Denford Software & Machines

Just joined the forum. Need some advice.

Just purchased a triac fanuc atc 3phase.
Need advice on a phase converter.
Static/rotary?
Power required?

I would suggest you look at the Digital Type of phase converters, reason is the electronics in the Triac will need a good quality 3 phase supply.
Check with Denford what the exact power input requirements are for your machine, contact them with the Serial number, some early Denford CNC Mills required 3 phase, Neutral and Earth, unlikely your machine has that setup but it pays to double check.

A good quality Digital 3 phase converter won`t come cheap but a cheap one could end up costing you more !!!

Try this company for lots of information on all types of 3 phase converters and give them a call for a quote, I know that they have in the past supplied 3 phase converters to Denford owners so they do have prior knowledge of what is required to run a Fanuc Triac CNC Machine

Here is the link to their web site:- https://www.drivesdirect.co.uk/how_to_choose.htm

For what you are doing I would expect to pay in the region of £1200~£2000 for a good rated converter that has a reasonable extra capacity, the other point is you will probably need to have a dedicated 240V supply direct from the Distribution Board in your property (Assuming you are running a supply from the house to the shed ) of at least 25A, preferably 40A as you will probably be using other power tools, lighting, heating etc while the machine is running.
Speaking of heating, your Triac will most likely be getting on for 25~30 years old and electronic components especially capacitors do deteriorate with time and they tend to not like the cold so if your workshop gets very cold in winter one thing I always suggest is to put a small lamp with something like a 40~60watt bulb inside the main control panel at the bottom just to keep the temp at a decent level. Every time you shut down and fire up the machine the capacitors are getting worked harder if they are cold, in the Fanuc setup one thing that expires regularly due to the cold is the 24Volt control supply power unit so if you have issues with the machine not starting up that`s one of the first things to check.
Ah well, there is lots more but I think that is enough to be going on with for now.
Apologies if you do have a reasonable level of electrical knowledge and I am telling you stuff you already know but I don`t have any idea of your level of competance

Hope this is of some use to you
Regards
Rob

At the minimum you'll need a rotary converter, as a static converter relies on having a motor attached to generate the false phase.
Off course, you can just attach a big motor to a static converter to create a rotary converter.

I have been experimenting with using a 4KW boost VFD (VFD with built in 240 to 380V voltage boosting) to replace my home built rotary converter, although I'm still keeping my idler motor attached as I have one machine that needs a neutral, and the idler motor generates that quite nicely.
This is essentially what Drives Direct are doing, although they're using a transformer to generate neutral if needed, and adding in a sine wave filter if you're running more sensitive equipment.

I've got a new 11KW VFD and suitable sine wave filter sat on the bench to upgrade the current experiment, which I'm hoping will be good enough to power a new turning centre I've ordered.

The denford is year 2000. It does have 5 core cable but I need to check it actually uses all 5.
I will probs go with digital phase converter with sine wave filter if required. I really dont want any issues with blowing boards etc. Thanks for the advice.

Wirralcnc wrote: ↑

Sat 22 Aug , 2020 10:27 am

The denford is year 2000. It does have 5 core cable but I need to check it actually uses all 5.
I will probs go with digital phase converter with sine wave filter if required. I really dont want any issues with blowing boards etc. Thanks for the advice.

Ah, only 20 years old then
If it has 5 wires then it probably is a 3 Phase, Neutral and Earth configuration, as I said before contact Denford on Monday with the machine Serial number, they have excellent records and will have all the specifications for that specific machine before you make any decision re the Phase converter