The Gentleman
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2007
- Location
- Pittsford,NY
I GOT A ELGIN VERTICAL VERTICAL MILL . . . Anyone else have one ?
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I GOT A ELGIN VERTICAL VERTICAL MILL . . . Anyone else have one ?
Keep the present motor and add a 110 V input VFD and enjoy the added values of variable speed, reversing and ability to plug it in anywhere.I have an Elgin vertical mill which I purchased in January of 2019 just outside Buffalo, NY. Everything on the unit is extremely heavy. There is no model number on it that I can see. It has a three phase motor which is not original to this unit. I'd prefer to use single phase. Since the motor is not original, it doesn't seem like a loss. If anyone has done this conversion, please chime in. If there's a reason to not do it, like losing the reversing feature, please let me know.View attachment 251503View attachment 251504View attachment 251505
Keep the present motor and add a 110 V input VFD and enjoy the added values of variable speed, reversing and ability to plug it in anywhere.
Larry
The VFD will not loose power like a static converter. You could put a VFD on each of those machines and have money left over compared to the price of the R2. You could then run both machines at once.
You don't have to use the reversing feature on the VFD if you don't want to, but be aware that the VFD needs to be hooked directly to the motor with no electrical switches or devices in between.
With a little work, you can set things up where the original controls on the machine control the VFD.
You'll also get the advantage of braking, and if you like, you can set up a E-stop button.
If you are planning on adding more three phase machines, it might make sense to buy a rotary big enough to handle all of them.
If you just want the machines to work, make or buy an RPC. It'll work for both machines and you won't have to change a thing on the machines.
Please let me know what you mean by RPC...
....how does this address the need for three phase for a small number of machines
Catman has it right. An RPC is a rotary phase converter. It's basically a 3 phase motor that constructs a third phase. Started a variety of ways it provides a reasonable facsimile of a third phase, good enough to run most any 3 phase machine machinists are likely to use.
At it's simplest, it's a used 3 phase motor and a pull rope at less than $50. Sky's the limit for bells and whistles: selfstarting, phase monitoring, balancing capacitors, distribution centers, etc.
Advantages for the small shop with few machines is that one RPC can serve multiple machines and no machine rewiring is needed, in contrast to a VFD. Makes it easy to change machines in and out of the shop, test motors, etc.. And if something breaks, it's easily fixable and cheap, also in contrast to a VFD.
Prob the best resource is right here on PM in the transformers, phase converters and VFD forum. A couple hours of browsing and self education and you're good to go.
Thanks for everyone's input. I think like the idea of the RPC for simplicity's sake. I'll definitely study a DIY on PM while I continue to troll Craigs List.
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