Atlas Drill Press Restoration and VFD Conversion

[shibertus]

I recently finished restoring this Atlas 1060 drill press and am considering a VFD conversion, primarily for easy speed control. Ideally would like to have speeds from ~200 to ~3000RPM. I am new to VFDs and hoping to get some help from folks more familiar with them.

I’m thinking of a 3/4 or 1HP 1800RPM three phase motor. Am I in the right ballpark here? The drill press originally came with a 1/2 HP motor.

Is there a make or model of VFD that is recommended for this sort of application? Would like to run off of 110V. Amazon has a bunch of brands I’ve never heard of.

Do folks usually keep the stepped pulleys after conversion? Trying to wrap my head around what ratio would be most useful in terms of balancing torque and available RPM range, and whether I will still need to move to the belts around for some situations.

Last, have also read about DC motor conversions, with the advantage that DC setups have more torque at low RPM. Should I also be looking at DC?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

 

[GeoBruin]

Teco l510 is a popular choice. Yes, most keep the pulleys in place. It gives you access to other speed and torque ranges beyond the comfortable range provided by the vfd in the pulley combo you decide to keep it most of the time. Besides, what is the purpose of the beautiful shroud on that Atlas if not to protect the pulleys?

 

[loganb]

Teco would be the best supported, several others have copied them and have varying degrees of support. I'm finishing a vfd add on/conversion on a Powermatic 1150 DP in my thread...link in signature and there was an update on the 2nd to last page. I'm using one of the Teco copies as I was curious(have used Teco's on 2 prior projects) and so far am pleased. Check out the VFD based thread linked below as well if you haven't:

Show us your VFD conversions/installations

the invertek VFDs will do slip conpensation if you give them motor nameplate data (inc RPM), and display it on the front panel. that does NOT account for any gearboxes (i.e. shows you motor RPM).

www.garagejournal.com

 

[genog]

Nice job
Your DP looks GREAT!

 

[sparkness]

I did a conversion to my 15" buffalo drill press , it had a 1/3 hp and I went to 1/2 with a vfd, I mainly use it for metal so I keep it set to the 2nd lowest step pulley this gives me 300-1800 rpm and 150-900 on 1st pulley as I have the vfd hertz range 20-120Hz I am using a Fuji VFD, works great as it has some excellent settings such as torque boost which helps power at low frequencies. I also have some import cheap vfd's that work well .
when selecting a 110V VFD make sure the output is 220V as some output 110v. Ive never come across a 110v 3 phase motor. Here is my build

Buffalo No. 15 Drill Press acquisition

Just picked up a Buffalo No. 15 drill press for $150 in great original shape. The guy I bought it from, bought it from a machine shop going out of business years ago. Based on catalogs from vintage machinery age is ~1950 - 1956 original paint, original chuck and key, table is impeccable looks...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[paulsomlo]

Teco/Westinghouse is a moderately priced VFD which is a cut above the low budget Chinese offerings out there on Amazon and Ebay. Try to get one that will operate in sensorless vector mode for a little more torque at lower speeds. I've bought several now from Marshall Wolf Automation.

DC is fine - DC motors develop their max torque at zero speed. But DC motors are generally more expensive and not as abundant as 3 phase. And you'll lose the VFD's ability to control accel/decel.

 

[Davefr]

Yes, get the Teco L510-110 VFD. With a 150% overload spec it's good for up to 1.5 HP. Get at least a 1 HP 3 phase motor. The larger the better because you can leave the belt pully on the highest speed setting and still have enough low end torque so you almost never have to change belt settings. The L510 has excellent documentation in real English!

Mount a control box (speed and start/stop) right below the front belt guard for ease of access.

You can overclock your motor beyond it's 1800 RPM rating. In general these motors have bearings that can generally handle up to 3600 RPM but I limit my overclock to about 1.5X.

Yes, enable sensorless vector mode to fine tune the VFD to the exact motor. Program the VFD to give you a spindle speed readout on it's display. (only valid for that belt setting but I never change belt settings from the highest speed). You did a great job on your restoration!!!

Use the space between the motor mount and motor base for your VFD and master power switch. Wire the master power switch for FWD/OFF/Reverse.

 

[lund]

Yes, get the Teco L510-110 VFD. With a 150% overload spec it's good for up to 1.5 HP. Get at least a 1 HP 3 phase motor. The larger the better because you can leave the belt pully on the highest speed setting and still have enough low end torque so you almost never have to change belt settings. The L510 has excellent documentation in real English!

Mount a control box (speed and start/stop) right below the front belt guard for ease of access.

You can overclock your motor beyond it's 1800 RPM rating. In general these motors have bearings that can generally handle up to 3600 RPM but I limit my overclock to about 1.5X.

Yes, enable sensorless vector mode to fine tune the VFD to the exact motor. Program the VFD to give you a spindle speed readout on it's display. (only valid for that belt setting but I never change belt settings from the highest speed). You did a great job on your restoration!!!

Use the space between the motor mount and motor base for your VFD and master power switch. Wire the master power switch for FWD/OFF/Reverse.

Wow. That looks like a super setup ... right down to the reversing switch. Great job.

A clarifying question: I presume the top front switch and potentiometer overrides the VFD on/off and speed control? If so, along with your shaft rpm calibration is quite slick. I have an older VFD and was either not aware you could do this and/or it might not have been possible with the particular model that I have. One thing not so great about the VFD is the on/off and speed adjustments via the membrane panel controls. They can be clunky. What you have may eliminate that issue.

I agree running higher rpm/freq is generally better. You probably do not want much higher than 60 Hz, but low freq tends to derrate the motor and reduce available torque. So larger drills in metal are best using a signficant reduction int he belt steps.

One thing I did different that you might want: I put a punch type on/off switch to make it super easy to kill if something goes wrong.

 

[u3b3rg33k]

Wow. That looks like a super setup ... right down to the reversing switch. Great job.

A clarifying question: I presume the top front switch and potentiometer overrides the VFD on/off and speed control? If so, along with your shaft rpm calibration is quite slick. I have an older VFD and was either not aware you could do this and/or it might not have been possible with the particular model that I have. One thing not so great about the VFD is the on/off and speed adjustments via the membrane panel controls. They can be clunky. What you have may eliminate that issue.

I agree running higher rpm/freq is generally better. You probably do not want much higher than 60 Hz, but low freq tends to derrate the motor and reduce available torque. So larger drills in metal are best using a signficant reduction int he belt steps.

One thing I did different that you might want: I put a punch type on/off switch to make it super easy to kill if something goes wrong.

lower frequencies have less power because of how (torque*rpm)/magic number works, and core saturation limits how far you can go in torque boost.

as for the switch, you have to program the drive to use the controls you prefer. usually in the quick start manual.

 

[Steve_P]

I have no input to your question, but you did an excellent job on that restoration!

 

[timgunn1962]

Drilling can be thought of as a constant-power application. This is good with step-pulleysppppppppppppppppplpppppppppppppppppppppp

 

[Davefr]

Wow. That looks like a super setup ... right down to the reversing switch. Great job.

A clarifying question: I presume the top front switch and potentiometer overrides the VFD on/off and speed control? If so, along with your shaft rpm calibration is quite slick. I have an older VFD and was either not aware you could do this and/or it might not have been possible with the particular model that I have. One thing not so great about the VFD is the on/off and speed adjustments via the membrane panel controls. They can be clunky. What you have may eliminate that issue.

I agree running higher rpm/freq is generally better. You probably do not want much higher than 60 Hz, but low freq tends to derrate the motor and reduce available torque. So larger drills in metal are best using a signficant reduction int he belt steps.

One thing I did different that you might want: I put a punch type on/off switch to make it super easy to kill if something goes wrong.

Yes, the manual describes how to add external controls along with any applicable programming settings. (start/stop, reverse and speed are just some of the various options.)

I can stop the DP pretty quickly with my start/stop switch. You can program in a decel time setting but this VFD doesn't have the option of adding an external braking resistor. I think the 220V models have that extra braking feature.

 

[u3b3rg33k]

The larger invertek's that I appear to shill for have a built-in brake driver in the larger sizes. it's not really necessary on a drill press unless you want it (not like it was a factory option for most presses), or you want to do something that requires "instant" reverse.

 

[lund]

Yes, the manual describes how to add external controls along with any applicable programming settings. (start/stop, reverse and speed are just some of the various options.)

I can stop the DP pretty quickly with my start/stop switch. You can program in a decel time setting but this VFD doesn't have the option of adding an external braking resistor. I think the 220V models have that extra braking feature.

Thanks. I (sheepishly) admit that I may be guilty of just installing without much reading of the VFD manual. Even though it was an older model, it probably (likely?) has the same bypass control overrides. I should look into it along with programming the readout for rpms.

Also, I did not realize for a long time that my VFD could go over 60hz since it stopped there which induced more belt changes than I needed for higher speeds (and belt changes on these old drill presses are more painful). It had some sort of bypassable lock, probably to protect motors from damage due to being too over-driven at higher than design frequencies. From an electronics standpoint, all these freqency ranges are super slow and likely no issue.

Sure the switch you have is fine. The main thing with a punch switch with a big knob is you can hit it quick with any motion (as other arm tears off say ...) if something goes seriously wrong. So it enhances safety a bit in a Murphy's Law prep sense. Extra circuit energy damping is also a plus if that can be added via an extra resistor. Drill presses do not typically have a lot of rotational inertia though with power cut.

 

[Davefr]

One weird thing about the Teco L510 is that they include the Quick Start sheet and the full Startup manual with the VFD. However there's a third manual called the Instruction Manual that's not included but invaluable. It's downloadable. (They should really combine Startup and Instruction manuals into one since there's a lot of overlap but each one has some unique info. in it)

Anyway the documentation is excellent compared to getting a cartoon or something written in Chinklish.

 

[shibertus]

Thanks to all for the great advice. The Teco VFD and 1HP motor seem like the way to go. Time to start gathering parts!

 

[pelletman]

I have had good luck with drives from www.automationdirect.com

 

[daveghil]

Teco/Westinghouse is a moderately priced VFD which is a cut above the low budget Chinese offerings out there on Amazon and Ebay. Try to get one that will operate in sensorless vector mode for a little more torque at lower speeds. I've bought several now from Marshall Wolf Automation.

DC is fine - DC motors develop their max torque at zero speed. But DC motors are generally more expensive and not as abundant as 3 phase. And you'll lose the VFD's ability to control accel/decel.

DC motors are expensive to buy but often free in treadmills that are being scrapped. Bolt on a $25 scr controller (or use the control board in the treadmill) and you’ll have variable speed. Just completed my drill press conversion and can get down to 150 rpm.

 

[u3b3rg33k]

Teco/Westinghouse is a moderately priced VFD which is a cut above the low budget Chinese offerings out there on Amazon and Ebay. Try to get one that will operate in sensorless vector mode for a little more torque at lower speeds. I've bought several now from Marshall Wolf Automation.

DC is fine - DC motors develop their max torque at zero speed. But DC motors are generally more expensive and not as abundant as 3 phase. And you'll lose the VFD's ability to control accel/decel.

DC motors are expensive to buy but often free in treadmills that are being scrapped. Bolt on a $25 scr controller (or use the control board in the treadmill) and you’ll have variable speed. Just completed my drill press conversion and can get down to 150 rpm.

depending on the type of DC motor, some VFDs are able to drive them. I think this is specifically BLDC motors.