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VFD recommendations

mwill135

Aluminum
Joined
Apr 26, 2020
I'm old guy with a new toy - South Bend lathe. Came with original GE 3phase 1/2hp motor. Getting VFD. I'm trying to keep costs down. Is there a decent entry level VFD? Specific brand you folks prefer? Any help appreciated.
 
Teco, Delta (Automation Direct) and Hitachi are popular low-cost brands used by a lot of people here, quality is decent, feature set is maybe a little lacking on the low-end models, but you likely won't miss some of those features.
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Better name brand products that offer "entry level" options tend to cost a little more, like Allen Bradley, ABB, Schneider, Toshiba, Mitsubishi and Yaskawa, but may come with features you will never need for the extra cost.

Steer clear of "no name" brands from China sold impossibly cheap on eBay and Amazon. Many / most of them are absolute crap, spit out of the same factories as the name brand products starting when the sun goes down and the inspectors go home, so they may look similar, but are made poorly with second-rate parts. They work for a while, but fail early and often, then you find that the sellers have disappeared. You can get in cheap, but when they fail and you were relying on that machine to make you money, the "bargain" ends up costing you more in the long run.
 








 
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