry about the pics I don't know why they are small I will re-try.

Ya their customer service is not the best.

All the controls are on a separate circuit and I have run programs without the spinal running.

I will try moving the leg around tonight.

You should post a diagram of how you wired in the VFD.

DemkoG said:

Sorry about the pics I don't know why they are small I will re-try.

Ya their customer service is not the best.

All the controls are on a separate circuit and I have run programs without the spinal running.

I will try moving the leg around tonight.View attachment 291855View attachment 291856

Click to expand...

Diagram is not very legible still, but here's a link to the PDF docs:

https://www.southwesternindustries.com/media/manuals/24941_manual.pdf

Pages 30-32 for the Sport.

So far, I've had exactly the opposite experience with Southwestern Industries customer service; they've always been knowledgeable and helpful, but I haven't asked them about using a VFD for driving the spindle yet.
From the diagram, it doesn't look like it would be too complicated getting a VFD to drive the spindle motor, either integrated with their control or just bypassing it entirely.

I have a rotary phase converter, but, like you, I'd like to run the Trak off of single phase as well, just to avoid having to spin up a 25HP RPC for running the Trak.