Is there a JoeWoodworker for VFD drives?

[Roger Feeley]

I bought a pump kit from JoeWoodworker for my vacuum clamp and vacuum chuck. It was great going to one website and finding everything I wanted to buy and everything I wanted to know.

I would like to convert my drill press to a variable speed drive. I would be wonderful if there was a one stop shop where I could select the motor and electronics and sensors.

Any ideas?

[Jamie Buxton]

Dealers Electric offers package deals which include a VFD and a motor.

[Roger Feeley]

I went to their site and came up empty. Can you give me some hints about navigating their store?
I'm in DC and they are totally midwest so I would be mail order.

[Jamie Buxton]

I went to their site and came up empty. Can you give me some hints about navigating their store?
I'm in DC and they are totally midwest so I would be mail order.

Here's a package that would likely work to upgrade your drill press. 3/4 horse motor, 115 volt input, vector drive, speed control by a knob not pushbuttons. http://dealerselectric.com/three-qua...ut-Package.asp

[Adam Herman]

I went with a teco fm-50 2hp drive and a used 2hp leeson motor. I have about 200 into my system on a large, old DP. I have about $200 into it. The package above from Dealers Electric looks like a Pretty good deal.

[Dan Friedrichs]

That package Jamie linked to is a really good deal. I spent more than that on a VFD and new bearings for a "free" motor.

Note that one of the nice features is that is has vector control ("Sensorless Vector Drive"), which means it will maintain high torque at low RPM - pretty much a required feature for a drill press. The Teco FM-50 that Adam mentions (a very common VFD), does NOT have vector control, so it won't realize nearly as much low-speed torque (although Adam used a huge motor, so he probably has no issues with low-speed torque).

[Roger Feeley]

Wow! this is tempting. This was kind of an academic question but now it's getting real. The motor on my drill press has been making this annoying buzzing sound and I've never liked messing with pulleys. My variable speed Jet Lathe also spoiled me.

I can think of four considerations with physical installation:
1. Motor mount. I will have to find out what a NEMA 56 is and measure my mount.
2. shaft diameter. Can I use my existing pulley or will I have to find something?
3. Mounting the controller. I could put it on the wall or I could build (or have built) some sort of metal mount thing.
4. Using the existing switch seems like a good idea for on/off. I would use the controller only for changing speeds.



How does it know the spindle rpm? I would think that it gets it's feedback from the motor or just shows you how fast it's driving the motor. Is there some sort of ratio or multiplier you can enter on the controller if the pulley system is a step-up or step-down? If I can use a long belt, then I can probably match the diameter and the spindle will equal the motor speed.

My drill press has the standard two pulleys with a center idler. I would guess that I would still use the idler to keep the belt from flapping around too much? Hence the question above.

[roger wiegand]

Pretty much any good motor shop can give you everything you need. There are a dozen of them around Boston, I imagine that pretty much every city has one. Baldor also has regional technical service reps who are very helpful if you have a more difficult/complex problem.

[Jamie Buxton]

You do know about Dan's recent thread about exactly this topic? http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...e-belt-changes

[Roger Feeley]

Pretty much any good motor shop can give you everything you need. There are a dozen of them around Boston, I imagine that pretty much every city has one. Baldor also has regional technical service reps who are very helpful if you have a more difficult/complex problem.

I'm inside the Beltway in the DC area and something of a fish out of water. I'm new to this area and I'm still finding vendors. Finding a lawyer here is easy. Finding a machine shop? Not so much.

What I want to do should be fairly simple. Maybe I'm over-complicating it.

[Dan Friedrichs]

1. Motor mount. I will have to find out what a NEMA 56 is and measure my mount.

A drill press is not a particularly demanding application, so I wouldn't worry too much about this - as long as you can find a way to bolt the motor to the head in some way, you'll be good!

2. shaft diameter. Can I use my existing pulley or will I have to find something?

If the existing pulley has the same ID, you could reuse it. If the new motor has a different shaft diameter, just buy a new pulley (from McMaster, etc) - you just choose one that has the desired bore (for the motor shaft), diameter, and matches the type of V-belt you're using (most probably a "A" belt)

3. Mounting the controller. I could put it on the wall or I could build (or have built) some sort of metal mount thing.

I just bought a metal enclosure from McMaster and mounted it at the base of the drill press.

4. Using the existing switch seems like a good idea for on/off. I would use the controller only for changing speeds.

This is actually a bad idea. You can NOT put a switch between the VFD and the motor. You could use the existing switch to turn the VFD on/off, but some VFDs may not be programmable to immediately start running on power-on (you may need to press the "start" button on it). I'd recommend using the built-in start/stop buttons. Alternatively, most VFDs have various digital input terminals for external switches - you could rig up external pushbuttons if you didn't like the built-in ones, for some reason (or you may be able to use your existing power switch but hook it up to those low-voltage digital inputs, rather than having it switch the AC line).

How does it know the spindle rpm? I would think that it gets it's feedback from the motor or just shows you how fast it's driving the motor. Is there some sort of ratio or multiplier you can enter on the controller if the pulley system is a step-up or step-down? If I can use a long belt, then I can probably match the diameter and the spindle will equal the motor speed.

The one I bought has a "load speed multiplier" setting, so I just used a cheapo laser tachometer to measure the actual chuck speed, divided that by what the VFD "thought" the speed was, and put that value into the "load speed multiplier". Alternatively, yes, you could just choose 1:1 pulley ratio and it would be correct.

My drill press has the standard two pulleys with a center idler. I would guess that I would still use the idler to keep the belt from flapping around too much? Hence the question above.

It wouldn't hurt. I took mine out - seems to work fine, that way, too.

[Roger Feeley]

Thanks for the good advice.

Regarding using the existing switch, I wouldn't be putting it between controller and motor. I was reading the manual for the controller and it allows for an external on/off switch wired up to the controller. Seemed like a good idea to me because I'm used to shutting it down by just slapping the switch.

I think I would put a switch on the circuit supplying power to the controller so I can wire up a light to the same circuit. That way, I get light to my drill press and I also get a reminder that the controller is powered. I did the same thing for my SawStop to remind me to turn it off. I don't like to leave electronics powered up if I can avoid it. In the case of the Sawstop, I used a Ground Fault Relay to indicate that the SS is drawing power. The relay supplies power to an outlet into which I have a light plugged in. If the saw is on, the light is on.

[Bill Adamsen]

Finding a lawyer here is easy. Finding a machine shop? Not so much.

What have we come to?

I agree with the others ... that link Jamie suggested looks good.

[Adam Herman]

Note that one of the nice features is that is has vector control ("Sensorless Vector Drive"), which means it will maintain high torque at low RPM - pretty much a required feature for a drill press. The Teco FM-50 that Adam mentions (a very common VFD), does NOT have vector control, so it won't realize nearly as much low-speed torque (although Adam used a huge motor, so he probably has no issues with low-speed torque).

It's a huge old hulk of a drill press made by canedy-otto in maybe the 40's. I wanted enough power to do some light milling. No problems with the reduced torque and I left the stepped pulley on the drill press side. plus the motor was "in inventory"


I mounted the vfd to the side of the press on a bracket that had the original fwd/reverse switch and use the controls on the vfd itself.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Looking only at mechanical installation, if you can get a suitable 3-phase replacement motor with the same frame size as your existing 1-phase motor, it will simplify your replacement. Since the frame size defines everything from the bolt pattern in the mounting plate to the shaft size, if the old 1-ph motor's frame size is 145T (for instance), then any 145T should mount in its place with no re-work or adapters.

I have not surveyed and documented vast numbers of motors, but I have a feeling that in the world of fractional Hp motors, the frames are often customized and do not conform to a NEMA standard. And, my suspicion is that most DPs are equipped with fractional Hp motors. Bottom line is it may be tough to find a 3-ph motor to match the 1-ph frame.

So, we might all be following Dan's path, by customizing a motor mount and installing a new sheave.