Solberga geared drive drill press

Hi Ron...

I'm a big fan of drill presses and band saws, I owned each for at least 10-12 years before I ever purchased a table saw. Heck even now, I usually turn to the band saw before I consider the table saw, although that pile of "stuff" on the table saw doesn't help matters.  [smile]

I'll be in the market for a new drill press by probably next summer after I get this new garage started/finished. I promised myself that I would not even look for a new drill press or mill/drill until the garage was finished. It'll definitely be variable speed as I'm tired of changing belts. An Ellis, Flott, or older Clausing or Powermatic are all on the possibility list. Although I do wish Nova still made the Vulcan, that seemed like a nice piece for a smaller, newer style drill press. Don't know if I really need a 600# Clausing but if the deal is right... [big grin]
 
Clausing presses come up pretty frequently. It’s the Solberga and Arboga ones that are usually harder to find. Those are gear driven. Change the position of some levers to change to speed.

I’ve got an Electro-Mechano with a Reeves drive and a geared lower end.

A three phase unit with a VFD with potentiometer will provide a nice variable speed unit without changing belts.

Ron
 
I have an Arboga gear head 3 phase DP driven by a VFD and I never change the drill gear speed, instead I just use the VFD.
 
I'm uneducated about 3 phase motors. Can any 3 phase motor be driven by the commonly available VFDs?

RMW
 
Richard/RMW said:
I'm uneducated about 3 phase motors. Can any 3 phase motor be driven by the commonly available VFDs?

RMW
Click to expand...

Richard - Generally yes but it depends on the HP rating of the 3 phase motor. it used to be that a motor with a HP rating of 2 and under was a good candidate for a VFD conversion. There's also some amperage requirements as well. Newer VFD units may have upped that to 3HP.

5 HP and up units were usually considered a better candidate for a rotary phase converter.

Since we were talking drill presses, you will mostly find 2 and under motors.

208-230 3 phase units are better options for a VFD conversion because you don't need additional equipment to boost up to 430-480 3 phase.

In my shop, I'm running the Powermatic PM 66 and the Powermatic 20 inch bandsaw of individual VFD units. Both of those units have 2 HP/230 3 phase motors. The 5 HP planer and 5 HP jointer run off a RPC. The RPC I have maxes out at a 7.5 HP motor so I can't run both at the same time. But I don't any way.

I have used factorymation.com for my VFDs although there a lots of vendors.

Ron
 
So long as the motor supports delta wiring as well as star, it can be run at 230-240v using a VFD, but you will have a performance hit. The variety of 1PH motors now are so common and cheap, I would simply replace the motor. You only need to match the shaft size, speed, and mounting standard. This will likely be the easiest, cheapest and best option.
 
Thanks guys. It's just idle curiosity on my part, I'm having trouble finding room to store sanding belts right now, no room for Big Iron sadly.

RMW
 
Richard/RMW said:
Thanks guys. It's just idle curiosity on my part, I'm having trouble finding room to store sanding belts right now, no room for Big Iron sadly.

RMW
Click to expand...

C'mon Richard, if we all had that attitude none of us would have huge hulking machines sitting unused taking up loads of valuable shed space!

Oh wait! ;-)
 
VFD's have changed in recent years, it used to be the motor lost torque at low RPM but that is not really the case now using the most recent models. The danger when researching this is that there is a lot of very old information that is not applicable to the latest vector drive VFD's. I just looked at a few links about torque loss and they were dated 2005 and should be disregarded totally. My DP suffers no torque loss until very low motor RPM's are reached and then there is three other gears available if needed. Just about any DP can have a motor change and use a VFD as they are simple machines with simple mounts.
 
luvmytoolz said:
Richard/RMW said:
Thanks guys. It's just idle curiosity on my part, I'm having trouble finding room to store sanding belts right now, no room for Big Iron sadly.

RMW
Click to expand...

C'mon Richard, if we all had that attitude none of us would have huge hulking machines sitting unused taking up loads of valuable shed space!

Oh wait! ;-)
Click to expand...

[popcorn]
 
Mini Me said:
VFD's have changed in recent years, it used to be the motor lost torque at low RPM but that is not really the case now using the most recent models. The danger when researching this is that there is a lot of very old information that is not applicable to the latest vector drive VFD's. I just looked at a few links about torque loss and they were dated 2005 and should be disregarded totally. My DP suffers no torque loss until very low motor RPM's are reached and then there is three other gears available if needed. Just about any DP can have a motor change and use a VFD as they are simple machines with simple mounts.
Click to expand...

I have a benchtop 1/2HP-115V DP, old Delta Homecraft, that I paid some guy a hundred bucks for ~10 years ago, it still had the cardboard tube protecting the pillar. I've been toying with swapping the motor out FOR a 3 Phase specifically to get VFD speed control.

Since I have never once changed the speed via the step pulleys, My hunch is this is nice-to-have rather than need-to-have for my uses, but where's the fun in that?

RMW
 
I bought a Nova Viking some time back, and must admit the variable speed is extremely useful when changing between drills and forstner cutters. The sensorless vector VFD's you'd need to keep higher torque at low speeds are still quite expensive though from what I can see, roughly 3-4 times a normal VFD on average.
 
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