I've been thinking about doing this since I got the new lathe a little over a year ago but a few things have happened lately to push me toward starting this project. First was the capacitor failure I experienced on the single phase motor that came with the lathe. Second, my wife and I got back from California on March 10 so we are in voluntary self isolation for a couple of weeks. Next was the link PeterT posted a while back to the Clough42 YouTube video series on installing a VFD. I've been shopping around for a used 3 phase motor but had no luck finding anything with a realistic price. I was going to buy another Huanyang VFD like the one I used for my mill but they have gone up in price since then and I didn't want to wait weeks to get one direct from China. With some web searching I found a company called Emotors Direct where I purchased a Teco-Westinghouse motor and compatable VFD online and picked up at the Edmonton Teco-Westinghouse warehouse the same day. I made arrangements with the warehouse people so I didn't have to get out of my truck during the pickup to maintain "social distancing". All the other components have been ordered from Amazon. The motor was priced lower than any of the used ones I found. The VFD was priced a little higher than a Huanyang but no de-rating is needed according to T-W. What that means is you can use a 3HP rated VFD on a 3HP motor. With Huanyang most people suggest going up 1HP on the VFD rating to be sure it can handle the current the motor requires, I bought a 4HP Huanyang VFD for my 3HP mill motor. The end result is I have a motor and VFD from the same manufacturer with 3 year warranty and no worry about the compatability of the 2 components. This project will probably a week or so and I will update here as I go.
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