# Engineer Problem



## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

Where do you put the bag of popcorn?? :laughing:


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

I guess it depends on wheter or not you want those controls to be "readily accessible".


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## Celtic (Nov 19, 2007)

Fancy cord set


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Looks peachy keen to me.














































Until you plug it in.:laughing:


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## InControl (Mar 20, 2007)

The only thing I notice is the corrosion on the plastic. What kind of environment is that?


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## chenley (Feb 20, 2007)

InControl said:


> The only thing I notice is the corrosion on the plastic. What kind of environment is that?


Corrosion? It looks all sparkly and never used to me.


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

that's not corrosion,,,the plate in the back is galvanized


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## TheRick (Apr 13, 2008)

Do you have many UK style 3 prong receptacles in Vermont?


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## Richard Rowe (May 25, 2009)

Looks ok.... what do it do???


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## drsparky (Nov 13, 2008)

Richard Rowe said:


> Looks ok.... what do it do???


It is an Enco Variable Frequency drive. You can control it remotely with the HMI. The only thing to worry about is heat and it may be fine depending on the motor.


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## John (Jan 22, 2007)

This control is for a potato peeler. The R&D Company that I occasionally work for had a design company in Italy design the machine and are in the process on trying to market it. 
I had to get these guys some 220 v power and a receptacle so they can try it out to see if it works. The first problem was the VFD was in an airtight enclosure and was headed for a "Three Mile Island" event. There isn’t enough clearance for the VFD.. The second problem was no MCR circuit. 
Anything else………….


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## John (Jan 22, 2007)

TheRick said:


> Do you have many UK style 3 prong receptacles in Vermont?


Yes we do because we are close to Canada and are about to secede from the "Obama Union" :thumbup:


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

i built one close to that for a conveyer in a meatroom.


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## micromind (Aug 11, 2007)

If the lid is on, how do you change the frequency? And how do you see the display? 

Actually, these will be moot points after about 1/2 hour of operation with no ventilation; there won't BE any frequency, and the display will be either blank or melted! Or maybe tripped out on overtemp. 

Rob

P.S. I can't easily tell from the pic., but the switch mounted on the cover looks like an H-O-A type, and looks like it's wired to start the drive in either the hand or auto position. I could easily be wrong though, it's hard to tell from the back side.


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## Richard Rowe (May 25, 2009)

We had some controls like that here at one time, what we did was cut out the end of the box so the wiring end of the control fit tight in the box. Then we used a thermostat box, the screen type that’s used in plants to keep people from turning up the heat, and cut one end out of it slide it over the control that was sticking out of the box. The thermostat screen box has a screen lid with a lock so you could easily open it up to change the control and the screen helped keep it cool. They were both mounted to a board it really looked factory made and we had no problems. You could also easily see the control readout at a glance.


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## John (Jan 22, 2007)

micromind said:


> If the lid is on, how do you change the frequency? And how do you see the display?
> 
> Actually, these will be moot points after about 1/2 hour of operation with no ventilation; there won't BE any frequency, and the display will be either blank or melted! Or maybe tripped out on overtemp.
> 
> ...


On the front it was just a Forward-Off-Reverse selector switch. My first impression on the controls was that there was very little control. No MCR circuit, no external speed control, no short circuit protection, no overload protection (single phase to three phase), heat problem, etc....
I didn't have a lot of time to watch the children play with their new toy but I am going back on Tuesday to see if they broke it yet and suggest some changes. 
Probably get there and find 1,000 lbs of peeled potatoes.


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## John (Jan 22, 2007)

Black4Truck said:


> Where do you put the bag of popcorn?? :laughing:


Here you go.....
View attachment 1706


Or do you want french fries?


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## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

John said:


> Here you go.....
> View attachment 1706
> 
> 
> Or do you want french fries?


:laughing::laughing::laughing:


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## John (Jan 22, 2007)

Black4Truck said:


> :laughing::laughing::laughing:


You might not be laughing when you hear the Beep....Beep....Beep of a dump truck loaded with 1,000 lbs of peeled potatoes backing up your driveway. :lol::lol:

View attachment 1707


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## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

John said:


> You might not be laughing when you hear the Beep....Beep....Beep of a dump truck loaded with 1,000 lbs of peeled potatoes backing up your driveway. :lol::lol:
> 
> View attachment 1707


Great.. maybe I can get the "TOOL" guy to send some of that beef he is bragging about and we can have a block party :drink:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Black4Truck said:


> Great.. maybe I can get the "TOOL" guy to send some of that beef he is bragging about and we can have a block party :drink:


Mmmmmmmm.

*REAL *meat.


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## LJSMITH1 (May 4, 2009)

That thing might last longer than you all think. I have installed equipment with similar VFD drives on laser engravers, chain making machines, and casting investment mixing machines that were either made in Germany, Italy or Japan. The laser engraver had 3 VFD's inside of a sealed Hoffman-type NEMA 4x enclosure. No ventilation, and the cabinet did see about 110-120F internal temps. We measured it and had similar concerns. However, the laser manufacturer assured us that the setup has over 100,000 hr MTBF. It worked fine. The other pieces of equipment also had single VFD's inside a much smaller enclosure without an issue.

As with anything, it all has to do with the VFD Mfr's instructions and if it even needs ventilation. Also, none of the VFD's I installed had external speed controls, except that the laser engraver was controlling the VFD's output by computer.


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## Jefro (Jul 28, 2009)

John said:


> On the front it was just a Forward-Off-Reverse selector switch. My first impression on the controls was that there was very little control. No MCR circuit, no external speed control, no short circuit protection, no overload protection (single phase to three phase), heat problem, etc....
> I didn't have a lot of time to watch the children play with their new toy but I am going back on Tuesday to see if they broke it yet and suggest some changes.
> Probably get there and find 1,000 lbs of peeled potatoes.


So...uh, when it's in the reverse position, does it put the peel back on the potato?


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

LJSMITH1 said:


> That thing might last longer than you all think. I have installed equipment with similar VFD drives on laser engravers, chain making machines, and casting investment mixing machines that were either made in Germany, Italy or Japan. The laser engraver had 3 VFD's inside of a sealed Hoffman-type NEMA 4x enclosure. No ventilation, and the cabinet did see about 110-120F internal temps. We measured it and had similar concerns. However, the laser manufacturer assured us that the setup has over 100,000 hr MTBF. It worked fine. The other pieces of equipment also had single VFD's inside a much smaller enclosure without an issue.
> 
> As with anything, it all has to do with the VFD Mfr's instructions and if it even needs ventilation. Also, none of the VFD's I installed had external speed controls, except that the laser engraver was controlling the VFD's output by computer.


Agree. While most all manufacturers have limits they also have heat sink thermistors or similar. The drive would likely trip before it got hot enough to hurt anything. Surprisingly I have seen some seriously heated cabinets with drives just running right along. Of course I always recommend ventilation to spec.
I bet those cables cost more than the control.


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## PLCMentor.com (Apr 15, 2009)

Those are some pretty cables... Oh wait that's asparagus.


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