Jeff Horton
03-30-2006, 7:54 PM
Finished the upgrades on the J-Line today. I am so happy with the way this turned out too! A little history first. I searched out an old J-line lathe with a 3 phase motor on it. I like this lathe because of the weight, 500 lbs, varaible speed, and so much cheaper than a new one! My intentions were to add a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) so I could have totally variable speeds. The lathe has a Reeves drive but the advertised low speed was 600 rpm. To fast for rough blanks I liked to use.
I added the VFD a while back and was pretty happy with it but there were some things I didn't like. Biggest one was I put it in the wrong place. It was in my way when I worked on the back of a bowl near the spindle.
http://www.kudzupatch.com/woodshop/turnings/lathe.jpg
You can see the drive mounted on it. Whenever I tried to work at the head I was constantly bumping into it. It replaced the original switch that was there so it seemed the perfect place. I also found that that chips were getting in the heat sink and the controller. I was constantly having to blow them out, it was hard to see the tiny buttons so I had to stoop over most times to turn it off and adjust the speed, so I knew it had to be moved.
http://www.kudzupatch.com/woodshop/turnings/lathe1.jpg
So today my buddy who is an industrial electrician came over with a new box and he helped me install the rest of the toys. http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowbiggrin.gif
First we moved the VFD to the wall. It's handy and it is out of the line of fire too. We added the box and he hooked up some things I wasn't sure how to do. First we added a simple on and off switch. When you hit the off switch it slowly ramps the speed down. Since I use the Reeves drive on the front of the lathe most of the time and leave the VFD set at around 30 hz. we connected an off switch to the Mechanical Speed control on front. So now when I push the spindle speed all the way down the slowest setting the spindle stops. http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowbiggrin.gif I don't have to reach for the box to turn it off.
The sweetest part is he looked at the controls said, would you like a reverse rotation? http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yelloweek.gif By adding a toggle switch I can now reverse the spindle for sanding. Man am I going to love that! The coolest part is with the spindle rotating you can throw the switch to reverse and it slows to a stop and slowly starts accelerating back up to speed just in reverse!
http://www.kudzupatch.com/woodshop/turnings/lathe2.jpg
He told me I could also add up to 3 toggle switches that when turned on would set the VFD to a programmed speed/frequency. Since I use it at 30 hz. most of the time I could just add a toggle and it would lock it at 30 hz. I could add up to 3 of these for 3 different preset speeds. I can also just a rheostate and mount it in a box on the lathe and have my speed controlled right on the lathe if I find I want. Heck I could even put the toggles to control the preset speeds in there too, all right in front of me. Man am I happy with this set up!! http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowyes.gif http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowyes.gif http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowyes.gif
It will be a while before I tackle phase two since it requires some welding and I need to brush up on that. But phase two is an outboard turning stand for over-sized turning. Assuming I find I want to turn bigger than 12" dia. that is.
I added the VFD a while back and was pretty happy with it but there were some things I didn't like. Biggest one was I put it in the wrong place. It was in my way when I worked on the back of a bowl near the spindle.
http://www.kudzupatch.com/woodshop/turnings/lathe.jpg
You can see the drive mounted on it. Whenever I tried to work at the head I was constantly bumping into it. It replaced the original switch that was there so it seemed the perfect place. I also found that that chips were getting in the heat sink and the controller. I was constantly having to blow them out, it was hard to see the tiny buttons so I had to stoop over most times to turn it off and adjust the speed, so I knew it had to be moved.
http://www.kudzupatch.com/woodshop/turnings/lathe1.jpg
So today my buddy who is an industrial electrician came over with a new box and he helped me install the rest of the toys. http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowbiggrin.gif
First we moved the VFD to the wall. It's handy and it is out of the line of fire too. We added the box and he hooked up some things I wasn't sure how to do. First we added a simple on and off switch. When you hit the off switch it slowly ramps the speed down. Since I use the Reeves drive on the front of the lathe most of the time and leave the VFD set at around 30 hz. we connected an off switch to the Mechanical Speed control on front. So now when I push the spindle speed all the way down the slowest setting the spindle stops. http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowbiggrin.gif I don't have to reach for the box to turn it off.
The sweetest part is he looked at the controls said, would you like a reverse rotation? http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yelloweek.gif By adding a toggle switch I can now reverse the spindle for sanding. Man am I going to love that! The coolest part is with the spindle rotating you can throw the switch to reverse and it slows to a stop and slowly starts accelerating back up to speed just in reverse!
http://www.kudzupatch.com/woodshop/turnings/lathe2.jpg
He told me I could also add up to 3 toggle switches that when turned on would set the VFD to a programmed speed/frequency. Since I use it at 30 hz. most of the time I could just add a toggle and it would lock it at 30 hz. I could add up to 3 of these for 3 different preset speeds. I can also just a rheostate and mount it in a box on the lathe and have my speed controlled right on the lathe if I find I want. Heck I could even put the toggles to control the preset speeds in there too, all right in front of me. Man am I happy with this set up!! http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowyes.gif http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowyes.gif http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowyes.gif
It will be a while before I tackle phase two since it requires some welding and I need to brush up on that. But phase two is an outboard turning stand for over-sized turning. Assuming I find I want to turn bigger than 12" dia. that is.