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3520b VFD and dust

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Feb 13, 2013
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I finished assembling, installing and wiring my new 3520b yesterday evening. It was too late to play with the lathe when I finished so I sat down at the computer and online was able to find and read the manual for the Delta VFD ( VFD015S21U ) that came with the Powermatic. The manual makes mention of high humidity, vibration and dust as being undesirable.

The VFD on my lathe has ventilation slots covering almost half of the top of the VFD plastic case. I have not checked the direction of air flow from the VFD cooling fan located on the bottom of the VFD, but hopefully the fan blows upwards to move dust away from the unit.

Do I even need to be concerned about dust getting into the VFD ?

Bob
 

Bill Boehme

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It wouldn't hurt to occasionally blow the dust out, but I would reduce the air pressure so that the fan doesn't get damaged. It is somewhat ironic about the cautions given the location that they chose to mount the inverter. However, the inverters are pretty rugged. They may not be bulletproof, but they are meant for use in an industrial/shop type environment.
 

john lucas

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I've had my 3520A for 11 or 12 years and never done anything to the VFD except to occasionally blow of off. I live in tennessee and its very humid and dusty in my shop
 

Steve Worcester

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Wood dust, while not conductive unless wet, won't cause much of a problem. The caution is probably from its ability to trap heat if caked on heat sinks and fans. An occasional air spritz will take care of this.
 
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While I was building my lathe I was concerned about the same thing. Since I had the option, I opted to put my VFD in an enclosure just to play it safe. I've not had any trouble with my set up, and I don't imagine you would either as long as you blow it off periodically as others have mentioned. I also serious doubt that powermatic would opt for a VFD that wasn't in an enclosure if it was going to be an issue.
 
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Thank you everyone for the responses. Looks like I will just kind of forget about dust being a problem blow it out occasionally.

Bob
 
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I am in the process of deciding on a new lathe. I read several threads dealing with dust interfering with lathe efficiency. I contacted the Powermatc rep and was told the problem of dust in the VFD box has been fixed.
Have fun. Stay safe.
Larry
 
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My 3520A had a little fan under the baffles on the converter. I had to put some screening on top of it to keep the chips from going down and stopping the fan. I thought they did away with the fan, very early in the production of the A models. I would think all you need is some fine mesh window screen over the top for that. Otherwise, I have not heard of any problems. Maybe put the dust collector hose on top of it once in a while.

robo hippy
 
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