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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
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    South Austrailia
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    Default Purchased a Hercus 260

    Thanks to the person who gave me the specification sheet to the 260. The lathe was waiting at Graysonline in Melbourne and was picked up and is now home near Kingston in the South East of S.A.(model ATM no. 19490) The lathe has a 0.55kW three phase motor and I need to be able to plug it in to a normal 240 volt plug. Looking at other posts, I need a VFD and on contacting my local electrician, he found one for approx. $700. I looked on eBay and found one that is 0.75 kW, 5 amp for about $70 - who's on the right track?

  2. #2
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
    Join Date
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    Perth
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Keith.S.A. View Post
    Thanks to the person who gave me the specification sheet to the 260. The lathe was waiting at Graysonline in Melbourne and was picked up and is now home near Kingston in the South East of S.A.(model ATM no. 19490) The lathe has a 0.55kW three phase motor and I need to be able to plug it in to a normal 240 volt plug. Looking at other posts, I need a VFD and on contacting my local electrician, he found one for approx. $700. I looked on eBay and found one that is 0.75 kW, 5 amp for about $70 - who's on the right track?
    The local electrician might be choosing the $700 VFD because that is a brand he is familiar with and he might already be familiar with the parameter settings. VFDs all have a slightly different list of parameters and it can become a right PITA and consume lots of time to install a different VFD with different parameters.

    Remember if your sparky instals the VFD he kind of guarantees it will work so he wants to minimise his actual and possible cost and time so he won't necessarily be choosing the cheapest option. You might have to wear the warrantee on the $70 VFD and learn how to program it yourself.

    Nevertheless there should be no need to spend $700 for a 1HP VFD.

    One more very important thing - DO NOT buy any VFD that you have not seen the manual for. The manual is critical during the installation and subsequent programming and some of the chinglese manual have many mistakes and some are completely incomprehensible . Ask the supplier/vendor for an e-copy of the manual before you buy it and if you are not going to be installing it make sure the sparky has seen and understands the manual.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    26

    Default

    Another item to look out for is the complexity of drive. Some are very simple and you only need to set very basic parameters in order for them to work. If this will suit your application i would recommend the simpler drive (it generally will be cheaper). I have just rewired a lathe and put a fancier drive in. I could get it to work the basics but in order to program the drive to enable all the features i wanted took quite some time and a lot of trial and error despite a reasonably thorough manual. I have now gotten the drive to run all of the existing controls of the lathe (apron forward/reverse) variable speed dial on the control panel, active braking, jogging and different accelerations in forward/reverse and emergency stop. There is a lot more that you can achieve with the drives just a matter of programing and wiring the correct switches/controls.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    melbourne australia
    Posts
    3,228

    Default

    It's worth installing a VFD yourself, assuming you are competent to do so. Not only will you save about $500, but you are probably going to want to fiddle with the parameters like acceleration/deceleration times after you've had time to use it. If you install it yourself you'll know how to do this. If your sparky installs it, you'll either have to call him back or learn how to do it anyway.

    I installed one of these on my Hercus 260: https://cononmotor.com.au/product/0-...erter-vsd-vfd/

    A word of warning- don't set your deceleration time too short or your chuck can unscrew. My faceplate unscrewed on me. Fortunately no damage was done to the lathe or faceplate.
    Chris

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    South Austrailia
    Age
    72
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    Default

    Thanks for the replies, I have ordered a cheap one and so hopefully cant loose too much - have a great Xmas and New Year (safely)

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    adelaide
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    dont forget you need to get the motor wiring changed to delta if it isnt already... have a look inside the box on the motor and see if its got 6 connections if not you will have to get it modified by a motor rewinder if you dont know how to do it \
    i use a vfd on my hercus 260 DGLMH

  7. #7
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by tanii51 View Post
    dont forget you need to get the motor wiring changed to delta if it isnt already... have a look inside the box on the motor and see if its got 6 connections if not you will have to get it modified by a motor rewinder if you dont know how to do it .
    Some motors on Hercus machinery have 4 terminals/connections and can also be easily modified without taking it to a rewinder.

    When connected in star formation three of the connections will have 2 wires connected (one from the mains and the other to the inside of the motor) and the 4th connection will have 3 wires connected to it from the inside of the motor. (see red arrow in picture - it doesn't look like it but there are 3 wires connected to that terminal).
    These 3 wires need to be disconnected from each other and usually may need an extension and then connected back to the other terminals in a specific sequence. A half decent sparkly should be able to do this.

    This one is from my Hercus mill.
    motor.jpg

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Melbourne
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    1,105

    Default

    If you had to take it to a sparky to be rewound you might be better off sourcing a new or second hand motor already set up to take 240V 3 Phase, could also be a good opportunity for a upgrade to a larger motor.

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