Lathe's not working, seeking advice

[Bully]

I have a Harrison M300. Westinghouse/TECO FM50 203-c 1ph to 3ph.

I had an electrician that has experience wiring up VFD's come today and wire mine up. The VFD is getting power. I have it set at 60hz. Everything turns on and hums except the lathe.

Panel---surge protector---VFD---outlet

When I turn everything on the lathe on and engage the "spindle control lever" the spindle/chuck jogs about a half inch and then... nada.
No error codes. The meter on the front dips to 59hz and that's about it.
Any ideas?

 

[Bully]

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Sounds like you may be getting 1 phase to a 3 phase machine. Did I misread your first post? Is your VFD capable of switching single phase to 3 phase? Some are, some are not.

 

[butchlambert]

Did you let the electrician leave before you test drove it? What does he say?

 

[Bully]

Sounds like you may be getting 1 phase to a 3 phase machine. Did I misread your first post? Is your VFD capable of switching single phase to 3 phase? Some are, some are not.

Yes. The VFD is made to "make" 1ph into 3ph

Did you let the electrician leave before you test drove it? What does he say?

His prognosis is that it's a programming/tweaking issue. He ran the power and it's up to me to get it dialed in.

 

[Ggmac]

Question, do you know if this machine ran on 3 ph ? Was it bought used ?
Lots of electronic switches , safety switches , etc .
A picture of the exterior of your plug and your vfd isn't much help . Nice vfd though.

 

[Ggmac]

Do you have the lathe owners manual with the wiring diagram . Have you had the lathes electrical box cover off ? I'd remove the belt on the motor , just to reduce the load , if it's tweaking issue .

 

[GNERGY]

Most 3 phase motors are dual voltage motors 240v and 480v My lathe and mill were wired 480 when I got them and I had to rewire to 240v to get them to work. I am using the same VFD's that you are. Did the electrician measure voltage on the output of the VFD before he left? Can you measure voltage at the output of the VFD and if you get voltage there, you need to measure it at the junction box at the lathe.
Tarey

 

[Steve morgan]

I have a Harrison M300. Westinghouse/TECO FM50 203-c 1ph to 3ph.

I had an electrician that has experience wiring up VFD's come today and wire mine up. The VFD is getting power. I have it set at 60hz. Everything turns on and hums except the lathe.

Panel---surge protector---VFD---outlet

When I turn everything on the lathe on and engage the "spindle control lever" the spindle/chuck jogs about a half inch and then... nada.
No error codes. The meter on the front dips to 59hz and that's about it.
Any ideas?

There is a lot of settings in the vfd that must be set for it to work properly. Example- Accel time if it's to short vfd will trip out internally &must be reset

 

[Bully]

Do you have the lathe owners manual with the wiring diagram . Have you had the lathes electrical box cover off ? I'd remove the belt on the motor , just to reduce the load , if it's tweaking issue .

I'll give that a shot tomorrow or wednesday evening if I can find the time.

 

[Bully]

Most 3 phase motors are dual voltage motors 240v and 480v My lathe and mill were wired 480 when I got them and I had to rewire to 240v to get them to work. I am using the same VFD's that you are. Did the electrician measure voltage on the output of the VFD before he left? Can you measure voltage at the output of the VFD and if you get voltage there, you need to measure it at the junction box at the lathe.
Tarey

He did. He also checked it at the junction box. It was wired for 240 by the previous owner. I test ran it there several times before I bought it.

There is a lot of settings in the vfd that must be set for it to work properly. Example- Accel time if it's to short vfd will trip out internally &must be reset

Yep. That's what I'm finding out.

I called the place where I purchased it from. The tech guy is going to take a look and give me a shout in the next day or two.

Mostly I'm frustrated by my ignorance. I hate being more stupider and electricity scares the bejeezus out of me. I've taken a hit on a household current a couple of times and I really don't enjoy it. Upping the voltage makes me want to run far, far away.

 

[Bully]

Question, do you know if this machine ran on 3 ph ? Was it bought used ?
Lots of electronic switches , safety switches , etc .
A picture of the exterior of your plug and your vfd isn't much help . Nice vfd though.

The TECO is the FM50 203-c. Motor is 3 horsepower.

The former owner ran it on a rotary and is holding on to it to use on another machine.

 

[Bamban]

Did you set the parameters accordingly. I had a 115V to 208 3P TECO running a 1 HP 3P motor, that I had the run command, F04, programmed wrong and it did not spin the motor. Just follow the program and match to your set up.

 

[Bully]

I'm gonna check all that tomorrow. Thank you.

Bushed and making the call for tonight...

 

[butchlambert]

I'm gonna check all that tomorrow. Thank you.

Bushed and making the call for tonight...

Bamban is an EE and has done a lot with lathe and mill electronics. He will help you in any way.
I still think the electrician should have helped you if he knows VFD. I have a Teco and really like it.

 

[rayjay]

I know you are frustrated and I too HATE not having the knowledge it takes to make something work. But sometimes life presents these frustrations to you and you just have to step back, take a breath and dive back in. You can only go step by step. Nobody was born knowing this stuff so you just have to not get frustrated and do the troubleshooting. At least when it's over you WILL have learned a lot and be better prepared for any issues in the future.

 

[spitfire_er]

I've hooked up several of these on different machines and never had an issue. I've never used a surge protector. Just the on/off Switch to the VFD directly to the Motor. When I do them, the VFD becomes part of the machine. They also should start right up with the factory settings. Usually a 5 second start up to 30-60 Hz.

Also, the 3 phase power from the VFD need to be wired directly into the motor and nothing else. It most likely will not work correctly if you are trying to use the factory switches by just pluggin into a 3 phase plug in off the VFD. Everything needs to be run from the VFD now. I see in your photo, you don't have any of the accessory wires hooked up. Those are all the smaller wires which will now control the machine. You have two control options. One is to make a new switch panel for the machine including a on/off switch, reverse, and potentiometer if you want to change the speeds. Alternatively, you can run the factory switch, but you need to run new wires back to the VFD panel to make the factory switch tell the VFD what to do.

Making a 3 phase plug in off the vfd won't work. Not sure your electrician was being honest about experience with VFD's.

 

[Bully]

I've hooked up several of these on different machines and never had an issue. I've never used a surge protector. Just the on/off Switch to the VFD directly to the Motor. When I do them, the VFD becomes part of the machine. They also should start right up with the factory settings. Usually a 5 second start up to 30-60 Hz.

Also, the 3 phase power from the VFD need to be wired directly into the motor and nothing else. It most likely will not work correctly if you are trying to use the factory switches by just pluggin into a 3 phase plug in off the VFD. Everything needs to be run from the VFD now. I see in your photo, you don't have any of the accessory wires hooked up. Those are all the smaller wires which will now control the machine. You have two control options. One is to make a new switch panel for the machine including a on/off switch, reverse, and potentiometer if you want to change the speeds. Alternatively, you can run the factory switch, but you need to run new wires back to the VFD panel to make the factory switch tell the VFD what to do.

Making a 3 phase plug in off the vfd won't work. Not sure your electrician was being honest about experience with VFD's.

He's got experience wiring them up but not the programming end of it. Additionally he was putting them in to commercial building to use with A/C units. So although he hasn't done this specifically he's done it. Unfortunately for me it means I'm on my own from here on out.

I've gotten some sleep and now some coffee so will start researching stuff to get it all figured out. Folks like me have been doing it for years so although it's not a walk in the park, it's also not the world's most difficult task. I'll get it worked out. Hoping I'll be better off for the experience.

 

[akajun]

What spitfire said . Your electrician hooking " soft starts" up to ac units is not the same as wiring a lathe or mill. Wiring should go from power supply to a switch , to vfd, straight to motor . All switching , forward , reverse, e stop, should be wired into the accessory ports and programmed in for proper function. This may require you wiring some things in a series such as the jog button and carriage control.
Everything else such as coolant pumps and work lamps should go through the same contactors and controlls on the Machine that it came with.
In the Teco's I have several, they are easy to hook up and program , but you have to read the manual but it's written better than my automation Direct Chinglish manual. Sometimes they do come from the factory with a wired program , one of mine was set for 5 hz and keypad not dial control. Another came with accessory switch on off so the run button did not work. So look at that too.

 

[jdh47]

I hope the electrician didn't charge you for the work. The lathe should have been running when he finished. Listen to Bamban (Nez), he knows what he's doing. He's a sort of wizard.

Joe