source for solid state inverter?

Try Automation Direct. Hard to beat their prices, and they have 1phase in/3phase out:

I would first try hard to sell them as is, all those repowering projects are very time consuming. Three phase stuff sells, with just a bit more effort. I sold my 3 phase Pistorius saw (knock on wood).

I do have a VFD for sale, but it is too big for you (20-25HP). $400.

Pete C.

we use their smallest/cheapest model, and it works great

OK, you guys are pointing me to these sites where 1hp VFDs cost nearly $200. I found a TECO drive for $119:

It sounds like they are still out of my price range.

Grant

a capacitor and a relay will let you make a static inverter, cost (surplus) is about $20

Whoops ! Welll, errrrr, looks like you went sort of cheap on the main element - or were you prescribing one of those FM rotary phase converters ??

No, ~$200 seems to be the norm for a full featured drive for the most part. There are a few very basic bottom end drives for less that would probably be fine for the basic phase converter purpose but lack front panel controls and many features of the average drives. Did you look at the LG stuff from Drives Warehouse?

The link itself produced the following:

"We're sorry... the server had a problem processing your request."

Apparently you can't just paste in a link that goes to their site internal.

I wonder if "GS1" drives are made by Lucky Gold Star in Taiwan. It makes me nervous to not have any information at all about the company. I know that TECO drives are made by TECO, which is a Taiwanese company. I've seen TECO motors on high quality YAM lathes, for example.

Grant

RoyJ wrote:

Lucky Goldstar is Korean, not Taiwanese. They have been around a long time, remember the cheap but indestructible Goldstar microwaves that lasted decades? These days they call themselves LG and make cell phones, refrigerators, and just about everything else you can think of. Their quality and reliability are very high and I would not hesitate to use their products.

Pete C.

Hmm. I remember visiting them in Taiwan. Must have been one of their sales offices. Anyway, I can't find "GS1" drives on their Web site.

Grant

The "GS1" drives don't appear to be made by LG. You can see the LG drives at the Drives Warehouse site.

Pete C.

I have picked up used Allen Bradley drives on ebay for $50.00 or less, twice. One is a 1/2 hp that runs my atlas lathe (changed to 3 phase so I could get variable speed). The other is a 1hp unit that I may use to repower my drill press. These are nice because they use 120v single phase input. Look for the Bullitin 161S drives. Come in both 120 and

John

Grant Erw> I have two machines I'm prepping to sell into the home shop market. Both have

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:38:11 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Pete C." quickly quoth:

Hopefully, Goldstar is better than they were in the mid-seventies. The Goldstar ICs used in the Southcom, Intl. manpack radios (brand new frequency synthesis back then) were the only chip to regularly fail during the burn-in (96 hours at 120F). I don't recall what chip that was, but I do remember purging stock several times.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Heart Attacks: God's revenge for eating his little animal friends

It would certainly seem so. My last LG cell phone survived all kinds of abuse from Texas heat to a two story drop from a roof.

Pete C.

Pete C. sez: It would certainly seem so. My last LG cell phone survived all kinds of

Not a good example becasue cell phones are a lot like cockroaches.

Bob Sw>>

It sounds as though you could utilize static converters (not inverters). The static converters are fairly simple in design, where variable speed isn't required. You might look for some used converters.

You should be able to find webpages describing DIY home made converters. The primary components are a potential relay and AC capacitors in a metal enclosure, maybe less than $50 to build with new parts, depending on your scrounging abilities or what parts you may already have laying around.

Selling a shop-built electrical device may have liability issues, although selling something such as a converter (after it has been proven to be perfectly safe and suitable for the application), as a used device without warranty As-Is, *might* exclude the seller from any claims.

WB metalworking projects