Hello. I've also just bought a Bantam 2000 Mk2., which has a 3kW two speed 415V three phase motor. I though I might swap in a new, dual voltage, lower power motor but, after a bit of reading on the internet and a lot of talking to people, I decided to try just hooking it up to a 2.2kW (I think) VFB inverter. I wired it up to the low-speed windings on the motor and it seems to work a treat. At the moment, my max. speed is 990rpm. I tried hooking the inverter up to the high speed windings (let's call them terminals 4, 5 and 6), leaving terminals 1, 2 and 3 unconnected and, although it did run up to full speed, it was low on torque. However, when I turned the frequency down on the inverter, it had more torque although, obviously, at lower speed. My next thing is to try hooking the inverter up to terminals 4, 5 and 6 and connecting terminals 1, 2 and 3 together, to see if that works any better for the high speed. I'm going to stay on the low speed windings for now, as I rarely need to go above 990rpm. Obviously, I won't be getting the full 3kW of power but I doubt I'll notice that. I'm running the inverter off a 240V, single phase supply through a 13A plug with no problems so far. If necessary, I will swap in a proper dual voltage motor at a later date. There's quite a bit of stuff about this on the internet and, if you're in the UK, I can let you know who I bought the inverters off as he's a very helpful man: with his advice, I have managed to wire the original apron control lever and also the emergency footbrake into the inverter and they work a treat. I have also managed to wire my coolant pump into another inverter, again with his advice. Please get in touch if you want any more information: I've got a few crude wiring sketches that I did to get it all wired in, and some pictures. Enjoy.
I have a question of my own about changing feed rates on this machine but I think I'd better post it somewhere else in this forum (I've never used a forum for anything before, so am a bit new to it all).
