Bandspeed Speed Pros/Cons?

[Thomas Utley]

I believe if the motor is a 220/240 Delta wound three phase you could use a VFD to adjust the speed of the motor, up or down as needed, limited by the motor's ability to cool. Worth looking into.

Agreed. I'm using VFDs on two machines at home already, a 16" South Bend metal lathe (3hp) and a Baldor pedestal buffer (1.5hp). A 5hp (~4kW) VFD won't be cheap, but variable speed would be a nice feature for sure. Overclocking older motors which aren't "VFD rated" isn't something a motor manufacturer would ever recommend, but there are countless examples of people doing exactly that in short spurts with no noticeable impact to the motor's life. BTW, the same thing applies to underclocking...for motors relying on shaft-mounted fans for cooling, running too slow is worse than running too fast.

[Peter Christensen]

Thomas I got my VFD directly from Powtran in China for my CV-Max (5hp) and to my door it was less than half the price of those Carter tires. $170US plus about $70 for the shipping. I do envy you getting that big saw. It would drop through my shop floor into the garage below.

[Darcy Warner]

Ouch, that's expensive. Good info to have prior to negotiating a price on a saw with Carter wheels. Thanks!

Not really, saves time and labor.

[David Kumm]

Keep in mind if running a direct drive on a vfd that it is all ready likely 600 or 720 rpm so not much point in slowing it much. The low rpm motor will have a much higher amp draw- as i said earlier, more like 19 amps rather than the typical 13 so the vfd needs to be closer to a 7.5 hp equivelant to have an output amperage of 20. In addition to the rubber, the Carter wheels themselves need to be run to ensure they don't have problems as they are also expensive to replace. Many old saws will run an aluminum top wheel and cast iron bottom, either spoked or full. You can go to owwm.org and read up on posts for old saws including Moak. Dave