And this concludes one of the longest episodes in machine moving history....

[TorontoBuilder]

I wanted to give a shout out to @PatrickT but I guess he is blocking me for some reason.

I thought he'd appreciate this surface grinder he sold to us, finally moving into the right shop.

And the large hydraulic one finally getting to it's permanent home.

We're getting too old for this shit. Am I allowed to say shit still? Anyway loaded it up on Thursday late afternoon in anticipation of a Friday morning trek thru the hellscape that are Toronto Hwys.



Made it across Friday morning and then the real labour began putting the gantry crane together, blocking up the trailer and back gate... then sliding grinder 1 into position.



And lift with your knees, not your back.




This way high noon, the sun was brutal and Tom's blood sugar went wonky so he had to check out of much of part 2. So I have less photo documentation of this part.





Skipping ahead, Dave and I got it loaded, no one got dead or injured other than heat stroke and bad sun burn to the back of the neck.





Thank god one end of the dual trek is sophisticated.




Oh and what made the move so long was the years between acquisition and actually completing the moves. It's been a year, or almost two... to be clear, a really shitty year

 

[TorontoBuilder]

Yes, once you reach the age of 55 blundstone boots are mandatory dontcha know

 

[Susquatch]

Yes, once you reach the age of 55 blundstone boots are mandatory dontcha know

After 70 you can take them off again. No feelings left in your feet.

I have not heard from Patrick either. Given what he does for a living, I'm not surprised. He could be in the Congo up to his ears in giant snakes with no phones or internet.

Not many guys can leave my wife speechless. He is missed.

 

[Doggggboy]

I wanted to give a shout out to @PatrickT but I guess he is blocking me for some reason.

His last post was Ocotber last year.
What did you do??????😀

 

[TorontoBuilder]

I spent a few hours working on the Reid 618 HA surface grinder.

Removed the 6x12 chuck and installed the 6x18" chuck. To do that Tom had to mill recesses in the chuck because it came with split recesses off to the sides.

I pulled off the 600 volt main disconnect box.. stupidly over sized beast. Installed by 1970s era slotted screws, one of whihc stripped necessitating brute force removal.



My next victim was the 575 to 120 volt hammond transformer... and electrical outlet. I feel bad not using the lovely 2x4 cast iron box.


No pic of the box, I was too greasy.

But the transformer is a hoot. I bet they never once plugged a light into the outlet.






Then came the 600 volt to 480 volt transformer.




Then yet another transformer...

Just to power the 120volt coil in the contactor.




And said contactor.

State of the art baby.




So.

Decisions.

Do I replace everything, or keep all this and just have the output from the motor started power the VFD.





The distribution block at least should stay dontcha think?




In reality, I'm going with new 240 to 24v transformer, new contactor. These will open a ton of real estate for a VFD in the sealed cabinet. Time will tell if I have over heating issues with this arrangement.

The 24 volt DC will be wired in a classic 3 wire control latching circuit. Then I'll wire the normally closed fault relay output from the VFD into this 24V latching string so that any VFD issue drops the power to the entire unit.

I can't get the half of the wheel adapter that was left on the spindle off, because I can't find the puller I had acquired with some other adapters. So I have to order one.

But hopefully I'll be grinding soon.

 

[trlvn]

Sorry but I don't have the specs. What size/voltage motor are you going to use?

Personally, I would use the A-B contactor rather than a new one. Those things are near indestructible.

But...I could make a case that a magnetic contactor ahead of the VFD is overkill for small horsepower applications. Any decent VFD can be programmed to NOT automatically restart after a power failure. Thus if you have a simple maintained switch upstream of the VFD, nothing bad is going to happen in the classic 'power blip' scenario. A motor-rated toggle switch, possibly with pilot light, is cheap and simple. With the VFD's low voltage circuits, you can have multiple guard/safety switches and a separate Emergency Stop with max braking, as you may desire.

Also, you say " I'll wire the normally closed fault relay output from the VFD into this 24V latching string so that any VFD issue drops the power to the entire unit." I'm not sure why you want to do this? If the VFD shuts down the motor, you'll want to be able to see the fault code, no?

Just food for thought.

Craig in Oakville
(Not an electrician, yada yada.)

 

[TorontoBuilder]

@trlvn those are good points.

Yes, I would want to see a fault code... I haven't had one while operating a machine yet, and didn't think of that.

Also, I'm cheap so I can easily be talked into keeping the A-B contactor. It's worked well for half a century. I think I can still squeeze a VFD in the cabinet

 

[TorontoBuilder]

The results are in... the VFD wont fit with the existing over sized contactor and stupid 240 to 110 transformer.

So Out with the transformer and the contactor, in with the VFD.

I've ordered a new contactor with a nice appropriate 220V coil so I don't even need a transformer.



Had a slight set back when I went to use the lathe and discovered that my brother disconnected the power when he built a elevator on his garage wall to raise and lower his tire storage racks... I'm glad he did because I couldn't lift jeep tires up to the ceiling any more.

So the 220v outlet needs to be reconnected before the wheel remover can be made.

But almost there... I'll take any progress I can get these days