I'm would like to buy a Variable Speed KMG-10. to go mobile. Generators?

G

Get Sharp

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Jan 12, 2015
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Hey guys! So I am purchasing one of these for my small knife sharpening business and would like to install it on a removable plate in my van, So that I can go to restaurants and door to door in neighborhoods and where ever. But electrical things are not my skill set. I was going to get a battery converter dc to ac 4000w clip on your battery and hard wire it in but a buddy of mine says it will destroy the battery and alternator. He says I could maybe get a new alt. and battery set up but its an old van so.... Generator? Is that my best bet? Does anyone already have this set up? Any interjection would be very helpful. This is the manual for the variable speed the electrical stuff is on page 10 table 4 http://www.kbelectronics.com/manuals/kbac_manual.pdf
and this is the specs for the motor. http://www.electricmotorwholesale.com/LEESON-113927/ Im doing the 2 1/2hp on just a 120 plug if i can. I figure a 220 generator would be more money. Speaking of which are there any great deals on belts any one would like to link in or other things I should know =. Please let me know! Thanks guys!
 
Not sure what to recommend specifically, but if gasoline powered definitely Honda for reliability.

There are some purpose designed propane generators that might be a good option out there. And some trucks have 120vac built in - Toyota Tacoma, chevy 1500 hybrid from a couple years ago...
 
I like the idea of changing the motor to a 12 volt but I am planing on knife making as well and will be pulling the whole thing out to bring inside when Im making and pop it in the van and plug it in to something and be on the road. So I dont really have the money for both. This is really a huge buy and I would not mind having a generator Im just not sure how to match it up.
 
A kmg10 will shorten a knife in a hurry... Probably overkill. You need a fair bit of power to get that big contact wheel spinning.
 
daizee said:
A kmg10 will shorten a knife in a hurry... Probably overkill. You need a fair bit of power to get that big contact wheel spinning.
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Would it still do that with at variable speed? I figured that I could slow it down to a crawl if I wanted? Would any one say that the generator would eat more or less gas that my v6 caravan?
 
Get Sharp said:
I like the idea of changing the motor to a 12 volt but I am planing on knife making as well and will be pulling the whole thing out to bring inside when Im making and pop it in the van and plug it in to something and be on the road. So I dont really have the money for both. This is really a huge buy and I would not mind having a generator Im just not sure how to match it up.
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The motor you listed shows 6.2 amps at 230 volts which is 1426 watts. It's probably best to get a 230 volt generator that is rated for higher wattage. It should be simple enough to create a unit that could be used in your home and vehicle. Once you get a generator you will need to make a cord that allows you to get power to the inverter. At home you will need a 230V receptacle that matches the one on the generator. I would also consider adding a line conditioner to the system to protect the variable speed drive when using the generator. The drive may function fine on a generator but a voltage swing could possibly damage it. Good luck, hope this makes a little sense.
 
If you are going to use a VFD you will need a 3 phase motor. Here is one I built it plugs into 110ac . Its 1.5 hp variable and has plenty of power just need to go at it a little slower than a higher hp unit.



 
I suppose you could buy a KMG chassis and bolt a gasoline motor directly on the KMG chassis with step pulleys, skip the electricity altogether, but I'm not sure how well that would work.

Any thoughts on this?
 
woodwrkr221 said:
I suppose you could buy a KMG chassis and bolt a gasoline motor directly on the KMG chassis with step pulleys, skip the electricity altogether, but I'm not sure how well that would work.

Any thoughts on this?
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Not a good idea!

It seems you want to mow the grass in the front yard and are looking at farm tractors and bush hog attachments to do the job. A simple lawn mower is all you need.

You are sharpening knives, not grinding them from scratch, here. I would get a much smaller, 120VAC 1HP grinder and use it. You could easily run it off a 12VDC motor, or use a small Honda generator.
 
We commonly get power outages around here and run the house and shop with small generators. No problems at all, and a decent generator is economical to run. Don't bother about fitting your grinder up to gas or the hassles of 12volt set ups, its not worth it.
 
In my experience, a lot of VFDs are not happy running off small generators.

The generators I've tried have been single-phase 230V from several different manufacturers.

The VFDs have been from Siemens, Telemecanique (Altivar 8, 11 & 31) and HuanYang (the cheap Chinese ones off ebay). I have not tried a KBAC, as they are not widely available over here.

The only ones that have consistently run from generators as if they were on mains, have been the HuanYang Chinese cheapies.

I have a suspicion that there are fairly tight specs on the power supplies that "should" be available in North America, Europe, Japan, etc, and that the big-name VFD manufacturers work to them, perhaps driven in part by liability considerations, ensuring their drives will stop before they can damage anything on the supply side.

I have a suspicion that the likes of HuanYang regard any specs on the quality of power supply that "should" be available as wishful thinking and take the more pragmatic view that their business is better served by building drives that will tolerate lousy power supplies.

Inverter generators seem like they should be more likely to produce an output that big-name VFDs can live with than conventional generators, but I have not tried this.

I'm certainly not saying it can't be done, but I'd suggest you try to make sure everything plays nicely together before you part with your money.

If you were to go with a HuanYang VFD, there do not appear to be 110V in, 220V out units available, so you'd need to generate at 220V.
 
The best thing to do would prob be to get the grinder you like setup with stepped pulleys and run it off a small 115v generator. With a deep cycle batt or two on the van you could also run it off an inverter if you had to.

Any of the small 2kW generators will use far less fuel than the van.

3 phase isn't realistic in the size setup you are interested in.

If you want variable speed you will have to setup a dc motor with a power supply and run it off ac (115 or 230 single phase) or use an ac universal motor instead of an induction motor.
 
Leave the KMG in your shop, and buy a Craftsman 2 X 42 for your mobile sharpening rig. You don't need a KMG to sharpen knives. The Craftsman will probably run on an inverter.
You guys are way overthinking this.....
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Leave the KMG in your shop, and buy a Craftsman 2 X 42 for your mobile sharpening rig. You don't need a KMG to sharpen knives. The Craftsman will probably run on an inverter.
You guys are way overthinking this.....
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Exactly my point.
 
I'm off the grid and run my shop off of a genny-because the power company wants 50K to run a line to the shop...
Most 120v 2x72's pull 14.5-15 amps, which is about all a generator that size has in it in practical use.
^these guys are steering you in the right direction. Hell, if you're skilled a worksharp would do it.
I sharpen at farmers markets during the summer around here (3 hours of enforced sitting, talk to the cute hippie moms and make some $$$) and I use a 14" 2 sided slaughterhouse stone from the 20's, simple green for lubricant and a Spydie brown ceramic for finishing. Nice and quiet, and quicker than you'd think.
 
Small Grinder with variable speed like the Porter Cable with a set of Razor Sharp Paper wheels might be simple enough unless you plan on doing 50+ knives at a whack?!!

Simple to start with unless you have customer base set up with a regular schedule and plenty of knives...The KMG would be overkill for portable setup besides having to move it to a shop or is the van going to be the shop?
 
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