My new lathe has landed

[minimutly]

Always replace seals. Doesn't matter if you put them in twenty years ago or two weeks ago, they're throwaway items.

Missed my point there @Brad - I asked about using sealed Vs open bearings.
BTW, that scribing block I paid you for, did you send it, must be a month ago now?

 

[indy4x]

@minimutly the way I read it @Brad93 was referring to post #57 where original seals were reused

 

[RichardM]

The absence of a suitable supply to power the relay coil makes that difficult. Unless of course I use a 220V coil, which I don't have

Do you have a 12v DC output on the vfd, if so you could use that and an automotive relay.

 

[Brad93]

Do you have a 12v DC output on the vfd, if so you could use that and an automotive relay.

Usually 5,10 or 24v

 

[RobCox]

Do you have a 12v DC output on the vfd, if so you could use that and an automotive relay.

There's a 10V supply with a current capability of 50mA available. The speed control pot is 4.7k so will only use 2mA so there would be plenty left to drive a relay. However, in a choice of new switch or a relay, I've gone for the simpler approach and just fitted the new em. stop switch. I'd have had to buy a relay anyway. The switch was only £7 so it's not an overly expensive solution.

The electrical panel is now all wired up, ready to install in the cabinet. I just then need to program the vfd to make it all work.

 

[minimutly]

There's a 10V supply with a current capability of 50mA available. The speed control pot is 4.7k so will only use 2mA so there would be plenty left to drive a relay. However, in a choice of new switch or a relay, I've gone for the simpler approach and just fitted the new em. stop switch. I'd have had to buy a relay anyway. The switch was only £7 so it's not an overly expensive solution.

The electrical panel is now all wired up, ready to install in the cabinet. I just then need to program the vfd to make it all work.

Em stop switches are a no no, for obvious reasons..

 

[minimutly]

Em stop switches are a no no, for obvious reasons..

Edit too late, should be Normally open E stop switches are a nono...

 

[Robotstar5]

Edit too late, should be Normally open E stop switches are a nono...

Should be a ncnc....

 

[RobCox]

Edit too late, should be Normally open E stop switches are a nono...

I have three switches in series wired to an input of the VFD configured as EStop. They are the footbrake, the headstock rear cover and the Em stop. The input to the VFD needs to be pulled to 0V to run.
Both the brake and cabinet cover Sw are NO and are normally pressed closed. The last in the chain, nearest the VFD input is the Em stop, NC, so any shorts to ground along the chain will not stop the em stop from working when pressed in anger (or desperation!)

 

[RobCox]

The new seal arrived this week and is now in place, leak free. Wonderful how Royal Mail work. Previous order for bearings I went with free postage, ordered Friday, received Saturday. This time, I coughed up for 1st class as I wanted to get everything back together so I could get on with the next bit. Ordered Sunday, arrived Weds.

All the bits for the electrics came in so I got everything installed:

Before running for the first time I thought I'd double check with a multimeter to see that there would be no puffs of magic smoke. I found two problems, first I had the 6A fuse where the 20A fuse should be and vice versa (trivial) and secondly one of the contacts of the main input isolator wasn't making a reliable contact. A new isolator switch is an expense I really didn't want, not least because it keeps the door shut when on and an exact replacement is no longer available, so I carefully dismantled the old one:

From here it was easy to check each contact till I came across the culprit:

It looks like it had been turned off with the motor running causing it to arc. A bit of metal polish on all the contacts fixed it. After more checking I fired up the VFD for the first time and went through the 100 or so configuration parameters and got it running. Obviously it ran in reverse when it should have gone forwards, but the real problem came when I tried the brake. Normal deceleration I have set to 2.5s, brake/em stop 0.5s, both of which work, but the lathe starts again when the brake is released! I went through the config options for the VFD and concluded it couldn't be configured to stop until the on/off lever was returned to the off position, then enabled, so, nothing else for it, more bits and expense. A relay and a small power supply to run it. The relay will be arranged to not operate until the lever is in the off position and will disable the VFD via the Em Stop control till then.

And so on to the saddle. It didn't look too bad, but it was. More fossilised oil. Two plus hours of scraping, brushing, scrubbing and cleaning out the oil galleries to turn this:

into this:

I've since given it a coat of primer to seal up the casting:

and it's now had the pretty bits done:

The apron will be next.

 

[Pawcu]

That is some neat wiring

 

[Beeezer]

Have you made anything with it yet??…….

 

[MattF]

Have you made anything with it yet??…….

Be serious.

 

[RobCox]

Have you made anything with it yet??…….

Oh yes. A mess and upheaval in the workshop

 

[Dev]

The tool IS the project, I can identify with that