I’ve read through tons of forum messages and am trying to make a final decision on which VFD to purchase.
I have an Elite Journeyman on order. It will be used for hobby rather than business but I do see it getting a lot of use. I decided against the PWNCnc spindle mainly because I like building things myself and consider the build a part of the journey. I ordered a water cooled G Penny 2.2kw 220v bullet nose spindle and keep going back and forth on the VFD.
Is it worth it to go with something like a Hitachi WJ200 or a Teco L510 vs a Huanyang? I know the manual for the name brands would be much more in depth. The Huanyang is around $130 and the Hitachi or Teco are about $360.
I mostly plan to use the machine for hardwood inlays, epoxy, plywood parts cutting and an occasional small aluminum project. I don’t mind spending the extra money if it’s worth it but I don’t want to needlessly throw cash away.
The input of any who have been down this road before would be appreciated.
I was thinking that might be a good route to go. Do you have any thoughts on if the Hitachi, Teco or Invertek would be a better fit for the Masso controller? I see on the Masso site that setup docs for the Teco work and I know that a number of people re successfully using the Hitachi.
Is one any better than the others or are any lacking in features that you’re aware of?
The Hitachi WJ200, the Omron MX2 and the Hitachi S1 have a Modbus Override capability (described here and here). This allows altering the spindle rpm during a short g-code program pause, or stop the spindle during a program paused over night and to start spindle again and to resume the g-code program the next morning without disabling Modbus control. I don’t know if the Invertek E-3 or the Teco L510 have this too. Note: This seems not relevant for use on the Masso since it is not capable of Modbus communication.
The Hitachi WJ200 and the Omron MX2 are practically identical, but the Omron is capable of frequencies up to 580 Hz while the Hitachi only 400 Hz. Since the spindle speed calculates
400 Hertz × 2 × 60 seconds / 2 poles = 24,000 rpm vs.
580 Hertz × 2 × 60 seconds / 2 poles = 34,800 rpm,
but this is only important for spindles like these.
The Invertek Optidrive E-3 is designed and made in the UK. This is the next VFD I will try out (I own the Omron MX2). Omron and Hitachi are Japanese brands but produce VFDs mainly in China. I don’t know where TECO-Westinghouse produces their VFDs (see company profile), but they produce some in the USA and some in Taiwan and Malaysia. You could try to find an owner on the www and try to look at the nameplate.
The Omron MX2 and the Hitachi WJ200 have more digital inputs than the other VFDs mentioned here. Search for “wiring diagram” inside the PDF manuals to see the inputs and outputs.
All VFDs mentioned here have analog voltage and current inputs so the spindle speed can be controlled by the Masso CNC controller, which is not capable of Modbus communication.
Before buying, I would study all of their manuals.
Thanks Aiph5u - That is very helpful information. I’ve started reviewing the manuals but it helps to have an idea of what to look for. You mentioned the Modbus Override and after looking at the links you referenced it does seem like a cool feature. With Masso not supporting Modbus, I’m guessing this wouldn’t work?
yes, but the Masso offers spindle speed override by itself. And the Masso is also capable of feedrate override, one of the missing and most requested features for the buildbotics-based Onefinity Standard Series Controller.
Furthermore on any VFD on which you control spindle speed via analog voltage, you could at any time put a switch into the analog spindle speed line and switch to a potentiometer for temporary manual speed control.
