Bridgeport for Beginners!

Well I cut it. I read somewhere they were tempered. Some people can be so dumb sometimes. They aren't tempered. I used a dremel and snuck up to the glass. After wedging it out, I was able to use a diamond bit and cut the glass. Squared up the end, spread some RTV and closed it up. Works fine.



On another note. She is ALIVE! Temped the vfd on some romex and fired it up. The old bucket of bolts sounds pretty good on high. Shes a little noisy in low so I'll take a peek in the top end and see if I can hush it up a bit. I'm having a bit of a faff with keeping the vfd from chucking an error. I probably have some wiring crossed. Oh Matt, I'll shoot you a pm here in a few.

 

Your videos might take a bit to upload and I’m about to crash. Vfd’s like to control everything. They need a soft start control through pulse wave modulation. No direct hook up, or what I like to call hard start. External control starts are required.

 

Am I trying to do something that can't be done? The only thing I want the VFD to do is provide the 3 phase power. This thing has about 200 parameters that can be set. Can I manipulate something there to not freak it out when I shut the mill off and flip it back on? I'm trying not to mount the stupid VFD on the mill. Everyone of these I've seen on YT, the guys are running the heads where you change pulleys on the belt. (maybe P24?? Overload protection buffer time maybe??????)

 

What VFD are you playing with Jason (Not that i'm about to get clever anytime soon but just interested!)

 

You shouldn't interrupt the voltage to the motor from the VFD with a power switch, just connect a remote stop switch to the VFD's terminals and enable that option, then remove the motor's power switch and wire the motor straight to the VFD. If the motor braking is set too high it can cause a brief over voltage that sets off the alarms on shutdown, you can try and increase the braking time parameter so that the braking is gentle.

 

Is that DC braking Mark like the old injected braking systems or purely slowing the phases. I have so much to learn, should go google rather than muddy the thread.

 

Absolutely no idea, just that it happens on my ancient 1998 vintage 3KW Allen Bradley which requires some expensive "Smart Resistor" connected across the DC bus rails to do serious braking and it also happens on a cheapo Italian designed, Asian made VFD. They are both on metal lathes with some significant inertia to drive/brake. Neither one could use the default brake setting without throwing an over voltage error.

 

Mark I think you are right. That sounds like what Matt was saying before he had to go to bed. The VFD is fine right up to the point I throw the fwd/reverse switch on the mill. Maybe if instead of the original mill switch, I can make that the control for the vfd. By doing that, I'll still either need another switch for fwd/rev next to it or walk over to the VFD. This is the one I have.

 

That's what I did with my table saw and mill. The vfds are mounted to the machines and I use the machines original mains switches to power the vfds. It took a little bit of rewiring in the mains switches but nothing serious. I use low voltage switches to start and stop the motors through the VFD circuitry. I have a 3 position switch for forward and reverse on the mill as well as a potentiometer for speed control. I usually keep it at 60hz and change the pulleys depending on the application but occassionally I use the pot.
Once the vfd is in the picture you pretty much have to follow its rules. They're pretty clear in my instructions not to put a switch between the vfd and motor, and also not running the 2 sets of wires in the same conduit.

Pete

 

Some VFD's are OK with disconnecting the motor from the VFD while under power and with some you'll blow the guts right out of them. Or at least you'll let out all the magic smoke that they contain, and angry pixies refuse to work without their magic smoke.

Haven't had a chance to watch the video yet, what VFD are you using, also what error are you getting when you try reversing the motor? I've been working with AB VFD's and VFD in general for.... let's just say longer than I care to admit.

Don

 

Swapped the red and black to the motor and I think this is the best I'm going to get. I still have to hit the run/stop on the vfd. I suppose one extra switch is tolerable and I use the original switch for fwd/rev selection. Sorry, the stupid gopro didn't think I needed audio..... again. I get an ERR 1 when leaving the VFD set to run. Anyone know how to wire a momentary switch to these?

 

You'll have to read the particular manual and find the instructions buried somewhere under some arcane instructions. What model is the unit, we can find a PDF online and have a quick look at which terminals to use and what software options to enable.

 

XSY-AT1 Came with a single piece of paper. Probably best used as TP. (bog roll) for some of you.

 

This help?


Watching this now.... Thank God I follow doubleboost. I can actually understand this chap.

 

I think Mark has pretty much hit it.

I’ve set up about A dozen mills with forward/stop/reverse. If you want to continue using the drum switch and send a signal back to the VFD, this is to wire control with two different switches inside the drum switch. What I suggest most people do is run thermostat control wire that is rated for 300 V (The brown stuff you can pick up at HD). You will need to do a little bit of surgery inside the drum switch. What I suggest is label the wires and cut them off. Conductivity test for a signal when and forward and a signal when in reverse and no signal when stop. Add the thermostat control wire so one wire is common and one wire is a forward signal and the other wire is the reverse signal. Through the thermostat control wire that goes back to the VFD and goes into the small ports. You will have to reconfigure to external set up and set the parameters for forward and reverse. Most often these are preset.

Most of the VFDs you’ll have to go into the motor parameters as well to set overload protection so you don’t burn out the motor. You’ll also have to go in and adjust ramp up and ramp down speed.

 

Wow, your machine still has the original quill feed handle. I’m jealous!

 

So yeah, it’s pretty typical wiring set up. To use the drum switch you would have to bypass the drum switch controls and run directly from the VFD to the motor. Then use the drum switch run common which is 12–24 V DC and then you use the X1 for forward control call and use the X2 for reverse control call through the thermostat control wire.

 

So terminals X1 to X6 appear to be switch inputs all with a common ground terminal: "COM". So you can have up to six switches configured in addition to a remote speed potentiometer on 3 terminals: com, vl1/ci, 10V/5V

 

Can ya dumb that down a little Matt? Remember... PILOT= Poor Intelligence Lots Of Training