Select Mill Improvements

[wrenchguyrich]

Installed the other temperature probe on the vfd heat sink. How to cover up the hole in column for the oem on off switch?
Got a waterproof outdoor electrical box extension and drill and tap some 6-32 holes in column. Just covers it nicely. Micro switches for momentary switch for contactor and e stop. Had a nice metal tool box that I used for an enclosure as I didn't want the the big square box sticking out past the column.
Initially I planned on using flex into the control box, but realized that the head wouldn't rotate, after I had cut out the holes. That's no good.
Fortunately the head is hollow and open at the back so that was an easy fix. Bought a 5' piece of double shielded vfd power cable to feed the motor. Is it necessary? Probably not. How to get it into control box? It's not that flexible, the wire I bought is probably the most flexible available today. Didn't want to swiss cheese the mill with holes, however it had to be done. Drilled a 1/2" hole through column as cable is 0.405" diameter and brought it into box under vfd.

 

[wrenchguyrich]

On to the upper controls now. I purchased this vfd in part because of it's removable control panel as I had plans to take advantage of that.
I ran the upper wiring inside some pvc covered 3/8" flex through the belt guard. The controls would go into a 3 x 6 plastic box with a clear lid. The control panel has 2 small holes at the top and I drilled & tapped 2 - 6-32 holes in the top of box and put 6-32 nylon bolts through to pick up the holes in the control panel. A 1/16" end mill in the dremel made it easy to cut a small hole and notch to accommodate the latch on the bottom of the control panel. Weld up a small mounting bracket and attach the box to the belt guard. I am very satisfied with how it turned out.