Well, I finally replaced the power cable to my woodshop from panel to subpanel. The circuits function, the light on the lathe stays on and is stable. I have not had time to verify that it is being fed 220-240 volt current, but assume so for the time being--although it still won't run.
It displays a code on the inverter (I'm back to my old one), F-100. I went through the manual, but did not find that specific code. Do any of you know what it is unhappy about this time? Or has somebody cast a spell on it?
I have the 3520A and I had to replace the inverter. you might have someone check yours. I put a switch on the line coming in so there is no power going to the lathe till I turn the switch on. Just a thought.
To eliminate a variable, I would remove the inverter and temporarily connect it to a 220V outlet which is known to work with some other electrical device. If you get the same code, it could be the inverter.
I don't know if anybody deployed eye of newt and tooth of hound or if the lathe just wanted to get used to the rush of 220 electricity again, but this morning it said hello, what can I do for you? First of all, six plates of white oak, I said and then we'll see and he seemed to be okay with that.
If it hadn't been for surgery on a malingering liver, I would have had it up and going long time ago, but better late than never. Thanks so much for your help throughout this process. My remaining question is somewhat rhetorical: why didn't the PM service guy, who charged me for three hours of fruitless diagnostics, suspect that my power supply was at fault? Might it have had something to do with the fact that he was not a licensed electrician?
Re: The spell has broken: my lathe is purring agai
Dave Paine
Thanks for the update. Very glad to read the lathe is now back to normal operation.
I cannot speak for the Powermatic technician.
These days I am not surprised when a person who is supposed to know a product may not know the product as well as we expect.
In my old company, I had many instances when IT support was not able to diagnose a problem or fix a problem which was stated to be caused by a detail I documented. It was common that I had to tell them the problem, in many cases explaining why their diagnosis did not fit the reported issue and my documented details on the cause and attempts to fix.
Some folks have the badge and knowledge to go with the badge. Some just have the badge.........
I give up. Here I thought I had it all beat. The spindle turned and I thought the lathe was happy but it ain't. When I walked back to the woodshop after posting my happy news, it refused to co-operate. Tomorrow I will rewire the circuit from the sub-panel to the lathe socket with my left-over wiring just to eliminate another variable.
Aage, I've been to that rodeo. Works one minute, won't work the next. I have several friends who've experienced the same thing with the A model 3520. All of them have replaced the inverter to fix the problem. There are several "non PM" inverters out there that will work well. Oh yeah, I did fix one friends problem by just tightening all of the screws behind the display panel and also on the motor itself. Good luck.
Fxxx is not an error code but the master frequency. According to the VFD manual a VFD with the Delta factory default parameters should display F60.0 on startup. (Section 3.3 in the manual) There should not be a dash in the number.
Do you have the Delta VFD manual? It is available online as a PDF file.
I checked two of my lathes with Delta VFDs. The PM3520b and a Jet 1642 both display F 0.0 when the speed controls are set all the way down and the lathe is powered up. (there is a space between the "F" and the "0.0") The numbers increase as I turn the speed controls up. If I set the speed control so the display on the VFD is F100 the PM3520b is running about 2380 RPM with the way I have the belt positioned, the Jet a bit higher.
Note that the 3520b will NOT run at all if the ON switch is pulled out at the time it is powered up. Make sure the ON/OFF switch is turned of and the speed control turned down, then plug in the lathe, turn the switch ON, then rotate the speed control.
If the lathe is powered up with the switch ON, I have to push it in to turn it OFF then pull it out to turn it ON before the lathe will run.
Watch the display on the VFD as you rotate the speed control. The numbers should change even if the ON/OFF switch is OFF and the lathe is not spinning. (even though the numbers on the VFD change, the lathe speed numbers on the FRONT of the lathe will not change unless the lathe is spinning)
If the numbers do NOT change when your rotate the speed control, the speed control could be bad, the control wiring to the VFD could be wrong, the parameters in the VFD could be set wrong (parameter 2-00 should be set to "1"), the jumper J1 could be in the wrong position (it should be on the upper two pins, also described under parameter 2-00 lin the VFD manual), or the VFD could be bad.
If the VFD display does not change, recheck every wire for the correct placement and that it is properly tightened. Make ***SURE*** the VFD wiring is correct. If you already switched the VFD out once, there is a chance that something didn't get placed right or a connection is not making contact. If you don't feel proficient to verify the wiring, try to get someone else to check it. Don't make me drive over there...
If the wiring is correct then start over again following Doc Green's 3520 debugging instructions and verify that ALL the low voltage control circuit is working properly. (The control wires are the small wires in the headstock that go to the VFD, everything but the 220v power from the plug and the three wires to the motor.)
It is possible that the VFD is damaged. (could be damaged from power surges, bad power wiring, old age, the luck of the draw, etc.) I can't remember but did you get a second VFD? If you are CERTAIN the power in the wall is correct and CERTAIN that the control circuit is OK then swapping VFDs again would be the next step.
Note about electrical power circuits: If I work on a service entrance, breaker box, circuit, or receptacle I **ALWAYS** check the power at the receptacle before plugging anything in. If the voltage is not correct or the correct voltage is not on the right prongs something could be damaged or worse. There are simple plug-in testers for 110V circuits but I don't know of one for 220V. A voltmeter is a must for doing it yourself. If the power in the wall is right, then check the power inside the VFD to make sure the plug and cord are wired correctly. Forgive me if I've misunderstood, but from some your earlier comments it sounds like you may not have a lot of experience with electrical things. If that's the case, if you haven't already done so it might be worth it to pay an electrician to check your wiring.
John, a local service guy on the Powermatic beat spent three hours testing every component of the lathe, including the inverter. He found nothing wrong with anything. That's what's so puzzling.
As for my experience with wiring, you are certainly correct about my inexperience. When I rewired the power cable and the inverter (before replacing the old one), I simply made a detailed drawing of the existing wiring and used that for the new wires. All the 110 circuits work fine.
>>John, a local service guy on the Powermatic beat spent three hours testing every component of the lathe, including the inverter. He found nothing wrong with anything. That's what's so puzzling.>>>
I'm not sure how your PM service guy was able to verify all the workings of the VFD without being able to put good power on it, or why a PM service guy was not knowledgeable enough to exactly diagnose the wall power issue. That makes zero sense to me. (unless he happened to bring a 220v power source with him or took your headstock with him.) Remember that 1/2 of the technical people out there are in the lower 50% of their field in experience, knowledge, and intelligence. :-)
But it's back to the power, then. It means it is now up to you to insure you are getting good power not only to the outlet but through the cord to the inside of the VFD.
Unless you have an intermittent problem, debugging anything is just a series of (usually) simple logical checks.
As mentioned before, be sure to check both that the right voltage is on the right prongs of the receptacle AND that the voltage stays the same under load. There are ways you can test this yourself even without having another 220v device to plug in, but any decent electrician should be able to check your power very quickly.
I hope you get this resolved. It is frustrating to not have a working lathe.
The last 3520B malfunction I was involved with had two intermittent problems. One was the OFF/ON switch and the other was inside the inverter.
Just because the OFF/ON switch checked good on one occasion, there is no guarantee that it is not intermittent. Likewise for the inverter. It may work every now and then, but then fail to function at another time.
The only way I was able to sort out what was going on was to bridge around the control circuitry (as described on my website) and then keep dickering with the inverter until the gremlins kicked in. Once I got the problem to occur with the control circuit bridged, I removed the inverter and sent it out to be repaired.
Whiplash: There are two wire nut splices in the wires going to the speed control pot. If either of these open up for some reason, the lathe will not run. The wire nuts are located in the region behind the big red knob.
A voltage between about 0.3 and 10 VDC must appear at pin 2 (green wire) of the control terminals for the lathe to run.
Hope you get this sorted out. It must be rather frustrating. ~Doc
+1 on the on-off switch. A friends, PM, mine and my old Jet ALL had on-off switch problems. At least that's fairly easy to test, just put a jumper across the switch. Here's a link to putting a remote switch on, instead of a switch, just put a solid wire in place.
Have you unplugged the lathe since you rewired the 220 volt? I often get a locked up VFD if the power company flips my power off then on. To check this 1st unplug the lathe like above and give it a minute, then plug it back up and see if it runs, if that doesn't work, jump out that switch.
+1 on the on-off switch. A friends, PM, mine and my old Jet ALL had on-off switch problems. To check that turn your lathe speed to minimum and unplug it. Give it a minute and you'll hear a click. It's fairly easy to test, just put a jumper across the switch, that is put a jumper wire across blue/white wire terminal on the back of the switch to the yellow wire terminal. Here's a link below for putting a remote switch on, it has a picture and drawing that will help identify what I'm talking about. The wiring in this part of the head is just 24 volts. The 220 volt stuff is on the back of the lathe. Now just plug the lathe in give it a minute to reboot the VFD, then turn the speed up. Speaking of rebooting, have you unplugged the lathe since you rewired the 220 volt? I often get a locked up VFD if the power company flips my power off then on. To check this 1st unplug the lathe like above and give it a minute, then plug it back up and see if it runs, if that doesn't work, jump out that switch.
BTW, curious, why did you take the new VFD off of the lathe?
I haven't read in detail all the posts, and sorry if this is a repeat. But to address the F-100, I think that is normal and means the speed control is about 3/4 full speed. Mine PM 3520 goes from 0 to 138 hz. That's what those red numbers are on the VFD, frequency output. It can also give error codes as well. A VFD is a Variable Frequency control and a 3 phase motors speed happens to run at frequency. Normally we see 60 hertz on our line voltage, but through the magic of electronics the VFD can adjust to most anything. That is at 120 hertz the motor is running twice as fast as it is at 60 hertz. When I program one, generally I use 120 Hz as the maximum.
I've mentioned this before, but when the switch on my first Jet 1642 failed I took it apart. It was clogged with very fine dust which kept the contacts from working properly. I cleaned it out and sealed it from future dust problems and it's been ok since.
It looks like they use the same switch on the PM3520b
