I through some fortune picked up a old atlas/craftsman (1938) drill press this weekend, with a 110/220 single phase induction-repulsion motor on it. I did not know that it was, the owner described to me what they thought was a three phase motor, although they had never bothered to look at the plug which was wired for 110 so I picked up a VFD also. At anyrate I had a thought about hooking up a VFD to see what it would do, my understanding of IR motors is a little limited, they pre-date anything I did at Leeson, for that matter they pre-date Leeson. I "think" it might work, just looking for a more informed opionion, my major concern is the fact that the brush will arc some from comutation, my understanding of that is the lower the freq the less that happens, but that would somewhat simulate breaking open the circuit which has always been a bad thing to do. Of course the winding on the stator is still in so the circuit is not really broken its just changing draw/impendance slightly. I know that the newer hybrid cars are using IR motors of some sort even though they are poly-phase I would assume they would have the same problem or not. It does not have any switch, I have not taken it apart as of yet so I don't know if the brushes adjust, although from what I understand that was pretty much the norm to get different speeds and rotation. And of course I am not completly sure what the HP is either, nor RPMS/poles as its painted black no markings.

I did play with a PSC motor not that long ago but was not thrilled with the results as it was basicaly useless below 1000 rpm, this drive will output single phase. Mainly wondering if anyone has tried this or heard of anything like it.

chris