New mill Wells-Index 745

Thanks Brino. You Know that's a good point about the shelves, I had pretty much not paid any attention to them.

I put those shelves up before I had the mill (or anything of value) over in that corner of the workshop. I mostly have left over materials from when I did my home reno stored up there, and most of it was just shoved onto the shelves in a rush. Next time I'm out in the workshop I'll roll the mill out from the wall and see what I can do to make sure everything is secure. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
 
I came across this forum and for me, it has been extremely helpful. I just recently bought a Wells Index model 847 and have been working through some issues with the autofeed. Your pictures have been enormously helpful so I wanted to thank you.

I notice the thread stopped in Sept. 2019. Has there been any progress? I didn't see if you ever mentioned what you ever decided on powering it. For mine, I selected a reasonably priced VFD from Factorymation. Model TD200-2002-1PH.

The motor that came on my WI is a Doerr 2HP. The VFD works fantastic and was really easy to install and program basic features.

Here's an album of pics that I store to keep track of things and progress on my cleanup etc. So far I haven't endeavored to go nearly as far as you but your pictures are quite inspiring. https://photos.app.goo.gl/2M6m6PnXpJrghHnw9
 
Thanks for the Info Paulymorph, Aside from a VFD the mill is completed now, I did order a few spinner handles to replace the plastic one it comes with on the handwheels. Sadly, I haven't gotten the mill powered with a VFD yet, I am hoping since it is only 1hp to find a VFD that can convert 110V 1ph to 220V 3ph but am unsure of a good VFD model and how to wire a VFD. I haven't really had much time to look into it, also I haven't had anything that needed milling but I am really wanting to get it going in the not too distant future.

I enjoyed looking through the pictures of your 847 Mill.
 
I am hoping since it is only 1hp to find a VFD that can convert 110V 1ph to 220V 3ph but am unsure of a good VFD model and how to wire a VFD.
I’m glad to send you a little info on what I’ve learned and can show you what I ordees for mine as well as recommend one for you. If you’re interested, send me a oic if your motor name plate and I can send you the info. It’s actually not as complicated as you might expect, especially for a 1hp motor.
 
Ok, I've called and spoken to several places that sell drives over the past year. I've purchased 2 VFD's myself. One for a State Mfg. Spindle sander (1HP - 3PH) and my Wells Index (2HP - 3PH). While there can be a lot of factors to consider, motors and loads like these mills are fairly straight forward. The basics of sizing a VFD is to look for the amp rating on your motor. Most newer motors these days will have an FLA value (full load amps) but in your case (and mine too) it's the Amp rating. In your case, this motor will pull 3.8 Amps at 220 Volts. From there, you want to look for a VFD that can take the input voltage you are able to provide in your shop, either single phase 110V or single phase 220V AND that will output, in your case, 220V 3 phase power. I'm assuming you can provide a 220 single phase line to your mill but let me know if you have questions. Next is to look at the FLA value of the VFD and pick one whose FLA rating is no more than about 30% higher than your motor rating. You'll want to stay within that 30% range to avoid needing an additional over voltage protection component (for safety)

I bought my VFD from factorymation so i'll just show you an equivalent one to what I purchased since I have actual hands on experience with them. The FMX TD200 line are their straight forward VFD that can handle most 3 PH motor requirements up to 3HP. When you look at the list here you can quickly browse down the list to find one that matches your specs. The TD200-2001-1PH would match your motor nicely. It's FLA value of 4.3 is above your motors 3.8 requirement and not greater than 30% higher.

Wiring is actually really straight forward. The VFD has clearly marked slots where your incoming lines go as well as the 3PH lines out to the motor. Once you get it all wired up, there are some basic steps you would follow to configure the VFD to tell it the size of the motor it is etc... Those steps are located in their quick started guide here. The most important initial setting is to tell the VFD the motor fla value. From there, it's a breeze.

The VFDs themselves are really very versatile. You can get them with more buttons on the faceplate such as a dedicated forward/rev button which you may actually want to consider however, if your have some basic electronics understanding you can add an external 3 position switch to control the fwd/stop/rev behaviors. You'll want to read up or watch a couple of vids of VFDs in use on Youtube.

For comparison, here's a TD400 series vfd that has a dedicated fwd/rev button on the face.

Please let me know if you have any questions.
 
That is wonderful info Paulymorph, thank you for taking the time to write all that for me!

Yes, I do have a 1ph 220V outlet in the shop that is fairly near the mill. The only issue with using the 220V outlet is the mill would have to share it with my powdercoating oven. Does it create an issue with a VFD if you are pluging and un-plugging them regularly?
I do also have a 20amp 1ph 110V outlet directly behind my milling machine which would be nice to use if possible so it doesn't have to share a plug do you think that is possible or does the motor require to much power for a 110V to supply?

I found these 1ph 110v to 3ph 220V VFD's do you think either would work or do I need to use a the 220V plug?
 
Also on a side note my revolving knobs came in. I drilled out the hand wheels to accept the 3/8-16 threads on the knobs. The knobs were chrome plated, but that didn't match the polished iron hand wheels to I removed the chrome plating and now i'm happy with how they look/ feel much nicer than the plastic knobs the mill came with.
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The chrome doesn't really match the polished wheel...

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I removed the chrome plating from the knob on the left, it matches the handwheel better than the chrome knob on the right. so I removed the chrome from all 3 knobs so they match.

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Knobs installed after chrome plating was removed.

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I found these 1ph 110v to 3ph 220V VFD's do you think either would work or do I need to use a the 220V plug?
If you find a VFD that matches this, and meets the FLA specs, that should be fine. One thing that's really easy to do if for no other reason than to learn, is to start a chat with the support folks at factorymation. I've never really had to wait to chat to a live person. Or call them directly. Ask them for help sizing a VFD and they'll probably ask for a pic of the motor plate. I'm betting they recommend either of these. They both provide the same output but based on either 115 or 240V input. I'll admit, I don't know the specific tradeoffs (if any) there are for either choice and in fact i had to install a new 220 circuit for mine but I don't recall there being a VFD that could generate 3PH for a 2HP motor (as in my case). My educated guess is that the first one needs additional circuitry/components in order to generate the 2nd and 3rd phase output based on a single hot line in whereas the 2nd requires less since you already start with 2 hot lines that are already on different phases (therefore only needing to generate 1 additional phase). The difference in price seems to support that idea as well. But the support folks will definitely be able to tell you as well.

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The only issue with using the 220V outlet is the mill would have to share it with my powdercoating oven. Does it create an issue with a VFD if you are pluging and un-plugging them regularly?

No, it doesn't hurt at all to plug/unplug or to switch on/off. In fact, that's exactly what I've done. I put a 220V Double Pole 20A switch between the wall and the VFD so I can switch it on/off as I didn't want to leave it powered up all the time and unplugging was a little hard to get to in my garage.

Interestingly, I've read many people say they leave their VFD powered on always (for many years straight) with no issues. The VFD isn't doing any work until you've pressed the start button. Only then does it actually produce the power for the motor. Other than that it's just the leds on the display. I don't even think it generates any heat passively but someone may correct me if I'm wrong.

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