- Joined
- Dec 3, 2020
- Messages
- 227
I like "KB" brand VFDs, have five of 'em. USA-made, high quality, not the cheapest but I'm happy with the value. I've gotten most of mine from ebay as "New - open box" or used, no problems to report. If you're a business, you probably shouldn't risk the used route, but I'm a hobbyist, downtime is not a problem. Which hasn't happened, but I probably have less safety margin than with always buying new.
When you're not in a hurry to buy one, you can wait for the right price. I had a Saved Search in ebay for the model I wanted, with a maximum price so they don't email me with every full-price one that comes along. My most recent one was Open Box and I could tell it had never been used. Luckily for me no one else bid, and I got it for the opening bid, about half the normal "street price".
I especially like the KBs with a "wash down" totally sealed enclosure. Not all their models have that feature; the ones that do cost a bit more. But it means I don't need to build it into an electrical box and worry about cooling fans (or overheating). That wouldn't be a priority for you if you're putting it in an electrical box anyway.
After the first one, I stayed with KB 'cuz now it's a known quantity. I learned how to program them and I'm lazy, don't want to learn another brand. Though I admit programming a VFD is pretty easy, and they're all kinda similar. I do hear reports about difficult to understand manuals with cheap Asian units though. It's easy to read a KB manual, and if you need support, they speak English.
If you're buying multiple drives, there's benefits to having them be similar or same if possible. Like you might be able to cannibalize one machine to keep another one running if one drive goes bad. A biz that can't handle downtime could keep one extra drive as a spare, so long as it'll work on all the machines.
On my belt grinder, I programmed the VFD to display in surface feet per minute at the belt, rather than RPM or frequency (Hz) which is the default. It doesn't really make much of difference, but I thought it was cool that it let me do that. (I am easily amused.)
When you're not in a hurry to buy one, you can wait for the right price. I had a Saved Search in ebay for the model I wanted, with a maximum price so they don't email me with every full-price one that comes along. My most recent one was Open Box and I could tell it had never been used. Luckily for me no one else bid, and I got it for the opening bid, about half the normal "street price".
I especially like the KBs with a "wash down" totally sealed enclosure. Not all their models have that feature; the ones that do cost a bit more. But it means I don't need to build it into an electrical box and worry about cooling fans (or overheating). That wouldn't be a priority for you if you're putting it in an electrical box anyway.
After the first one, I stayed with KB 'cuz now it's a known quantity. I learned how to program them and I'm lazy, don't want to learn another brand. Though I admit programming a VFD is pretty easy, and they're all kinda similar. I do hear reports about difficult to understand manuals with cheap Asian units though. It's easy to read a KB manual, and if you need support, they speak English.
If you're buying multiple drives, there's benefits to having them be similar or same if possible. Like you might be able to cannibalize one machine to keep another one running if one drive goes bad. A biz that can't handle downtime could keep one extra drive as a spare, so long as it'll work on all the machines.
On my belt grinder, I programmed the VFD to display in surface feet per minute at the belt, rather than RPM or frequency (Hz) which is the default. It doesn't really make much of difference, but I thought it was cool that it let me do that. (I am easily amused.)
