VFD upgrade

killswitch505 said:
•this is a little off subject and I know I could have done some research but if I'm posting I might as well ask. I'm installing a coolant system. I'm coping a diy I found on YouTube 5 gallon bucket and fish pump. some of y'all might have seen it. My question is what are y'all using as far as water soluble oil? I did a bit of research on this and pick up what had the best reviews on amazon, Sta-lube anti corrosive soluble oil it's a CRC company I've used a lot of their products and like what I've used. I'm not opposed to using something better. Also I was wondering if y'all are using anything to keep the water from getting funky and nasty I've seen where people are using chlorine tablets I can not see where that can be good at all I've also seen where guys don't use anything at all. I was thinking maybe a UV light like they use in hot tubs. Am I wasting my time worrying about this?

Thank you in advance

Dennis
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I would avoid the chlorine tabs. Chlorine is an oxidizer and you are very likely to end up with a nasty corrosion issue on your hardware and/or parts.

I have heard some people speak of KOOLRite 2290 and it having excellent resistance to crud. I don't have any personal experience with it.
 
Thank y'all for the responses!!!!! I pretty much have it all done. I'm just waiting to grab some some CGBs from the supply house to button things up. I'm so stoked to do some threading. I set my ramp to speed at 6 seconds. And my ramp to stop at 1.5 think I'll be bumping that down a bit after I play with it a bit. I hope to finish this up tomorrow and start on my flood system in the afternoon finishing on Sunday.


British Steel- man I really like your idea with the slider pot I think I will have to implement this.

Again thank you guys. If y'all can think of any helpful mods please shoot them my way.
 
VFD? You have gear head machine, definitely set it in the lowest gear, then VFD down from there. The easy access speed control (per Mr. British Steel) will be very useful. For example: If you are threading 16 tpi it is a pain to cut at 30 rpm, but I find it pretty fast to "ramp out". I have a nice little 11" lathe that is set up with 6 speeds of change on the fly (then a back gear to get 6 more). It is a very cool arrangement with a 3 speed motor and full contactors, plus a lower gear box that uses clutches to select the gear (all done prior to the thread gearing take off) - 20 years before VFDs came along. I typically thread at 164 or 111 rpm, then drop to 30 rpm when I get close to the end. It takes a bit of practice but nearly all my threading is full depth to a blind end and I ramp out in about 1/8th of a rotation (okay, I admit I've popped the end of several threading tool bits).

I don't know how low you'd want to go (try it), but you should have no trouble getting to 30 rpm. Perhaps you could change the motor (or driven) pulley to drop the 60Hz nameplate speeds - then make it up by over clocking a little. This would further improve the bottom end performance.

I have not run a lot of different lathes, but I find I value the lowest gear much more than the highest gear. 70 rpm seems awfully fast for a lowest gear - that is my biggest complaint with most of the new lathes available in the price range that I can access (they don't go slow enough).


Coolant? I disconnected mine after the first couple years. For the past 30 years I've either cut dry or used a squirt can. What are you cutting that you really need coolant for?

Let us know how you make out. Regards, David
 
Have you considered using a mister rather than flood coolant? While it isn't as efficient as flood you do get rid of some of the problems of flood.

As an added bonus, you can move a mister from one machine to another.
 
Our L&S was set up for coolant system with most of it gone with a large hole in the chip pan where the sump went.

We made a huge sump and was going to add the coolant but decided against it as running dry with carbide or squirt can as needed worked fine and less mess.

Sump still there as it works well for cleanup.

Wash everything into the hole then clean that.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk
 
Eremius said:
Have you considered using a mister rather than flood coolant? While it isn't as efficient as flood you do get rid of some of the problems of flood.

As an added bonus, you can move a mister from one machine to another.
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That is true, a mister would be much cleaner. Breathing that stuff isn't supposed to harm a person. I'm not believing that claim. I have probably inhaled plenty of toxic stuff over the years - I am at a point now where I try to minimize adding yet more weird unknown compounds to my body.

I understand a "spitter" combines the two methods - without significant mess and very little mist. Got that on the "some day" list.
 
Killswitch, if you do the cross-slide pot I recommend using a pair of rotary pots across the speed pot supply (you can add a bias resistor each to opposite ends of them so max is always higher than min) for max and min, their wipers to the ends of the slider pot the the slider's wiper as speed input to the VFD so you can set the speed range. Works pretty well...

Chipper David, your description sounds almost exactly like my 1950s Holbrook model C, 3-speed motor, 2-speed clutch/brake and backgear - are you one of the Chosen Few?

Dave H. (the other one)
 
Upgrade is complete!!!! Along with my coolant system thanks for all the help again guys
 
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