Baldor 3/4 hp buffer

G

golfer1

Joined
Nov 24, 2016
Messages
419
I have located a Baldor 3/4 hp 3ph buffer and would like to run it thru a VFD. I have ordered a TW 90 from Travis and have seen a schematic here somewhere how to run multiple machines off of a single VFD. The TW 90 is run at 220v single phase. I assume the motor is actually 3 ph but runs single phase thru the VFD. I wonder if anyone can reassure me this will work before I write a check for the buffer.
Thanks for your help and best wishes.
 
99.9% of motors that are run off of a VFD are 3 phase, including the TW-90 and probably 100% of AC motor driven knife machines.

The VERY rare exception would be a single phase to single phase VFD, but those are very expensive and offer zero benefit for anything a knife maker would see. I've never seen one in a knife shop, and I doubt seriously that anyone has.

IOW, get the buffer. :D
 
Golfer, the TW90 uses a kbac vfd that converts your single phase 220 from your outlet to 3 phase to go to the motor. What I did in this situation is take a 4 prong dryer outlet and ran the wires from my kbac to it. Then connected 2 dryer cords with 4 wires to each of my motors. Now whenever I want to use one of the grinders I will just plug the cord from the motor into the outlet. If you decide to go this route and need wiring information just let me know

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Yes, you could do that, but the VFD needs to be set for the horsepower of the motor it's going to run. I'm not sure if you would do any harm to the motor running a 3/4 hp off of a 2hp VFD. The good news is that the VFD you need KBAC 24D is not overly expensive.
 
J. Hoffman said:
Yes, you could do that, but the VFD needs to be set for the horsepower of the motor it's going to run. I'm not sure if you would do any harm to the motor running a 3/4 hp off of a 2hp VFD. The good news is that the VFD you need KBAC 24D is not overly expensive.
Click to expand...

A 2hp VFD will run a 3/4hp motor with little issue, but it's built in over-current protection will still be set for 2hp, unless you physically change this every time. You're then relying exclusively on any built in protection that the motor or machine might have (which may be none). In general practice, this really shouldn't be a problem though, especially for something like a buffer.

Just don't bog it down for extended periods where the motor starts to get super hot, and you should be fine.
 
Thank you all for your input, that makes me feel much better. I will get the buffer. Does anyone know of a two position switch that I might use to direct power to each motor instead of unplugging one cord and plugging n the other?
 
I use a 4P2T (quad-pole double throw) toggle switch rated for 10A at 220V to switch between 2 3-phase motors. Use the same cable type as comes with your grinder to hook up the second motor. This way, I can just flip a toggle switch to flip between machines. Ask at your local electronics store (Fry's and the like) for the switch.
 
Baldor make both a 1800 rpm and a 3600 rpm.

I bought the 1800 and it works fine for all of my knife making needs. Both can be dangerous! The 3600 even more so!
 
This is what I did, learned it from Brian Evans I think

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Thank you guys for the additional information. I will try to find that switch and thanks for the photo of the plug. The grinder is a 1800 rpm 3ph motor so I should be good to go.
 
The vfd will power the buffer fine.

If you want to run multiple machines I wired mine to a subpanel and have direct wires to my machines and use breakers to switch between machines.
 
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