I'm in the middle of moving to a new shop and for the first time since 1996 I don't have 3 phase power. Everything but my welder runs on 3 phase. I have a mill, lathe, band saw, and compressor that will never run at the same time. Anybody have any experience with cheap "Luvyulongtime" units found on the river site? I'm probably going to get a different motor for the compressor to run 240V, the rest of the machines are 2hp max.
If I can get one good converter and run the output through an outlet I can plug into, that would be the best.
I'm glad you brought up this topic. My new-ish shop building currently only has 100amp service into it. My plan for the spring is to change it to a 200amp service feeding the main panel and wire a 100amp sub-panel in the shop area. I would also like to install either a VFD or rotary phase converter. I work alone in the shop so only one piece of equipment would ever run at once. I only need it to run my mill and big bandsaw.
Looking forward to hearing what the responses are.
I've got an American Rotary rotary phase converter that runs to a three phase breaker panel that, in turn feeds each of the three phase machines. That setup has been working fine for around two decades.
There's a pilot light by the exit of the shop to remind me to turn it off before I leave. There's another for the single phase air compressor.
I bought one of the 10hp vfds off amazon for a bit over $200.
My work had told me to "get rid of the machine shop" and didn't care if it went into my garage. Now have a 3 phase 2 axis cnc mill, lathe, bandsaw, etc all stuffed into half a 2 car garage.
I took the 50a service that went to our old dryer and re-routed it into the garage to one of those nema 14-50 plugs. Now I can charge the tesla and run the machine shop - one at a time but works for me.
Back to the vfd - these new cheap ones take single phase input and kick out a nice 3 phase output (clean enough for the machines). So far so good. In the dead of winter the mill faulted out the vfd due to the inrush (and lack of maintenance, it's due for grease / oil) but I was able to switch the mill on and then start the vfd.
Super pleased so far. I was originally looking at the idling motor setup but for $200 this was the easy button.
ShawnG
MegaDork
3/4/24 7:53 p.m.
We ran our 2hp Bridgeport off of one at the shop for about 8 years with no issues.
I'm thinking of putting a mill in my home shop the same way.
jgrewe
Dork
4/14/24 12:55 p.m.
I finally bought a Mysweety FD,lol.
https://www.amazon.com/Variable-Frequency-Drive%EF%BC%8CMYSWEETY-Converter-VFD-2-2KW/dp/B07D76365G?pd_rd_w=BqUUi&content-id=amzn1.sym.54a4b70b-6e28-4876-928a-df4db2e325f5&pf_rd_p=54a4b70b-6e28-4876-928a-df4db2e325f5&pf_rd_r=7Q3E9T26RSZQJX1JA4K3&pd_rd_wg=ivaWU&pd_rd_r=36676177-315d-4d98-a1fa-85fdf9c878fc&pd_rd_i=B07D76365G&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_11_t
I used it to fire up my big Wells Index mill to do some work on it. My only complaint is there are no knock out plates in the bottom to run the wires through. It does a soft start and has speed control in the box. You can even wire in an electronic brake.
You run all the motor control through it, forward and reverse are done electronically so no need for the existing and expensive 3 phase reversing switch.
At $90 I'm just going to buy a couple more for the other machines. I would probably have more in switches and wiring to make a system that feeds more than one machine.
