# Where should a VFD be placed in relation to the machine?



## HMF (Dec 14, 2011)

A VFD is fairly large, and should be enclosed.  So where do you place it? On your machine? On the wall behind it? 


Nelson


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## Tony Wells (Dec 14, 2011)

Up off the floor, so it stays cleaner, mounted on a wall so it's clear from any chips that may get blown on it. Depending on the exact construction, I might put it in a NEMA enclosure, with the remote mounted on the machine within operator reach. If it gets warm, vent it properly, filter the air and use a fan to draw air thru the enclosure.


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## brucer (Dec 14, 2011)

Tony Wells said:


> Up off the floor, so it stays cleaner, mounted on a wall so it's clear from any chips that may get blown on it. Depending on the exact construction, I might put it in a NEMA enclosure, with the remote mounted on the machine within operator reach. If it gets warm, vent it properly, filter the air and use a fan to draw air thru the enclosure.




 This is exactly how I mounted my vfd. I still need to add the 12vdc transformer, fan and filter..  but i might not,the vfd hasnt even got remotely warm after its has been on for 4 hrs...


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## British Steel (Dec 14, 2011)

*Re: Where should a VFD be placed in relation to the machine? It depends...*

Wanting to keep my Holbrook looking original and having a phobia of trailing cables, I opted for...

In the (enormous cast iron) base cabinet, next to the suds tank - in the useful cubbyhole just big enough to pass a retro ABB VFD through!

So, it still needed to be accessible for maintenance, configuration etc - I put it on a tray mounted with cut-down computer rack slides and brackets to the front and rear inner walls of the base - 1/2" of cast iron tapped 0BA, the holes then "capped" with epoxy putty on the outside so they didn't show:

The tray is shown as-welded, mocked-up in place with the VFD, and retracted, there's also a "bridge" over the tray for cable glands.

The cubbyhole and suds tank are covered by a huge cast-aluminium panel with ventilation louvres (with swarf-proof mesh added), so it doesn't show 

The VFD has since been smartened up with some filler and paint, as has the lathe base, and has been joined by a smaller VFD to run the suds pump and a 24V AC relay to switch the suds on and off with the motor starting and stopping (there's a suds pushbutton with an indicator lamp on the original control head that now toggles the AC supply to the suds VFD to give a choice of suds or not).

Dave H.


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## Kennyd (Dec 14, 2011)

Mine is on the wall for the lathe:





And in a steel EL box on the side of the mill, controls are in the black box on the DRO arm:


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## bedwards (Dec 14, 2011)

I mounted mine on the machine. It's in a plastic electrical box with vent holes in the bottom and top. Its been there a year now without any problems.


be


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