# New member in Edmonton



## John Conroy (Oct 14, 2015)

Hi everyone, I am a hobby machinist/metal worker from Edmonton. I've been active in the hobby for many years and in the last 3 years I have gotten more involved and bought a 14 X 40 lathe and a couple of milling machines. The most recent purchase is a 80's vintage "Ferro" brand 10 X 50" mill that I have refurbished. Here are some pics of my machines. Cheers,

John


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## Janger (Oct 14, 2015)

That's nice equipment! Welcome to the forum!


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## EricB (Oct 15, 2015)

Whoa, hi new best friend!  That Ferro is sweet! Welcome to the board. I'm in Edmonton as well and work in a machine shop. Might be able to get you some scrap to work with. Mostly 4140/45 or some different types/sizes of aluminum. I also have a couple of BIG 10" milling vises that I'd be willing to sell cheap if you're interested. I don't have a mill yet and it'll probably be a long time before I can afford a decent sized knee-mill.

Have any photos of some things you've made?


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## John Conroy (Oct 15, 2015)

Thanks guys. Eric. I have done a lot of projects with the lathe and the PM mill, some of which was making new parts for the Ferro mill. The Y axis lead screw and nuts were very worn out when I got it. The lead screw was an odd combination of metric and English sizes, 32mm size shaft cut with a 5tpi thread for .200" per revolution. I re fitted it with some 5tpi 1.25" Acme left hand thread rod to replace the metric size. I bought a 3 foot length of it from the Bolt House for about $40 instead of the $400 it would have cost for a replacement screw in the original metric size. I bought some matching 1.25" left hand threaded nut blanks from Roton industries and machined them to fit like the originals. Here are a few pics of that process.


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## PeterT (Oct 15, 2015)

Welcome John. Nice machines & great pics. I'm always curious about how the 'better' mills accommodate the stationary nut segment that the lead screw engages in terms of minimizing backlash. My King lathe (from memory) is a threaded  bronze part with a slit saw cut traversing across the threads. The play is taken up with a fine pitch bolt that tightens & tweaks the thread engagement. I always thought that was a bit crude, but it seems to work reasonably well. (I don't have much to compare to). Did you do anything like this on yours?


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## John Conroy (Oct 16, 2015)

Thanks Peter, there are 2 opposing nuts for each screw and the backlash is adjusted by turning one of the nuts in the housing. The first pic show the nuts, the one on the left is the finished part, the middle one is as it arrived from Roton industries and the right is the original. The second pic shows the nut housing with all 4 nuts for both x and y axis installed.


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## PeterT (Oct 16, 2015)

Nice. Glad I asked, learned something new.


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## John Conroy (Oct 18, 2015)

The Ferro mill did not come with a drive adapter to raise and lower the knee. It is a nine spline drive socket. I made one starting with a short length of 303 stainless round. Here are some pics of the project.


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## John Conroy (Oct 18, 2015)

I needed a socket for the steering head bearing nuts on my Kawasaki Concours 1400. I machined one using a piece of schedule 80 pipe and a short length of hot rolled round stock. Here's some pics.


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## EricB (Oct 19, 2015)

Nice work, John! Looking forward to seeing what else you get up to!

Sent from my B15 using Tapatalk


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## Alexander (Oct 27, 2015)

You did some really nice work rebuilding that knee mill.  Nice to see some real craftsmanship. What are you going to machine next?


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## John Conroy (Oct 27, 2015)

The Ferro mill is 220V 3 phase and my garage is only wired for 240V single phase so I installed a Hyanyang VFD on the mill and I am happy with the results. I have is set up with a remote panel with switches for run, forward/reverse and jog as well as a variable speed potentiometer. I removed the old electrical box from the side of the mill and gutted all the old electrical stuff out of it. I mounted the box on an adjustable pedestal with the vfd and switch panel inside so it can be reached easily. After I got all the settings right I wrote a up a document and drew a schematic in case anyone else wants this information. The switch panel in the picture is temporary. I plan to make something prettier later, I just wanted to get it up and running fast for now.














*Huanyang Inverter (VFD)*


-Model number *HY03D023B*

-*Input* 240 Volt single phase

-*Rated output* 220 Volt 3 phase *4 HP or 3KW* 13 Amps (220 volts X 13 Amps = 2860 watts) (1 HP = 746 Watts) (4 X 746 Watts = 2984 Watts)


*Initial Set-Up *


-Instructions from vendor (eBay seller “Solar Jean”) suggested the frequency parameters be *set in the following order*:* PD05 set to 60HZ, PD04 set to 60HZ, PD03 set to 60HZ, PD72 to 60HZ. *I connected the 200 Volt single phase input power to terminals S and T and the 3 legs of the 3 phase 3 HP motor to terminals U, V, and W. I plugged the VFD in with it temporarily just lying of the table of the mill and it powered up. I set the above parameters as suggested and the Run, Forward and Reverse functions worked from the unit’s built in keypad.


*Advanced Set-Up*


-I wanted to use a remote mounted control panel to allow remote function of Run, Forward/Reverse, Jog as well as a Potentiometer controlled variable speed. Since the mill has a variable speed head I see no reason to run the motor at more than the rated 60HZ. Using the supplied manual I then made the following switching, wiring and parameter changes to achieve the functions I wanted. I used the schematic on page 37 as a guide for the 3 wire Run, Forward/Reverse switches and the schematic on page 12 for the wiring of the Potentiometer. Page 36 explains how the output terminals can be re-configured for multiple uses. I drew the following schematic after researching the manual. The information on pages 19-26 of the manual details which parameters and settings support the different functions. Since my custom settings are all basic they are all covered on pages 19-20 except PD72 which was part of the initial setup for 60HZ power. These are the connections and parameter changes I made to make the VFD function as I wanted:


See the schematic on the next page, Switch 1 is for D1, Switch 2 is for D2 and Switch 3 is for D3.

-*PD01 set to 1* to support use of external input controls.

-*PD44 set to 1* to change the function of the “FOR” terminal to D1. When set to 1, D1 is now the Run function.

-*PD45 set to 5* to change the function of the “REV” terminal to D2. When set to 5, D2 is now the Forward/Reverse selector. When Switch 2 is open you get forward rotation and when closed you get reverse. See page 37 of the manual for these instructions.

-*PD46 set to 6* to change the function of the “RST” terminal to D3. When set to 6, D3 is now the Jog function. It works in forward or reverse depending on the position of switch 2.

-*PD02 set to 1* to support the input from the external Potentiometer for speed control.

-*PD11 set to 10*. This sets the lowest frequency of the variable speed to 10HZ so the potentiometer can adjust the speed of the motor from 10HZ to 60HZ. The factory setting is 0 so when the pot is turned all the way down the motor stops.

-*PD14 set to 5* to change the acceleration time (0Hz to 60HZ) to 5 seconds when run is selected. Factory setting is 20 seconds.

-*PD15 set to 5* to change ramp down or deceleration time (60HZ to 0HZ) to 5 seconds. I was cautioned to go no lower than 5 seconds without connecting an external braking resistor. The VFD must be given time to dissipate the energy created by the motor as it slows (it acts as a generator when slowing). The internal braking circuits in the VFD cannot support aggressive deceleration and an external braking resistor must be added to slow to a stop quickly. *Using the information in the manual, and some internet searches I settled on a 200 ohm, 200 watt resistor. I have ordered but not received it yet so the one show in the schematic is not wired in currently. I will update this information when I get the resistor and experiment with aggressive slow down times.*









Here is the finished product after I removed the display from the vfd and mounted it on the electrical box door.







John


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## EricB (Oct 27, 2015)

Electrical is one thing I know sweet f**k-all about, so I love posts like this. Very impressive. 

Sent from my B15 using Tapatalk


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## Tom O (Oct 29, 2015)

nice work! I have a 3 phase motor I picked up a couple of months ago so I will have to try something like that.


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## Louis Dusablon (Jan 21, 2016)

Hi John
I to installed the same VFD on my lathe it works great still have all of the original dashboard function with extra variable speed


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## John Conroy (Jan 23, 2016)

Looks good Louis, I'm thinking of installing a 3 phase motor  and VFD on my lathe also.


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## PeterT (Jan 23, 2016)

I've just started following this PM sub-forum. Maybe you have seen already. This fellow did VFD conversion on similar lathe.
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/my-precision-mathews-pm1340gt-arrival.24887/


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## Louis Dusablon (Jan 23, 2016)

lol my electrical looks like a rats nest


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## John Conroy (Jan 24, 2016)

I've seen Mikes thread over on HM. That PM1340GT is very similar to my lathe.


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## Louis Dusablon (Jan 24, 2016)

I was about to buy that same lathe, almost sent the money,  then  decided to buy the from modern tools
delivered right to my place.


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## Tom Kitta (Feb 10, 2016)

Great pictures!


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