[seapacer2]

Hello,

Finally decided on going with one of the all in one retrofit kits for my Anilam Crusader M replacement. At this point in time, the controller cannot control spindle speed, looking to go with a VFD. Has anybody had any experiences in adding a VFD to a series 1 knee mill? I have had a recommendation for a Automation Direct GS2-22-P0 or GS3-22P0, has anybody used this component? I know that I will also need an encoder mounted atop my spindle motor, will I need anything else to accomplish this task?

Also by adding a VFD, what will I gain, is it worth the upgrade?

Any help related to this I would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[mactec54]

Hello,

Finally decided on going with one of the all in one retrofit kits for my Anilam Crusader M replacement. At this point in time, the controller cannot control spindle speed, looking to go with a VFD. Has anybody had any experiences in adding a VFD to a series 1 knee mill? I have had a recommendation for a Automation Direct GS2-22-P0 or GS3-22P0, has anybody used this component? I know that I will also need an encoder mounted atop my spindle motor, will I need anything else to accomplish this task?

Also by adding a VFD, what will I gain, is it worth the upgrade?

Any help related to this I would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Any VFD with the right capacity will be fine with your Bridgeport,1 to 2Hp larger in size is best, what do you need the encoder for, if for rigid tapping your control needs to be able to read the encoder feed back for that to work, other than that it is not needed

[Jim Dawson]

I have installed several of the GS2 or GS3 units on various projects and am very satisfied with them. High quality, great documentation, and great customer support.

I would recommend the GS3 for your mill. I had a GS2 on my mill for years, and just installed a G3 last summer when I converted to direct drive. With the GS3 the torque curve is almost flat from about 10 - 1800 RPM.

Getting spindle speed information from a BP spindle is a bit problematic. The only thing in the head that always turns at spindle speed is the bull gear for the low speed range. It is possible to read the teeth on that gear up to just over 3000 RPM with a 5 KHz prox sensor (also available from Automation Direct) This is less of a problem if your machine is a change pulley system, you can just plug in the correction ratios to the program based on belt position. The only reason you would need an encoder is to feed back the spindle speed to the CNC controller if that's what you want to do. When I converted to direct drive I did mount an encoder on the motor shaft.

What do you gain? The ability to run the 3 phase motor from a single phase service, fine control of the spindle speed on the fly, controlled acceleration and deceleration of the spindle, easy to interface the spindle control to a CNC controller.

I would also recommend the braking resistor GS-22P0-BR

Here is the way I mounted the GS2

Attachment 347260

When I installed the GS3 I built a remote panel and mounted the GS3 unit on the back of my control cabinet. The GS3 is slightly larger than the GS2

Attachment 347262

[Eric]

I really like the Automation Direct drives. I have used them on a lot of projects at work and I even use them for my own milling machines. I have the GS2-22P0 on my 1HP step pulley Bridgeport manual machine and I have a GS2-22P0 on my Bridgeport BOSS 5 machine, same 2HP spindle motor that you have. I have never had any issues with either of them in the past 10 years. They are great quality compared to the other low cost cheap VFDs you can buy. Just don't get fooled into thinking that all VFDs are the same. If you want to deal with issues down the road and save money now, by a cheap one off ebay. Just be prepared to read all the issues on here about them. Don't do it.

I have a GS3 lined up for my BOSS one of these days, but I am in no rush to install it because my GS2 has been flawless. Jim is correct that the size of the GS3 is larger than the GS2. The GS2 can easily be fitted into an existing control panel where the GS3 needs more room. They also sell a DIN rail mount for the GS2, but not the GS3.

I removed the motor overloads and set them up in the VFD drive. Then I installed my VFD where the motor overloads used to mount. I connected the line side of the VFD after the spindle motor forward contactor so in the event of an E-stop, the VFD will shut off. The only issue is the spindle will coast to a stop instead of ramping to a stop. I have not looked into changing this setup. I am sure there is an input that can be triggered in the event of an E-stop which would set a fast ramp to stop, then power off. A braking resistor is a must for this.

Jim....what are the buttons for and how do you run your VFD (P3.01 setting = 02)?
Black pot is for frequency adjustment
Black switch is a two position switch for FWD / REV select
Green is a momentary switch for RUN
Red is a latched STOP switch

One of these days I will hook up Modbus on my GS2 for the BOSS 5, but I have other things to work on.

I have mine wired up to a 3 position switch with REV/STOP to the left, STOP in the center (no switch connections) and FWD/STOP to the right (P3.01 = 00). When I do tool changes, I put the switch in the center position so there isn't any direction or run commands accidentally being sent to the VFD. I am not sure if that is the best way to run a spindle for manual tool changes or not, but this is how I have been running them. For work, I would normally have to install safety relays and such, but at home I do not have to deal with OSHA and our product safety department, and I would probably pick a different VFD with an enable signal. I do not believe the AD ones have this capability. However, I use VFDs at work for general AC motor control, not for spindles with manual took changing capabilities.

One more thing about the GS drives from AD is they offer key pad mounting panel and extension cable if you want to put the VFD in a remoted control panel and have the front panel mounted in a small enclosure near the front of the machine.

[mactec54]

Eric

Strange I have never seen a Boss5 with a 2Hp spindle motor, they are standard at 3Hp

[Jim Dawson]

I really like the Automation Direct drives.

Jim....what are the buttons for and how do you run your VFD (P3.01 setting = 02)?
Black pot is for frequency adjustment
Black switch is a two position switch for FWD / REV select
Green is a momentary switch for RUN
Red is a latched STOP switch

I run my spindle manually for now. So yes that's the way I have it wired. If I decide to connect it to the computer, it will be set up to run auto or manual control. Right now the Stop on the spindle is not connected to the E-stop on CNC controls so I have to hit both of them. That is not really as unsafe as it sounds

[Eric]

Jim...thanks.

mactec..... I also have a BOSS 4 with the same 2 HP motor. Both of them have the same model number as the one seapacer2 attached in the first post.

[mactec54]

Jim...thanks.

mactec..... I also have a BOSS 4 with the same 2 HP motor. Both of them have the same model number as the one seapacer2 attached in the first post.

Very strange, I have rebuilt lots of these machines more than 30 and have never found a 2Hp motor on any of them, it was normal for the manual mills to have the 2 Hp but not the Boss series