. .
Page 10 of 11 FirstFirst ... 891011 LastLast
  1. #91
    Very inspiring thread, I hope you don't mind if I pick your brains for my own Hardinge rebuild.

  2. Quote Originally Posted by northumbrian View Post
    Very inspiring thread, I hope you don't mind if I pick your brains for my own Hardinge rebuild.
    No at all :) fire away.

    Bill

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to BillTodd For This Useful Post:


  4. #93
    Hello Bill,

    I too have been inspired by your renovation and will also want to pick your brains when I start on rebuilding my own Hardinge. After two and a half years of searching I have finally managed to bag a HLV-H to call my very own. I am impatiently waiting for it's delivery on or around the 21st of this month. I do need to decide how I am going to power my lathe & initially thought of building a rotary converter. I do like the way you have powered yours but think I lack the required level electrical/electronic skill to emulate your work. My choice of rotary converter is based on the hope that it will be plug and play so I will not have to rewire the lathe. Were I more knowledgeable I would have followed closely in your footsteps. As I have not yet got my hands dirty on my machine I presently have only a couple of questions to ask you. DO you have the paint codes for the paint you used ( My lathe is presently green, but not for long)? Secondly do you have any knowledge of and/or plans to build an electronic lead-screw? I ask this because I have seen a youtube video of the Babin Machine Tool electronic servo lead-screw and I want one but can't afford over five times what I paid for my lathe for it!

    Once again thank you for for your great renovation blog.

    Rodger

  5. Hi Rodger,

    Thanks for the kind words . :)

    The paint I used was a standard automotive enamel. If I were to paint it again I would choose a different paint (perhaps a Sherwin Williams machine paint) The paint I have has held up well (resistant to coolant or oil) but it a little brittle and prone to chipping. The colour is a light/mid grey (perhaps edging toward blue-ish) that was a reasonably close match to the original base colour.

    A rotary phase convert will work OK (please don't let a static converter fry that irreplaceable motor) and is probably a good choice if you have a few machines to power. However, the VFD does give some extra options*, and I would not hesitate to do the same conversion again.

    I did look into an electronic lead screw. I like Paul Babin's version a lot; It keeps the lathe functioning as it should and doesn't try to do too much. However, last I heard from Paul is that he has no plans to make it available outside the US (I guess it makes it too difficult/expensive to support).

    There is John Dammyer's excellent Electronic Lead Screw** DIY project in kit form. It was aimed at mini lathes but could be adapted for use on the HLV-H (might require a servo motor instead of the stepper currently used) . The Yahoo group is very active and John really gives excellent support.

    I keep thinking about trying to make an ELS of my own (I've just bought a little Haighton Cadet, and am looking to make it cut metric screw threads) but, in the end, I just made myself a metric banjo and bought a set of Myford gears (Hardinge gears being almost unobtainable & expensive).

    Let me know if you need any help, and start a blog so wee can see you progress :)

    Regards,

    Bill




    *here's one I've just been showing to a guy on the Yahoo Hardinge group
    Hardinge HLV-H threading-lever speed control.mpg - YouTube

    **John's Yahoo group:
    E-LeadScrew : Lathe Electronic Lead Screw R&D

  6. #95
    Hello Bill,

    I can only echo what other people have said about your rebuild. It has been a great read prior to the, hopefully soon, delivery of a KL-1 I'm negotiating to buy.

    In the mean time I have been reading about your VFD conversion, including the information and drawings from the Yahoo Hardinge Group.
    If I may, I had a couple of questions about the VFD that have been confusing me.

    Yourself and some other people use a 240v to 480v transformer to power the VFD.
    From the information I can find about the Siemens MM150 you use, it appears to be a 240VAC Single Phase input device, and looking through general component suppliers (RS), the only 480VAC input VFD's are 3 phase inputs, and the single phase input VFD's are 240VAC.

    I wondered what the reason for the transformer is, since I assume that you are still only getting a single phase output from the transformer, just at 480v ?

    I wouldn't have thought you could feed a 480VAC single phase into a FVD designed for a 480VAC 3 phase input, can you ?

    Yours Confused !
    Paul.

  7. Hi Paul,
    the Siemens MM150 you use, it appears to be a 240VAC Single Phase input device,
    No. The Siemens MM150 VFD I am using is the 1.5kW 500v three phase input version. It is fed from the single phase 415vac output of a step up transformer.

    All VFDs run on DC internally, so they do not really require more than one phase to work. High power ones have 3ph input because they need more current and it is easier (i.e. smaller, cheaper capacitors) to smooth the DC from a poly-phase input (like a single cylinder engine needs a bigger flywheel than a multi- cylinder engine) .

    There is sufficient capacity in most VFDs to operate on a single phase input without causing any real problems (especially on a lathe with a low duty cycle operation).

    Some VFDs have phase loss detection, which would prevent single phase operation, but most newer ones just sense DC bus ripple voltage so will operate fine on single phase input (they will still fault if excessively loaded).

    Bill

  8. #97
    Hi Bill,

    Thanks for such a prompt reply.

    That makes a lot more sense now.
    I'm assuming that the risk is that since only one phase is being used to supply all the output power, that it is the rectifier diodes on the one input that risk being over-loaded - all the output power being derived from one phase set of rectifier diodes rather than three ?

    Do you just leave two of the input phases disconnected ?

    Using a 3 phase 415 input VFD makes the selection choice much larger and cheaper !

    Many Thanks - I'll look into 415v 3ph VFD's now !

    Regards
    Paul.

  9. I'm assuming that the risk is that since only one phase is being used to supply all the output power, that it is the rectifier diodes on the one input that risk being over-loaded - all the output power being derived from one phase set of rectifier diodes rather than three ?
    True, but since the rectifier diodes are usually integrated with the rest of the power devices, there's virtually no cost to the manufacturer to make the devices very robust (i.e. to use the same spec devices for the smallest and largest power VFD in a range).

    The only real issue is ripple current heating in the capacitors.

    Bill

  10. #99
    Bill I am curious as to how you designed the mounting of the wheels to the side wall of the stand such that the weight could be securely carried, as I would not have thought the steel sheet was rigid enough. Have you put a large backing plate in behind the sides and underneath to spread the load? Would very much like to see a photo of the innards of your design, as I would like to do the same assuming it is all very secure...thanks, Adam

  11. Hi Adam,

    Sorry for somewhat delayed reply , I haven't been back here for a while :-)

    The Hardinge stand is made of 4-5mm plate steel near the corener bend it is easily strong enough to take the 700kg load .

    However, the lathe is extremely unstable on those wheels and I removed them ater positioning , never to be refitted.

Page 10 of 11 FirstFirst ... 891011 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. REBUILD: Hardinge HC rebuild
    By northumbrian in forum Lathe Rebuild Logs
    Replies: 29
    Last Post: 21-02-2017, 12:07 PM
  2. Hardinge KL-1
    By pauly45 in forum Conversion Build Logs
    Replies: 22
    Last Post: 18-10-2013, 07:31 PM
  3. WANTED: Hardinge hlv-h or Feeler 618
    By cookie in forum Items Wanted
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 26-02-2011, 09:09 PM
  4. NEW MEMBER: Hardinge HLV-H Lathe
    By Roger Williams in forum New Member Introductions
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 25-08-2009, 01:56 PM
  5. Hardinge HLV-H manuals
    By BillTodd in forum Milling Machines, Builds & Conversions
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 10-02-2009, 12:22 AM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •