Powermatic 3520 Baldor replacement VFD help.

[Matt Lackey]

Hi this is my first post and I’ve read through all of the other posts about VFD’s and would like to know which VFD to buy I believe the old Baldor VFD is bad on the lathe I just bought.

I have 3 phase at my shop and theater the motor. It runs smooth. The emergency switch was bad so I bypassed it. The speed control seems ok. So I believe it’s the VFD. I’m in Jacksonville Florida.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

The speed control is the VFD.
Do you have any information on the lathe the most helpful would be a wiring diagram then we could tell you what to check and how to connect power. Other information that would be helpful would be the model no. of the speed controller and all of the nameplate information on the motor.

 

[Dean Center]

I believe he was referring to the potentiometer, which most of us non-engineers consider the speed controller, as it's what we touch when we change speeds.

Matt, you don't need a Baldor brand VFD. There are a great many brands available, but the VFDs are really, really scarce right now due to the chip shortage.

We finally found a replacement for our high school Powermatic at VFDs.com. It's a Galt brand, which I otherwise don't know anything about. Galt does provide some helpful DIY videos. A local club member also just bought one from them, so they apparently have a few in stock.

I have found the information on evaluating electrical problems with the Powermatic which are posted on the Doc Green web site to be most helpful. There are other resources related to wiring and programming the VFD. However, it seems to me that one of you forum members who are electronically savvy could make some good money doing consultations.

 

[Marvin Jones]

If he finds it is the VFD and can find out if his lathe is wired the same as a 3520B with a Delta drive, Amazon has dropped the price on the Lapond SVD-PS to $129.00. Lapond is the name Amazon came up with to name their drive they are having made in the Phillipines. I ordered one a month ago and had it in about 1 week, Amazon says they can deliver it by Jan 8......I used John Coppola's instructions in the help section of the forum, easy installation and programming.

 

[robo hippy]

Hmm, just an old concrete guy, but I would think that if you have 3 phase already in your shop, you could bypass the phase converter. Have to ask an electrician.

robo hippy

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

Hmm, just an old concrete guy, but I would think that if you have 3 phase already in your shop, you could bypass the phase converter. Have to ask an electrician.

robo hippy

The phase converter is a part of the the VFD and the VFD is necessary to provide the variable speed regardless of the input voltage being 1 phase or 3 phase. The power coming into the VFD is rectified to direct current then that is inverted to a 3 phase voltage and frequency that maintains the voltage frequency ratio for example a motor rated at 240 volts 60Hz will operate at half speed when it receives 120V 30Hz.

 

[Matt Lackey]

If he finds it is the VFD and can find out if his lathe is wired the same as a 3520B with a Delta drive, Amazon has dropped the price on the Lapond SVD-PS to $129.00. Lapond is the name Amazon came up with to name their drive they are having made in the Phillipines. I ordered one a month ago and had it in about 1 week, Amazon says they can deliver it by Jan 8......I used John Coppola's instructions in the help section of the forum, easy installation and programming.
View attachment 42165

I believe the wiring is almost the same. I do not have a speed display on the front like some newer ones I have seen.

For $129 I don’t know how I could go wrong.

 

[Matt Lackey]

The speed control is the VFD.
Do you have any information on the lathe the most helpful would be a wiring diagram then we could tell you what to check and how to connect power. Other information that would be helpful would be the model no. of the speed controller and all of the nameplate information on the motor.

I’m referring to the potentiometer as speed controller. I’ll post pics of the info tomorrow

 

[Marvin Jones]

In John's write-up he said he bought the Lapond SVD-P, when I purchased mine Amazon was offering the Lapond
SVD-PS which is what I bought. I contacted Amazon customer service to find out if I could still buy the SVD-P and was told by their tech that they were exactly the same except built by a different company in the Phillipines, that's why the 's' was added. That was the only time I needed tech support but the man seemed knowledgeable after talking to him a bit. There are some other tests and checks, someone mentioned Doc Green's website, that I get a few tips to make sure I was replacing something truely broken....I was getting power at the connections on my VFD, but was not getting any type of readout on it. My speed display on the front was lit up and changed as I manually spun the lathe spindle.
Seems like someone said the VFD gets the rpm from that speed display and if that is in fact true then there might be a change needed in the way it is wired, maybe an electrical guy can verify this. I was reading so much info as I came across it while researching my problem, I don't remember who wrote that particular statement.

 

[Bill Blasic]

Sounded like enough of a bargain for insurance on a great lathe. My 3520b is nearing 20 years old and that price led me to purchase one to have just in case. Will be here Friday. Thanks.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

Do you see anything on the VFD screen when you turn it on? If so are you getting any fault codes when you try to start it?

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Not sure this will help but I think someone posted it here at one time.

 

[Matt Lackey]

It’s been a bit but finally got the VFD replaced. I have not learned to turn yet so why o bought a Powermatic 4224b, I’m not sure

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

It’s been a bit but finally got the VFD replaced. I have not learned to turn yet so why o bought a Powermatic 4224b, I’m not sure

That is a lathe that you won’t have to worry about growing out of. It will serve you well for a long time.

 

[Darryl Fective]

It’s been a bit but finally got the VFD replaced. I have not learned to turn yet so why o bought a Powermatic 4224b, I’m not sure

I hope you sized the VFD to the motor. My 4424 came with a 2ph motor and VFD, even though it was advertised as having 3 hp.