Garage hacks, adjustments and annoyances.........

[BravoXray]

I have a Craftsman 17" 1.5 hp floor standing drill press I bought probably 15-20 years ago. It's been trouble free, but as I do a lot of different projects requiring drilling steel, aluminum, plastic and wood, changing the speeds by moving the belts around gets to be a pain in the derriere. So a while back I watched a YouTube video by Clough42 where he installed a new 3 phase motor and VFD on his Grizzly lathe, and it go me thinking. So I bought a TECO L510 single phase 115 VAC input VFD and a 1.0 hp 56 frame 3 phase motor to make the conversion. I made a new control panel and mounting box for the FWD/REV switch, ON/OFF switches, speed control potentiometer and a digital tach display. I bought a 10" X 10" X 6" case with a hinged cover to mount everything in. It's a tight fit and there's no room to really route the wires as neatly as I would like, but it works. I installed the tach pickup in the lower belt housing and glued the magnet to the spindle pulley. I had to make a mounting bracket for the box, so I used a piece if 1/8" plate out of my scrap bin and bent it 90ｰ so I could bolt it to the motor mount and the back of the box. I got everything mounted in the case yesterday, twice. I had to switch the VFD to the opposite side as the door latch hit it and the cover wouldn't close. So after drilling more holes, I got everything mounted and wired up everything I could until I mounted it on the drill press.
I took it down this afternoon and got the case mounted, ran the four cables into the box, stripped outer insulation off all them and cut the individual wiresl to the correct length and connected them to the proper terminals. I double checked all the connections and everything was connected correctly, so I plugged the power cord in, tripped on the circuit breaker. No sparks, fire or bangs, so I checked for voltage st the contactor and it was good. Pushed the on button and the VFD powered up, the ON/OFF buttons lit up and the tach digital display came on and read zero. I turned the switch to forward and the drill started rotating a about 60-70 rpm and sped up when the knob was turned clockwise. Switching from forward to reverse, the spindle slowed down, stopped and then reversed as per the parameters I set up in the VFD.
A safety setting I also enabled was to disable the drive if turned on with the speed control is not at minimum. You must set the control to minimum rpms and power cycle the drive before it will power up the motor.
The only problem I have is that the tach doesn't work. Not sure why. I mounted the pickup the specified distance from the magnet on the pulley, but I can't see the cable end of the pickup to see if the LED is lit. I may try connecting it to my multimeter in the frequency mode to see if it is sending pulses to the tach display. Might have to drag my Rigol 'scope down there if that doesn't work. Might try another rare earth magnet I hve to see if that is the problem, as the supplied one didn't seem all that strong.
But that aside, I think it will be a great upgrade, as the drill press is one of my most used tools in the shop.

 

[Reb954]

We gee wiz Reb that was a funny story, the ole saying misery loves company applies here. Corse the story would've been better with pictures of the 1/4" wiring and of a on on switch, never heard of that kind, sort of defeats the purpose of calling it a switch but I suppose that can happen buying from Alibaba.

I'd say you was darn lucky to find that little spring, it is nice that your wife offered to help and whats with trying to fix something with no heat in the shop, that would be the first thing I'd fix. I've been having a easy winter so far, coldest I seen this season is 10 above where it should be 20 below, guess all the cold air and polar vortex must be staying out 20 miles from somewhere this year, I'm ok with that, LG................

I don't have a picture of the wiring but here is a picture of the switch. https://www.newark.com/honeywell/13...USA-GEN-Shopping-NewStructure-Switches-Relays

Also I am replacing the replacement switch as I don't have any faith in it where it failed from the beginning. The third ordered, third received switch appears to be a better switch anyway.

Ya, heat is needed. I just haven't decided what I want to do on that. I now have 200 amp service in the shop and a previous owner had a gas line put in but not hooked up. So which is better, gas or electric?

Coming into work this morning the car showed -15F. Probably got the tamatas last night.

 

[Reb954]

I have a Craftsman 17" 1.5 hp floor standing drill press I bought probably 15-20 years ago. It's been trouble free, but as I do a lot of different projects requiring drilling steel, aluminum, plastic and wood, changing the speeds by moving the belts around gets to be a pain in the derriere. So a while back I watched a YouTube video by Clough42 where he installed a new 3 phase motor and VFD on his Grizzly lathe, and it go me thinking. So I bought a TECO L510 single phase 115 VAC input VFD and a 1.0 hp 56 frame 3 phase motor to make the conversion. I made a new control panel and mounting box for the FWD/REV switch, ON/OFF switches, speed control potentiometer and a digital tach display. I bought a 10" X 10" X 6" case with a hinged cover to mount everything in. It's a tight fit and there's no room to really route the wires as neatly as I would like, but it works. I installed the tach pickup in the lower belt housing and glued the magnet to the spindle pulley. I had to make a mounting bracket for the box, so I used a piece if 1/8" plate out of my scrap bin and bent it 90ｰ so I could bolt it to the motor mount and the back of the box. I got everything mounted in the case yesterday, twice. I had to switch the VFD to the opposite side as the door latch hit it and the cover wouldn't close. So after drilling more holes, I got everything mounted and wired up everything I could until I mounted it on the drill press.
I took it down this afternoon and got the case mounted, ran the four cables into the box, stripped outer insulation off all them and cut the individual wiresl to the correct length and connected them to the proper terminals. I double checked all the connections and everything was connected correctly, so I plugged the power cord in, tripped on the circuit breaker. No sparks, fire or bangs, so I checked for voltage st the contactor and it was good. Pushed the on button and the VFD powered up, the ON/OFF buttons lit up and the tach digital display came on and read zero. I turned the switch to forward and the drill started rotating a about 60-70 rpm and sped up when the knob was turned clockwise. Switching from forward to reverse, the spindle slowed down, stopped and then reversed as per the parameters I set up in the VFD.
A safety setting I also enabled was to disable the drive if turned on with the speed control is not at minimum. You must set the control to minimum rpms and power cycle the drive before it will power up the motor.
The only problem I have is that the tach doesn't work. Not sure why. I mounted the pickup the specified distance from the magnet on the pulley, but I can't see the cable end of the pickup to see if the LED is lit. I may try connecting it to my multimeter in the frequency mode to see if it is sending pulses to the tach display. Might have to drag my Rigol 'scope down there if that doesn't work. Might try another rare earth magnet I hve to see if that is the problem, as the supplied one didn't seem all that strong.
But that aside, I think it will be a great upgrade, as the drill press is one of my most used tools in the shop.

I'm curious, what do you think the cost in dollars and man hours was to covert your drill press to variable speed? And was it worth it?

 

[Oldpath05]

I don't have a picture of the wiring but here is a picture of the switch. https://www.newark.com/honeywell/13...USA-GEN-Shopping-NewStructure-Switches-Relays

Also I am replacing the replacement switch as I don't have any faith in it where it failed from the beginning. The third ordered, third received switch appears to be a better switch anyway.

Ya, heat is needed. I just haven't decided what I want to do on that. I now have 200 amp service in the shop and a previous owner had a gas line put in but not hooked up. So which is better, gas or electric?

Coming into work this morning the car showed -15F. Probably got the tamatas last night.

Is that the replacement switch or the replacement to the replacement switch........... Never seen that site before and according to them they'll make your life easier (We're here to make your life easier. How can we help you today?) https://www.newark.com/contact-us

I think electric will be better for you after you get the sola panels and wind mill turbine set up. I heat my shop with with wood cause thats all I can afford, I only have to pay three people to cut it down, cut it up and get it in............
View attachment 684477 View attachment 684478 View attachment 684484

EdenPURE(R) GEN4 Heater
– Edenpure.com

 

[Oldpath05]

("I have a Craftsman 17" 1.5 hp floor standing drill press I bought probably 15-20 years ago. It's been trouble free, but as I do a lot of different projects requiring drilling steel, aluminum, plastic and wood, changing the speeds by moving the belts around gets to be a pain in the derriere. ")I agree if doing lots of different drilling, open the top, decipher the chart while in a hurry, then I read the chart wrong and not sure what speed to have to begin with, least it's cheap and wiring in a variable speed box is above my pay grade....

One of the issues I have with my drill press is most times when I flip the switch the motor just hums and I have to spin the the chuck to get it going then other time it takes right off when the switch is turned on, wonder what causes that..........

 

[BravoXray]

I'm curious, what do you think the cost in dollars and man hours was to covert your drill press to variable speed? And was it worth it?

I probably have about $500 in the conversion. That was less than any factory variable speed drill would have cost.
Besides, I'm retired and am always looking for new projects. The triggering factor was doing a project for a friend that was made of steel and wood, A work table, and I had to switch speeds on the drill several times and thought a variable speed drill would sure be nice. It gave me an excuse to use my 3D printer to make the control box and switch plate in two colors.
As I said, I use the drill press probably more than any other piece of equipment I have, so yes, it's worth it.

 

[BravoXray]

I agree if doing lots of different drilling, open the top, decipher the chart while in a hurry, then I read the chart wrong and not sure what speed to have to begin with, least it's cheap and wiring in a variable speed box is above my pay grade....

One of the issues I have with my drill press is most times when I flip the switch the motor just hums and I have to spin the the chuck to get it going then other time it takes right off when the switch is turned on, wonder what causes that..........

If it's a single phase motor, the starting capacitor, if it has one is probably bad. If not, one of the windings that help get the motor started my be bad. Also, I would check to make sure all the connections to the power cable are good and correct. It could also have a centrifugal start switch that is bad or just has dirty contacts. My air compressor motor had that problem a few years ago, and I had to take the end plate off and clean the contacts. Then ir would start right up. Other than that, you may have to take it to a shop and have them check it out.
Just make sure you disconnect the power to it before you start poking around in it.

Update on my original post:
I isolated the tach problem to the sensor. I was able to use a mirror to see it from underneath, and the red LED on it is lit. Plugging an unplugging it from the display would give random readings on the display. Sooooo, I installed a connector on a new sensor, connected it, stuck a magnet on the drill chuck, turned it on and brought the spindle speed up while holding the sensor next to it, and the display read out the proper RPMs. I'll have to take the top of the drill apart in order to change the sensor, and I'll work on that tomorrow. At least I know the problem.

 

[Reb954]

Is that the replacement switch or the replacement to the replacement switch...........

I think electric will be better for you after you get the sola panels and wind mill turbine set up. I heat my shop with with wood cause thats all I can afford, I only have to pay three people to cut it down, cut it up and get it in............

It's the third replacement, third ordered but yet to be received replacement switch of the second ordered, first received replacement switch which failed but was fixed. Hopefully it isn't wrong like the first ordered, second received replacement switch, ie. On Off On rather than On On.

I would like to put in a wood stove but there isn't any room for it at this point. Maybe later when I get some outbuildings built to store some of the bigger stuff in. The main shop area is roughly 30 ft. deep by 40 to 50 ft. wide with 2 uninsulated garage doors, which makes no sense to me as to why they put uninsulated doors in a well insulated building, probably saved $100 on the cost of the doors. Attached to that is 2 rooms, roughly 15 ft. square, one is winter storage for lawn mower and such, the other I am setting up as a loading room and storage for smaller stuff. I did actually get a ceiling heater working in that room a couple weeks ago so I now have a place to warm up when needed.

 

[Oldpath05]

If it's a single phase motor, the starting capacitor, if it has one is probably bad. If not, one of the windings that help get the motor started my be bad. Also, I would check to make sure all the connections to the power cable are good and correct. It could also have a centrifugal start switch that is bad or just has dirty contacts. My air compressor motor had that problem a few years ago, and I had to take the end plate off and clean the contacts. Then ir would start right up. Other than that, you may have to take it to a shop and have them check it out.
Just make sure you disconnect the power to it before you start poking around in it.

Update on my original post:
I isolated the tach problem to the sensor. I was able to use a mirror to see it from underneath, and the red LED on it is lit. Plugging an unplugging it from the display would give random readings on the display. Sooooo, I installed a connector on a new sensor, connected it, stuck a magnet on the drill chuck, turned it on and brought the spindle speed up while holding the sensor next to it, and the display read out the proper RPMs. I'll have to take the top of the drill apart in order to change the sensor, and I'll work on that tomorrow. At least I know the problem.

Yes single phase 120v, so the capacitor is something that cant be adjusted? Must be that hump thing on the outside of motor.........


Dont forget pic of sensor repair, this is diffidently over my head but interesting. Must be a strong magnet to stay on the chuck.

 

[dragoneggs]

("I have a Craftsman 17" 1.5 hp floor standing drill press I bought probably 15-20 years ago. It's been trouble free, but as I do a lot of different projects requiring drilling steel, aluminum, plastic and wood, changing the speeds by moving the belts around gets to be a pain in the derriere. ")

View attachment 684493 View attachment 684494

Your pics show a Porter Cable. :confused3:

I finally sold my 30yr old Craftsman floor standing DP. Think it was a 15in 1hp. The bearings were going out on it and I was sick and tired of messing with the belts and the lack of portability. I treated myself this summer with a new Nova Voyager 18in variable speed DP. Mounted on a mobile base, built a lower cabinet that easily slides off and an adjustable drill press table w/fences and stops. Sorry for the sideways thumbnail.