New 1340GT Coming and Need Assistance with VFD

Update: Talked to Ray and he says that Matt will do it no problem, but it will cause some delay to the shipment of my machine.

I guess Matt used to process the machines on a first-come-first-serve basis but now that he has the factory installing DROs and stuff he processes those first to get them out the door, and then does any custom work. I told Ray that I was fine with that as long as we're talking weeks not months. :)
 
Update: Talked to Ray and he says that Matt will do it no problem, but it will cause some delay to the shipment of my machine.

I guess Matt used to process the machines on a first-come-first-serve basis but now that he has the factory installing DROs and stuff he processes those first to get them out the door, and then does any custom work. I told Ray that I was fine with that as long as we're talking weeks not months. :)

So Matt is installing the 3-phase motor, VFD and all the control wiring at no additional cost?

If so that is great because when I ordered my lathe and mill he told me that to have it show up ready to hook up to 220 VAC single phase it was $995.00 additional. That is why I opted to do it myself and figured since I do this for a living I could probably figure it out.
 
Oh no, he's charging me for the install. And Ray estimates it's going to delay shipping on my lathe a couple weeks. :(

But...I'd rather pay a little extra (not as much as you said: sure that wasn't including hardware?) and get it done right. Don't want to risk letting the factory smoke out of my new toy before I get to play with it. :))
 
THX to the folks who have contributed to this thread... it is a BIG help!

Question if I may: When one uses the braking resistor on the Hitachi VFD... can one set it to a different brake rate normally, and a 'quick' brake rate when one hits the big red stop button? Seems to me that would be a good compromise between regular hard stops, and the availability of a hard stop if one needed it.
Thoughts???

Just reading on the PM website: I think there is a VS option from the factory... which is $995. Not sure if that is Matt mounting a VFD and setting it up.

Bill, you will have a PM.
 
THX to the folks who have contributed to this thread... it is a BIG help!

Question if I may: When one uses the braking resistor on the Hitachi VFD... can one set it to a different brake rate normally, and a 'quick' brake rate when one hits the big red stop button? Seems to me that would be a good compromise between regular hard stops, and the availability of a hard stop if one needed it.
Thoughts???

Just reading on the PM website: I think there is a VS option from the factory... which is $995. Not sure if that is Matt mounting a VFD and setting it up.

Bill, you will have a PM.

When I talked to Matt, the way I understood it was the variable speed option was a 3-phase motor installed at the factory and then Matt and/or his crew installing the VFD before shipping it to the customer. I don't think it came from the Taiwanese factory wired up with VFD. That is the way I understood it but didn't may that much attention as I was not interested in having Matt wire up the VFD. Someone correct me if that is incorrect.

Yes you can set up the VFD to have a resistor braking function AND an Emergency stop feature separately. When you wire in the VFD and program it, when th power is removed from either forward or reverse you it will decelerate at the rate programmed in by the user. There is a different terminal that you an wire the E-stop switch to so that when the VFD sees an input from the E-stop it brakes at that particular deceleration setting.
 
Oh no, he's charging me for the install. And Ray estimates it's going to delay shipping on my lathe a couple weeks. :(

But...I'd rather pay a little extra (not as much as you said: sure that wasn't including hardware?) and get it done right. Don't want to risk letting the factory smoke out of my new toy before I get to play with it. :))

I was understanding the $995.00 cost was the VFD and the installation. Again, correct me if I am mistaken, I didn't pay much attention because I wasn't interested in that option as I was just looking at a cost for the VFD to determine if I was going to get it from him or from one of my suppliers. Matt kcked their butts on price on the VFD so I had him send me one. It was funny the VFD showed up on my doorstep a week or so before my lathe did.
 
When I inquired about the factory VFD option, it was a special order and installed by the factory. What I recall, it was completely different set up, most factory lathe VFD's have 2 or 3 speed ranges. Per the option sheet "Variable Speed Option (Factory Installed Only)". That being said, the WJ200 does a fine job, and you get to keep some pocket change.

The WJ200 allows a wide number of programming options via it's input terminal configurations. It would be easy to have a second NO switch on the E-stop that engages a different braking algorithm via a spare programmed terminal. You will need a braking resistor if you choose an aggressive braking time. Another option that I considered (especially when machining at high RPM) was to add a small toggle switch on the front panel to engage one of two braking algorithms; one short, the second longer (or a 2 step braking using the A093 command described on P 3-37, and the terminal symbol 2CH (2-stage accel./decel. commands) described on P 3-85 of the manual). I also use an end of travel braking switch which works like the E-Stop to prevent crashing into the chuck. I guess as I get older, I am not so quick with my hands (nor mind) so I build some machine assistance for my occasional stupidity. My point is that the VFD braking is a great plus, it is just how you want to implement it to suit your needs.
 
I was understanding the $995.00 cost was the VFD and the installation. Again, correct me if I am mistaken, I didn't pay much attention because I wasn't interested in that option as I was just looking at a cost for the VFD to determine if I was going to get it from him or from one of my suppliers. Matt kcked their butts on price on the VFD so I had him send me one. It was funny the VFD showed up on my doorstep a week or so before my lathe did.

Oh yea, that is the factory variable speed option. I remember that when I was originally pricing this lathe and the 935 with the variable option. It was going to cost me over 2k to put variable speed on both machines. Ouch. This way may not be a 'nice' as a factory installed VS, but it will work just fine and leave me with a little extra money in my pocket. :)
 
Well apparently there was a miscommunication somewhere, as Matt told me in a email today that he doesn't do VFD installs and hasn't for some time now. Too time consuming. So...I'm back to looking at this thread and trying to figure out how to do this.

The good news is that Matt says the lathes are only a few days out now. Here we go! :))
 
Hey Bill...

I talked to Matt lat Friday... he kinda nixed doing the VFD for me also... same reason.
Was not gonna say anything... maybe ya'll had made a deal.

So both of us are gonna have to dust off our electrical & control wiring skills.
Since I am gonna remove the center panel between the two cabinets... I am thinking an elec box in that area also... Probably gonna have to wait until the lathe is here to figure it out.

THX for the heads up the lathe's are getting close to PA... I am ready to have the 'other' machine in my shop.
 
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