electronic variable speed

[Mr Unknown]

Just wondering if anyone knows how much and what sort of effort is involved in transforming a lathe to electronic variable speed, like this one
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v45/hoekone/lathe.jpg
and also this has a 3 phase motor, how hard is it to make it back into a single phase. Im not very knowledgable about electric work so some help would be appreciated.

[Baz]

If your lathe has a 3 phase motor all you need to do is buy an EVS and hook it up. The EVS suppies 3 phase, you can buy one from Vicmarc or Vermec, not sure on the prices these days about $1200.
Cheers
Barry

[Mr Unknown]

hmm $1200, screw the variable speed then, its to expensive, how about getting it back to single phase?
And also what do people think of this lathe? its on ebay for $500 and was thinking of bidding if its not to hard to get it back to single phase. Its a woodfast, dont know how old or what model but its 6 inch centre height and 36 inches between centres. I remember reading somewhere that some chucks wont fit woodfast machines as they have a wierd thread size or something.

[Wild Dingo]

Just a wee question? why would you want to put it back to single phase? only got single in your shed? why not get a leccy in and install a 3phase setup?
Just hoping to help muddle your thoughts a tad ;)

Can you post a link to that ebay sale please? :cool: I can feel the need for a better more solid with extra grunt lathe coming on! :eek: at $500 for a solid well proven woodfast lathe? mate? take it!! :cool:

[Baz]

There may be other EVS units around that are cheaper than $1200, do a google. To convert to single phase buy a single phase motor and bung it in, will probably need some modifications on the mounting arrangement and to the switchgear. If you have used a variable speed lathe before than you would be looking for a cheaper EVS.
Cheers
Barry

[Mr Unknown]

yeah i dont have 3 phase dingo, but would it cost much to get an electrician to come out and put in 3 phase in? is the lathe better running on 3 phase? the auction says that a single phase motor is available so i just thought it would be easier and cheaper to just convert it back to single phase.
heres the link if anyone wants to check it out, its an ex TAFE lathe
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Woodfast-wood-lathe-ex-TAFE_W0QQitemZ330015670386QQihZ014QQcategoryZ11810QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Ive always wondered what they did with the lathes from lidcombe TAFE cause i used them doing my apprenticeship and wouldnt mind one of them, do they still have em or did they sell em off? I remember George designing one him self and it was a good lathe but was almost identical to my old works lathes which were designed by my old boss, and he was when he found out George copied his design, especially when george claimed he designed it all himself even though he came to our factory once to look at our lathes for "ideas". He didnt like our way of grinding the skews either, straight and not on an angle cause we used them as wide parting tools at the same time.

[hughie]

yeah i dont have 3 phase dingo, but would it cost much to get an electrician to come out and put in 3 phase in? is the lathe better running on 3 phase? the auction says that a single phase motor is available so i just thought it would be easier and cheaper to just convert it back to single phase.


Why don't you look into to getting an inverter? They will convert 240 single phase to three phase and have speed variation as well
They are considerably cheaper than $1200. Do a search on the forum theres some info and I think the price quoted was about $350 for a Siemens inverter.
I have put a three phase motor on my chiwanese with variable speed control. Nothing to elaborate every thing was second hand...but it works just fine, best thing I ever did, would not be with out it now

[Mr Unknown]

thanks ill have a look into this.

[OGYT]

Mr U, be glad you're not in Texas... State code will not authorize any more 3 Phase installations in private dwellings. Don't know why... just crappy politicos, I guess.
Good luck on the lathe... looks like a heavy duty.

[hughie]

heres the link if anyone wants to check it out, its an ex TAFE lathe


I am always concerned at the way some of the bidding goes on E-Bay. Here we have this guy bidding against himself,minute by minute on the 9th.

Caveat Emptor my friend

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR bgColor=#ffffcc><TD vAlign=center width=10></TD><TD>tcowdroy (http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=tcowdroy&iid=330015670386)http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif( 123 (http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=tcowdroy)http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/au/icon/iconTealStar_25x25.gif) http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif[/URL]</TD><TD align=middle>AU $615.00</TD><TD noWrap>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif08-Aug-06 14:56:52 AEST</TD><TD>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ffffcc colSpan=5 height=2>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#f9f9f9 colSpan=5 height=2>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#f9f9f9><TD vAlign=center width=10>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD><TD>yornai (http://search.reviews.ebay.com.au/members/tcowdroy)http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif( 0 (http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=yornai) ) http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD><TD align=middle>AU $605.00</TD><TD noWrap>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif09-Aug-06 23:07:28 AEST</TD><TD>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#f9f9f9 colSpan=5 height=2>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ffffff colSpan=5 height=2>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD vAlign=center width=10>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD><TD>yornai (http://search.reviews.ebay.com.au/members/yornai)http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif( 0 (http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=yornai) ) http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD><TD align=middle>AU $580.00</TD><TD noWrap>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif09-Aug-06 23:06:46 AEST</TD><TD>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ffffff colSpan=5 height=2>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#f9f9f9 colSpan=5 height=2>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#f9f9f9><TD vAlign=center width=10>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD><TD>yornai (http://search.reviews.ebay.com.au/members/yornai)http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif( 0 (http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=yornai) ) http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD><TD align=middle>AU $550.00</TD><TD noWrap>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif09-Aug-06 23:05:04 AEST</TD><TD>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#f9f9f9 colSpan=5 height=2>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ffffff colSpan=5 height=2>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD vAlign=center width=10>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif</TD><TD>yornai (http://search.reviews.ebay.com.au/members/yornai)http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif( 0 (http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=yornai) ) http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif[URL="http://search.reviews.ebay.com.au/members/yornai"]</TD><TD align=middle>AU $510.00</TD><TD noWrap>http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif09-Aug-06 23:03:58 AEST</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Greolt]

Hughie the way it works is the cowdroy bloke bid before the other one. Look at the bid times.
You can set your max bid and the system will only increase up to your max as others bid.
Does that make sense?

[Toolin Around]

Mr U, be glad you're not in Texas... State code will not authorize any more 3 Phase installations in private dwellings. Don't know why... just crappy politicos, I guess.
Good luck on the lathe... looks like a heavy duty.

I think that's pretty well North American wide

[soundman]

well the whole US electrical thing had to come unstuck some time.......... I know of speaker lines running higher voltages than come out of your powerpoints.:D

cheers

[RETIRED]

For a variable speed unit, contact Jim Carroll.
http://www.cws.au.com/cgi/index.cgi/shopfront/view_by_category?category_id=1107144886