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  1. #1
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    Default Switchgear Mounting

    The Hercus No.1 T and C had the switchgear etc. mounted on a 3/8" thick panel of "Ausbestos" compressed asbestos fibre sheet. I have removed the panel and switchgear and placed them for posterity in a sealed heavy duty plastic bag. It is my intention the mount the two VFDs required along with a contactor and fuses on new panel in the same position as its predecessor. The panel would be about 225 x 225mm.


    What would be an appropriate material to mount this gear on? Tufnol or some other form of resin impregnated material?

    BT

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  3. #2
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    Default

    [QUOTE

    What would be an appropriate material to mount this gear on? Tufnol or some other form of resin impregnated material?

    BT[/QUOTE]

    I would be mounting the gear on a steel plate.

    As long as the plate is well earthed and the equipment is in sound condition there should be no safety issues.

    John

  4. #3
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    Jan 2007
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    Default

    225 x 225 is not a lot of room to mount all that stuff Bob. You need to consider ventillation for the VFDs as well. I'm assuming this is in some sort of compartment with a lid/cover. Oh and yeah a steel plate is fine.
    Those were the droids I was looking for.
    https://autoblastgates.com.au

  5. #4
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Anorak Bob View Post
    The Hercus No.1 T and C had the switchgear etc. mounted on a 3/8" thick panel of "Ausbestos" compressed asbestos fibre sheet. I have removed the panel and switchgear and placed them for posterity in a sealed heavy duty plastic bag. It is my intention the mount the two VFDs required along with a contactor and fuses on new panel in the same position as its predecessor. The panel would be about 225 x 225mm.


    What would be an appropriate material to mount this gear on? Tufnol or some other form of resin impregnated material?

    BT

    The classic for inside a fine machine tool would be a phenolic resin impregnated fabric plate material such as Carp or Whale or Kite or Crow or Bear (there are several dozen of other trade marks for this stuff). Unfortunately it is hard to get in Australia unless you want a few square meters. Or it is VERY expensive. If somebody knows a source for smaller scrap cutoffs please let me know...

    I would use an Aluminium plate. Steel would do too but may need painting. Bolt two lengths of DIN rails onto it, and mount everything electrical onto the rails. But the size you mention sounds too small for two rails. You may find it far too small for two VFD's plus the relays etc. Maybe if you were talking two tiny 0.1kW VFD's you could squeeze them in... but that is not enough power for a serious T/C grinder.

    I think you mean two 3/4 or 1 HP VFD's. If so, you may better consider a wall mounted IP66 rated steel enclosure of at least 350x350mm.

    Thinking about it... are you sure you need to run both motors simultaneously? Wold not one single VFD do the job? If you dislike the idea of a changeover switch between VFD and motors (it is electrically absolutely safe with modern VFD's) you could use connectors and only connect the motor in use. Or do the two motors need to be set to different speeds? And a warning, VFD's on grinders can be very dangerous if one can accidentally set the frequency to higher speed than the grinding wheel is rated for. Some extra safeguards may be necessary. Just setting the frequency limit of the VFD may not be safe enough, particularly if the VFD may default to something like 400Hz when reset to factory default.

  6. #5
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    Had an old chipboard backing on the switchboard. It doesnt pass the regs these days, so when it was refurbed we used the backing from a new board enclosure. The wholesaler had spares, so got it for a reasonable price.

    Not sure what its called, but it was deemed acceptable by an electrical inspector.
    www.lockwoodcanvas.com.au

    I will never be the person who has everything, not when someone keeps inventing so much cool new stuff to buy.

    From an early age my father taught me to wear welding gloves . "Its not to protect your hands son, its to put out the fire when u set yourself alight".

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
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    Melbourne Australia
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    Default

    I just turned 50 this past Nov, 32 years in the caper. In my age, I've never known any thing other than metal backing plates. Either Gal or powdered coated. As long as they had a good P.E Ausbestois backplanes, they must have expectedt it to go up in flames. In this day and age metal back planes are fine

  8. #7
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    Nov 2008
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    Perth WA
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    John, NC, Jatt, Chris and Phil,

    Thanks for your replies. I started typing a response to the issues raised by Chris but the response also addressed concerns raised by NC regarding space. I don't have any suitable sheetmetal laying about hence the interest in a plastic alternative and I have to buy some other plastic to make a spacer that will enable the fitting of a terminal block in the little workhead motor's terminal enclosure.

    So.... This was my reply to Chris.

    After posting my initial query, I contacted Eplas who in turn directed me to Armstrong Energy http://www.armstrongenergy.com.au/Me...s-Brochure.pdf. I'll pay them a visit tomorrow. They sell offcuts.

    The grinder has a 1hp main grinding spindle motor and a 1/30hp workhead motor. The 0.75KW and the 0.2KW TECO FM50 VFDs are both physically the same size with a footprint of 72 x 132mm. The Sprecher and Schuh contactor has a baseplate dimension of 45 x 70. The original mounting board measures 210 x 210mm. A larger board could be installed by entering the grinder's pedestal located switch gear enclosure on the diagonal.

    Both motors run independently. When the workhead motor is running it will be running simultaneously with the grinding spindle motor. The workhead motor may benefit from a speed reduction, with the motor running at 1425rpm, the driven pulley rotates at 275 rpm. Could be that I leave the VFD set on 50Hz and never touch it. I will take heed of your warning and check the default frequency setting.

    ..........

    Attached are a few shots of the panel. I comprehensively photographed the original wiring along with numbering the wires and cross referencing them to the handbook's circuit diagram should the need to reinstate the wiring ever take place.

    Bob.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
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    Perth
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    Default

    What about fibreglass panel material?

    Some of the stuff used on freezer trucks looks pretty nice and solid?

    A sheet of epoxy impregnated carbon fibre would also look pretty cool

  10. #9
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    Knowing you Bob, you'll know where there's a skip full of the stuff !

    The bloke I spoke to at Armstrong's reckons he might have a piece of Tufnol-ish stuff, the size I'm after and 6mm thick for about ten bucks.

  11. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Anorak Bob View Post
    After posting my initial query, I contacted Eplas who in turn directed me to Armstrong Energy http://www.armstrongenergy.com.au/Me...s-Brochure.pdf. I'll pay them a visit tomorrow. They sell offcuts. .
    I will be interested to hear about what they have.

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