I'm looking at a Felder AD941 that is a 3-phase machine. I'm wondering if I can just put a VFD in front of the whole machine, or if VFD's are really only designed for handling one motor. The machine has peripheral electronics like the power planer bed height and digital readout. I do not know if the feed motors are separate or if everything runs off of one motor.
There don't seem to be many "digital phase converters" on ebay, just expensive rotary stuff. But when I search for VFD there are tons of cheap options. I don't see any reason why a VFD couldn't do what needs to be done, unless they're only setup to operate in a load-sensing way where it only works powering a motor directly.
This exact question about the AD941 was actually asked in an older thread but never clearly answered and the OP never came back and said what he did, if anything. The answer would apply to any 3 phase equipment though.
Edit: AD941, not 741 and not 471, woops.