I bought a Mill
- Thread starter Thumper68
- Start date
Well it is official the motor for the x axis is dead, looks like some chips got in and shorted it out, quite a bit of melted and burned wiring, to bad since it was a nice dayton motor 1hp.
Anyhow off to e-bay to see what I can find.
Anyhow off to e-bay to see what I can find.
So as part of this whole new mill thing was installing a American Rotary phase converter and also rewiring the Sheldon lathe to run off of that as well.
Last night I bit the bullet while waiting for my wife to show up and started in on the job, after about an hour I had the control box and drum switch wired up.
Then I needed to make a mounting plate for them, had a piece of rusty 3/16 plate about the right size, a quick blast with a flap disk cleaned it up and I was able to mark and drill all the holes and spray it with some rusty metal primer and a top coat of black appliance epoxy, that is where I had to leave it for the night.
Today we had a family thing so I was gone all day but when we returned home I had a few moments before making dinner to get everything mounted to the plate and give it a quick try, it worked fine even though I had to make a educated guess on where one of the wires went. Of course like always it ran in reverse, so I had to switch 2 of the legs to get it to run in the right direction, not a big deal at all.
Once I knew everything was working right My youngest son gave me a hand bolting it to the lathe.
As much as I like the control of a VFD the phase converter and a drum switch makes life easier.
Last night I bit the bullet while waiting for my wife to show up and started in on the job, after about an hour I had the control box and drum switch wired up.
Then I needed to make a mounting plate for them, had a piece of rusty 3/16 plate about the right size, a quick blast with a flap disk cleaned it up and I was able to mark and drill all the holes and spray it with some rusty metal primer and a top coat of black appliance epoxy, that is where I had to leave it for the night.
Today we had a family thing so I was gone all day but when we returned home I had a few moments before making dinner to get everything mounted to the plate and give it a quick try, it worked fine even though I had to make a educated guess on where one of the wires went. Of course like always it ran in reverse, so I had to switch 2 of the legs to get it to run in the right direction, not a big deal at all.
Once I knew everything was working right My youngest son gave me a hand bolting it to the lathe.
As much as I like the control of a VFD the phase converter and a drum switch makes life easier.
One thing you should do now is to identify which legs are which coming out of your converter. Know which leg is the 'generated' leg and keep track of it as you move along because sometime in the future you are going to need to run controls or other things off only 2 of the legs and you do not want to use the generated leg for this. I ran into this with my big mill when the control relays were chattering. I was trying to run them off the generated leg. Be forewarned. The generated leg voltage sags when starting a heavy load.
lg
no neat sig line
Last edited:
Yup I get it the generated leg on all my outlets is the X I was careful to use the Y or W as the hot leg for the switch on both the Mill and Lathe. Great advice for anyone who is new to 3 phase equipment.
Here are a couple of Videos, the first is the first half of setting up the electric for the mill including the American Rotary phase converter. The second is shot on my phone and shows the Sheldon Lathe running off the phase converter.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qYJ1s_r_YOc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NV2DBLL4NfI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qYJ1s_r_YOc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NV2DBLL4NfI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
purplezr2
Well-known member
Where did you buy it?
The mill, lathe or phase converter?
Get to reading, I'm up to date on yours I think
I've found that on my Sheldon lathes that a bit of open gear lube will quiet the end gears down immensely. Also two of the tumbler gears are on eccentrics for setting the mesh. Adjusting them will also quiet them down. They will never be quiet, but it sounds like you have opportunity on your machine.
lg
no neat sig line
lg
no neat sig line
Thanks Larry, I will have to take a look at that when I get the chance.
Trey T
Well-known member
Very cool! What model phase converter are you using? Why did you go w/ a phase converter instead of using two VFDs for the lathe and mill?
The Phase Converter is a American Rotary AR05.
As to why I went that way is I didn't want 2 more motors running on VFD's and if I add any more 3ph equipment I would have to keep adding more, and more etc...
The phase converter just makes life easier, easier to hook up and test 3ph motors, some of the equipment I am looking at has 3ph controls so no extra wiring for that.
But the biggest reason is that 1 phase converter can run several machines where as a programmed VFD is really only good at running 1 machine. I had 1 of my VFD's set up to run the lathe and the Clausing drill press and it was a pain in the ****, since I had the programming optimized for the lathe.
The X Axis is fixed, installed the replacement motor this after noon, of course I had to change the wiring so the drum switch made sense, handle to the left table goes left, handle to the right table goes right, it never fails that I have to swap two legs every time I wire a 3ph motor.
Anyhow it is now all set to make chips, Just in time I need to make a bunch of hold downs for the fab table for a project next week. just need to get the raw material.
Anyhow it is now all set to make chips, Just in time I need to make a bunch of hold downs for the fab table for a project next week. just need to get the raw material.
Me either I just started a thread asking what I should use to make them.
Wow a double quote, you must be special.
I finished up the first real project on the mill this morning, I made 14 toe clamps for use on the fab table, these are something that I have wanted since I built the table.
View media item 71527
NASTYZEN
Well-known member
Keep the truck outside and fill up the shop will machines!!
The toe clamps look good, can you heat treat them?
The toe clamps look good, can you heat treat them?
No they are A36 mild steel, but they are for use on the fab table and are going to get abused, and since they are so easy to make that if they deform to much I can just kick out a few more.
I missed this part of your comment sorry. The only time a vehicle is allowed in the shop is if it needs work or on a very few occasions I have parked my wife's SUV in there if we were expecting real bad weather.
Thanks, it was a real fun project and let me get used to the mill a bit on a non critical cheap project.
For me it is easier to learn if I am actually working on a project rather than just doing something.
2nd part of the mill set up video, on a side note I found the footage of the move as well but have not decided if I would edit and post it, anyone interested in seeing it?
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1MIXB4kTrIY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1MIXB4kTrIY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Slycox
Well-known member
I would watch it if you posted the move. Enjoying watching the videos so far.
Okay you got it I will post it sometime in the next few weeks and embed it here for all.