Converting my KMG to direct drive and other mods

[Matt Gregory]

Nice, Justin. Sounds like you're running that in 1x mode. Does your VFD offer a frequency doubler? For my money, I'd choose speed over torque for hogging, as it seems like the better ceramic belts prefer motion a bit, over pressure.

 

Which motor and VFD are you using?

[Frogfish]

It's called a MAP arm I got it from a fellow on the net who was making them not sure if he is still around but they show up for sale once in a while.

 

Frogfish: Where did you get that table arm setup? That is sweet!

 

[Justin Mercier]

leeson 1750 rpm 3hp TEFC 56c motor with a KBAC-29 VFD, so it does have frequency doubler on jumper J4, it's in 1x mode currently

[Justin Mercier]

Here it is with frequency doubler enabled. Speed ranges from a crawl to "space ball one... they've gone to plaid!"

 

https://youtu.be/EdtC2FIr_aA

 

Edited April 9, 2016 by Justin Mercier

[Matt Gregory]

There's been a handful of these kits that have made their way to folks, at this point, and a couple tidbits that were beyond my ability to observe have been pointed out.

 

Although I mentioned it in the original announcement post in this thread, it seems to have been overlooked, and this is critical : THE KIT REQUIRES THAT YOU HAVE A 56C FACE MOUNT motor. The motor bolts to the adapter, and without the face mount, it ain't gonna work.

 

Also, guys have said that they had to cut the length of some of their tool arms down, as the adapter bracket won't allow a tool arm to stick past it. I didn't notice this on my own grinder, because I added the additional tool arm slot, which lets the tool arms clear the bracket in the top slot, AND I made almost all my own arms and cut them at 18". I couldn't see any advantage to making them any longer, and I could get four tool arms out of a six foot long bar. Things to keep in mind if you decide you want one of these.

 

Feedback has been beyond positive. Improved tracking, elimination of vibration, and gobs more torque due to the elimination of belt slip. For most, also, an increase in speed when the VFD output frequency is doubled.

 

Figured I ought to pass all this along for people that may want one in the future.

[Justin Mercier]

I did a 2nd tool arm mod for my KMG this last weekend , since i plan on making a pivoting base so i can use the kmg horizontal and vertical, I wanted an independent tool arm to mount my tool rest to.

Yesterday however I had to take it apart and mill out the center of the middle slot,I made the sides too precise in height, and I couldn't slide arms in and out very well. All working now though!

 

I couldn't use my big wheel with my original stock length tooling arm, but most of my tooling arms are shorter than 'stock' 20 inch arms, so I just swapped my wheel from my steel arm to one of my aluminum arms.