On or off?

Off

Dick Coers

Since 1998 with no ill effect.

Re: On or off?

ebd

I'm confused. Your friend leaves the lathe running all the time?

Off AND Unplugged here.

Re: On or off?

gary clarke

I turn my oneway off when not using it. Never know when a rare power surge might occur, better safe than sorry.

Re: On or off?

john lucas

I turn my Powermatic off and turn off the circuit breaker as I leave the shop. This is mostly for lightening protection. Been doing that for years with no ill effects.

Re: On or off?

Josh Bowman

I cut the cord on my PM 3520 and put a disconnect on the leg of the lathe. Same as John, power surges/flicking on and off confuses my lathe. Disconnecting it keeps the VFD errors to a minimum.

Another off and unplugged.

Re: On or off?

Dale Bonertz

EBD I read it as though he is not turning off the main power switch on the lathe.

I don't think it really matters. I turn my off when I think about it and sometimes that doesn't happen for a couple of weeks. A friend of mine has had his Vicmarc running for 20 years or more and has never had a problem with his VFD (his wiring is about 40 to 50 years old). The way houses are so well grounded and protected anymore I don't think power surges are as much of an issue as in older homes (as in prior to 1980). Don't get me wrong it could happen but not nearly as common.

Re: On or off?

Joe Bradshaw

I turn my lathes off and unplug them from the outlet. Better safe than sorry.

Joe

General

Bill Howatt

The General VFD idles all the time it is "off" but plugged in.

Its push-button on/off switches control a 240V relay that applies the 24V to the VFD's motion direction switch (Fwd, Off, Rev). No 24V, no go.

I have read other threads that say VFDs do not like having the main power cycled on and off. I personally do not like cycling power on electronic devices and I can point to a lot of midi-computer experience that says keeping things at a reasonably constant operating temperature appears to reduce problems. However, I certainly cannot say that this means that failures don't happen because they do.

I keep mine plugged in. If I know I'm going to be away from turning for a while I unplug it and in the summer I watch for electrical storms and unplug it if one is expected.

Bill

Perplexing?

Geoff Whaling

I always find this question perplexing, mainly because we have 240v single phase power and 415v 3ph power where you guys have 110/220v.

240v kills! Simple as that so our safety practices almost always recommend isolation of power to a machine when its not in use. "Full isolation" generally means removing the power cord from the wall socket as well.

So we turn machines OFF at a wall outlet which isolates the whole machine including the VFD etc. Many lathes still have power to the lathes VFD controller even though the lathe switch may be turned off.

I would recommend installing a switched outlet for each machine and turning machines off when not in use. Very smart move if you have small curious "apprentices" visit your work shop.

Me to, off and unplugged.

Re: On or off?

Tom Albrecht

I had a big Oneway from '95 - 2015. I never unplugged it except once when I had to move it across town, and another time when I sold it last fall. I rarely shut it down completely except when it had to reboot after coasting to a stop with a big bowl on, or running it at super slow speed for too long (a common Oneway situation).

I've worked in a seriously large millwork shop, and their few modern machines with digital readout and variable speed processors were routinely left powered up overnight.

Why not call Oneway and see what they say?

Re: On or off?

Sam Scalzo

I do not know about the one way but if you have a Powermatic you better unplug it or put a switch at the power or you will burn up the electroic control.

Re: On or off?

john lucas

The powermatic controller stays on when you turn the switch off. I have forgotten many many times and look out the window at the shop and you can see the little red display. I've had my lathe almost 12 years now and with no problems. Up until recently the only times I turned off the circuit breaker or unplugged it was when storms were coming. Since I moved into the new shop I'm trying to do it every night.

So in short I have to somewhat dissagree about the statement that leaving the lathe on will kill the VFD. We probably have over a dozen Powermatics among our club members and I've only heard of one having problems and his was as old as mine.

Off and unpluged as well

Re: On or off?

Justin Stephen

3520B, has only ever been unplugged to move it. No problems so far, or with my smaller lathe before it.

My wife has plans to bring a little person into my life at some point. If she ultimately succeeds, I will connect everything to a subpanel and shut that off when I leave the shop, but only for child safety, not for tool protection.

Re: On or off?

David Gilbert

Two years ago I purchased a used 3520b and I believe it hadn't been turned off in seven years. The only problem was that the display on the VFD didn't show the numbers correctly. Each number is made up of 8 elements and some of these elements had apparently burnt out. I had an interesting time when I went in and adjusted the minimum speed values. I was successful but it was tedious.

When I remember, I unplug my lathe, especially in the summer when we have electrical storms.

Cheers,

David