New VFD for a Round Column Milling Machine

Yep. I bought a round column mill. If you've seen my drill press mill video, you won't be surprised. This JET mill is 23 years old and needed a bit of reconditioning. As part of that, I installed a new 3-phase motor, a VFD and a tachometer. That gives me infinitely (nearly) adjustable spindle speed. Turns out great. If you have a Jet or one of these Rong Fu mills, it's a worthwhile upgrade.

[sacriptex]

what a dream!! a heavy duty drill press who does not need any mod to be a light milling machine besides the cross slides

[brimstone]

Sat here with a knackered back wincing as you wrestle the motor into place!
Nice job on the mill, real smooth.

[bensbobbershop]

That turned out nice! One day i will get a mill and a lathe! I was a machinist before i joined the service and hope to get back to it soon!

[GaryT]

Very interesting RA...your fab and welding skills are inspiring...nice job

[digitaloverdrivesystems]

I am in the process of adding a vfd to my rf25. Great info. Well done video with good content and no hype or bs. Thanks for your efforts. Cheers from Floridas space coast.

[b.malnit]

Great job. Bob. Really enjoy your ingenuity.

[FDesignUS]

Very well presented and a nice addition to the shop for sure!

[Czmmp]

Like your content. Hope your channel grows. From Namibia

[frankm]

Great video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[robert]

I have a few of those sensors I was playing around with the other day and I found out that they sense just plain iron or steel better than they do the magnet, at least the inductive ones I have do. Mine have a 4mm sensing range, and they did with just plain steel, but were 3mm with the magnet even if I stacked some magnets together. Just a thought if you ever worried about chips getting in somewhere and sticking to the magnet (probably not here, but maybe on something else you might do). It also detected aluminum at about 2mm and copper at 3mm. It seems that they would sense on any kind of metal "bump" that might be coming around and may not need the magnet at all. Also, some of the RPM counters have two buttons on the back and you can store a multiplier less than, equal to, or greater than 1. You can measure correct rpm on an engine with multiple cylinders or even count the spokes on a pulley and covert that to something else like sfpm on a conveyor (a pretty cool feature). They are about the same price <$10, and some are smaller like 2" wide (most are 3"). Look at a picture of the back of the board of the one you used, if it has the two buttons, it has that feature. The smaller counters are 5V and you would want to make sure you had the 5V sensor to match (they also have the 4mm range).

[RB-yqqv]

Hi Robert. It's amazing how many of those VFD's have faults, some brands are not worth the investment. The mill looks and runs great, one thing I would be concerned with is spindle speed as the bearing the machine come with may not be rated at high speed operation. I would have changed them out for better quality bears rated for high speed operation.

[beatnic-oe]

Turn the mill head all the way around. Lift your motor onto the mill table. Move the table so you can lower the head to mount the motor. When I did it I needed to put some wood blocks on the table under the motor so it would reach high enough. Lower the head to mount the motor.. Move X and Y to position it. Doing it this way allows you to accurately adjust the motor height when you tighten the bolts.

[RobertAdairWorkshop]

Skip to 13:49 if you just want to see the mill working with the VFD but aren't interested in the steps to get there.

[stevemedlock]

Superb video. Thank you. I'm hoping to do pretty much the same process.

[blohnot]

Hi Robert!
Would you please be so kind and advise how can I safely remove the pulley that is located above the pinole of the machine? I’ve got same JMD-15 you own.
I tried to move it up using the bearing puller, but it didn't move even a millimeter. I'm afraid the puller's feet can break off pieces from the pulley as metallic there is so thin. Any tips will be much appreciated 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you so much in advance for your advice.
Warm regards from snowy Russia,
Anton

[Keep-on-ok]

I need a follow up on your water system. How is it doing? Please share your recent water report. Thanks much.

[jaysinger]

Hey Robert, great video great job. I have a Wrong Fu RF 31 which I believe is the exact same machine. Could you please tell me the motor model # you have with it? I’ve been calling Motor Comp in my area and they don’t seem to be able to match the one I have. Mine happens to be a 2 hp with my machine. Thank you if you get a chance to answer. greatly appreciate it, Jay.

[jenniferfraijo]

Hello, great video and very informative ..
I only need a little clarification regarding the2 E stop in series wiring diagram along with wire sizing for those E stops .

If you can help that would be great ….. Thank You again

[alexrains]

Thanks for a very thorough tutorial. I recently bought an identical mill and intend on doing the same, this will be invaluable. Will you put on a power feed?

[Roberto-ccel]

Hi, nice job, I'm also making the same changes to my rong fu rf 25 but I can't figure out how to remove the large pulley to put the rev counter sensor magnet... could you please explain to me how you managed to remove it?
Thanks in advance