I love the application of new technology to an old restored machine. The tachometer is a great idea and NOW you also need some power feeds. Z-axis would be a challenge, but an awesome idea, and X - axis you could probably purchase. Keep it up! Let us see what you make with your upgraded mill.

Ok, I said you had inspired me and I have cleaned 1/4th of the garage (meaningful because it is room). Next, I'm tearing apart my heavy enclosed work bench I built in '83 in MO. I was going to leave it when we moved to FL in '94, but the movers put it on the truck and here it is. Work paid for the move and they even packed the full trash cans and brought them. I couldn't believe how fast metal disappeared when I put it to the curb yesterday, it was gone between trips. When I went to get the trash cans a minute ago, some guy I couldn't understand was taking an old hot water tank from the neighbors from beside his house. Some lucky guy even got a boat motor last night. I remember watching my dad toss everything when he turned 70 and I couldn't understand it. I'm 68 and I understand it now.

I can't begin to tell you how valuable and useful your content has been to me in the last year or two. Your interests in machinery are very much like mine. $25.00 for that motor and a clear conscience. AWESOME! The indicator light is an excellent idea. I did the same thing in the electrical box for my Index 645. I have other indicator lights as well. The air compressor is mounted in a different room and has a blue light special light mounted on the shop ceiling that is very noticeable as I shut down the workshop in the evenings. I split the 240V incoming off to provide 120V as well, installing a 2 gang 120V box and outlets external to the box. I went with Automation Direct and their 240V single to 240V 3 phase .75Kw VFD. It was much narrower. I'm able to fit two of them in a slightly larger box. I also used the original Hubbell Fwd/Rev switch on the machine to control the Fwd/Rev on the VFD and will do the same when I get the second VFD for the table feed which is also 3 phase. That retains the original tactile feel of the industrial switches as well as the positive and intuitive action. Those crimp terminals ROCK! I only learned about them in the process of building my electrical box. They're worth every penny!

Ti seguo con grande interesse da parecchio tempo, mi piace il tuo modo calmo di pensare e di agire, anche io ho un laboratorio non eccezionale come il tuo ma il tempo che ci passo mi fa stare bene. Da giovane mi diplomai tornitore meccanico ed ora che ho 78 anni mi godo queste passioni...complimenti per tutto ciò che fai...un saluto da Roma👍👋

Good work Mark. It beats changing the pulley belts all of the time.

Looking very good. Working well. I am surprised you did not add the digital tachometer you showed in a video last year. I purchased one to put on my mill. I have VFD and 3 different pulley options so easier to read the spindle speed with the tachometer. Dave.

Great video, always enjoy your projects. This one hit home I’m rebuilding a small mill ( Clausing 8520). Picked up a 3/4 3 phase at the Restore cheap. Thank you for the informative video. Side note was a little scared watching drilling the 1/2” in the sheet metal. I have used a “Rotabrotch “small annular cutter set for sheet metal with good results . Thanks again for all you do to provide us with the quality , honesty and information in your productions

Quite an improvement,Mark.Very well explained.Thank you.

On my mill I tilted the entire mill a few degrees with respect to level, tapped a hole and installed a brass fitting in the table end, and installed a plastic tube with a bit of stainless steel wool inside and led it down to the coolant reservoir so that coolant in the table drains over time back into the tank.

Having the directional switch close to hand is convenient when power tapping.

Great outcome Mark. Two suggstions, next time for big twistdrill holes in sheet metal. treat yourself to some cone cutters. Variable size holes and no nasty burr. You drilled and fitted vent holes, it is still a tightly packed enclosure, there was a large panel hole in the bottom. why did you not fit a fan ? Regards from Australia.

I would have liked the indicator light on the front panel, if there is enough room. Great videio, "I like it" !!

Great install Winky. That was meticulous enough for Mark Presling. Thanks for the video keep on keeping on.

Mark, You did an OUTSTANDING job on this one.....all yourprojects are good, THIS one was exceptional. You've taken the proverbial sows ear and made one heck of a purse out of it. Any one and I mean ANYONE would be proud to have this in their shop. Can't wait to see what your next project will be. A surface grinder maybe???????? Hint hint !!!!! Don

Always enjoy your channel!

One tip, Winky. Never cut off conductors in a control cable. If a wire gets pinched or broken, you can use the spare conductor in its place. Simply tape the end of the extra wire to keep it from coming in contact with a power source and tuck it away.

You've made a nice job of that installation. I used a larger version of that style of box for the vfds for my mill (spindle and feed) but mounted it on the wall. A couple of suggestions: the hole on the base enables you to use a replaceable panel for cable access to avoid drilling the painted box, and second, when youre drilling thin sheet place a scrap of rag under the drill. It helps stop the drill grabbing and making a mess of the hole as it breaks through.

i have a 1 1/2 hp 3 phase that will mount directly on my motor plate and the oem pulley fits. I will look for a 56 frame 1 hp 3ph, i don't want to break mine. But that was an impressive cut.

As usual - Awesome work.

Very professional installation. Nice to see how all the components work together.

Looks like a nice clean install👍

VFD's are nice, and pretty cheap nowadays. I would have used one on my Bridgeport M-head with the 1/2 HP 1200 rpm stock motor; unfortunately the motor voltage was too high for that to be practical with my 230 VAC supply. Used a 1 1/2 HP DC motor from a good quality tread mill instead. This motor is rated 1 1/2 HP @ 4000 rpm, thus almost identical to the original motor's performance. (on DC motors the power varies linearly with the speed, thus 1/2 HP @ 1330 rpm). In my "stores" I had an SCR speed controller I tried first with this motor. Unfortunately the motor hummed very loudly at an objectionable noise level to me. For a drill press it may have been ok, but not on a mill which may run for hours on end. I found a PWM controller on Amazon at a dirt cheap price such that I was willing to take a risk. This turned out to be the perfect solution! I did use a PWM on a small gear hobbing machine that followed me home:-)). Its motor was a 1/3 HP 3 phase and I did not want to replace it as it suited the machine very well. The motor voltage was selectable by moving 3 internal contacts. I adjusted these for 220 VAC an all was well.

Great upgrade. Two comments (and full discloser, not an electrician): I am a little concerned about the possibility of wire chafing in the VFD box due to vibration. Might want to wrap some tape around any wires that rub against anything else. Second, the EMI ( electromagnetic interference) from the VFD is pretty intense, especially at low frequency. You might need to shield some of the output wiring more. But overall, bravo!

Mark, very nice work! Agree with several of the other comments - Get a tachometer! Beside, it'll look cool. I have to wonder what the original builders of that mill would think of the upgrades!

Nice Job!!

Well done Mark, nice clean install. Adding the accessory 120 outlets was a great idea.. I Like It.... ATB....

I've watched some videos where they mount a tach on a mill (it can be elaborate). It's a problem because it has to read the spindle and there's no good way to mount the magnet and sensor. I've thought about it a lot because I want to do it to mine. My thought is to mount a tiny magnet inside a hole in the hollow bottom of the spindle step pulley. Then take one of those long, threaded sensors and pull it apart. Unsolder the little sensor and put it on a cable. Mount the sensor into a piece of plastic to set beneath the pulley or put it in the end of a piece of copper tubing that could be mounted and snaked in from the side and easily bent into position. Copper is not supposed to bother the sensor. Run the cable to the tach box and put the rest of the sensor circuit in a piece of heat shrink and tuck it into the box with the tach. I think it might work.

Well done, Thanks for the tutorial..

Good work Mark, I bought a Vevor 12 x 12 x 6 box like that for my sizzor lift control box and it worked great. I wanted stainless steel but that was the one size they didn't carry. I love your videos. BTY thanks for the drawings of the mill table, I can use them to fix my table.

Excellent,a other A1 job. I like it also….. Doing it right or not at all…..

Nicely done. 👏👏👍🥴

I have to agree with some of the other comments, get a tachometer for your machine. They have small digital ones and it would be handy to know at a glance the speed you’re at and how much it varies with the cut you’re taking. That VFD install really came out nice, I need to do some of things to my small mill.

That turned out really nice. There's not much you can't do is there. I didn't hear any motor noise did it go away under load? The box was perfect looks good. Good job. I flipped the switch on a couple of times when you weren't looking. Hope you didn't mind.

I like it… too.

Hi I'm doing a lathe right now and i could mount the box to the rear but then it would make the lathe be spaced further away from the wall so i am going to mount my box on the wall close to the outlet and i know there will be a couple of wires that will go from the box to the machine even the extended ribbon cord for the VFD face panel that I'm mounting on the front of the lathe . just a thought but at least it will be in one peace and if you move the mill it will be easy .JM

Nice

I like it!

SEI UN AMICO MAKINA, NON C'È NULLA IN MEZZO A TE

You are truly a man of many talents! How is the torque at low R.P.M.'s?

Great Chanel. Where do you find the index dial plates? I like it

While the electrical code is complicated on this subject, for safety and electrical interference reasons, it is generally a bad idea to run power and low voltage control wiring in the same conduit, or even cable tray.

👍🏻

I like It 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

It seems like a lot of work just for a tiny 3/4 HP motor. About 2 HP seems appropriate to support general machining in a vertical type mill. Now that you have proved the upgrade methodology, are you considering an upgrade to more powerful motor? Cheers.

I know you have mixed emotions about adding a tach. I guess my point was that there are some really tiny sensors like 1/8" thick with a screw hole that you could put under the spindle pulley and not have to use one of those large round threaded ones. The magnet could be small also, like 4mm od (0.160"). Those miniature sensors have the same 3 wires and will work directly with the tach counters (the one you used on the lathe) although you might have to splice or solder the 3 little wires to get that connector. Just search for miniature hall effect sensors or transducer and you'll see them. There might even be a smaller counter display. This stuff is all cheap. Give them a company name and they'll send you a sample for free.

Hey Winky have you decide what position on the pulleys your going to use? I believe you had to move the belt to control the speeds. I'm doing the same thing on my Clausing lathe but not sure what position the belt should be on as a permit position. Hope this makes sense. Great videos too. Love the channel. We are almost a like on doing things.

How did you determine the pully size combination to use?