Thanks all for the replies.

The verdict is the VFD stays in the open.
It is under a cabinet (with breathing room).
I'll add a board or
piece of plexiglass on the right side of the VFD
and up to the cabinet. That should keep it clear
enough from anything the lathe wants to toss around.

The only RF noise I heard was AM also. That antenna
is in the basement, not far from the lathe. All the
other antennas are on the roof.

Wayne D.

Ned,
Nice lathe! Nice mounting of DRO & VFD also.


On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 19:07:32 -0500, Ned Simmons wrote:

In article ,
says...
Hi,

I want to mount a VFD over the headstock of my lathe,
on the wall. This VFD comes with 1/2 knockouts so I
can cable directly to the VFD. My question is this
a safe place to mount the VFD as far as getting
splattered by any oil from the lathe?
VFD is rated @ IP20 (which I believe is about nothing).

Chips getting into it are a much bigger issue than oil, which is mostly
a cosmetic thing, unless by "oil" you mean a water based coolant.


Is there any RF issues that I should be concerned
about that makes mounting the VFD in an enclosure
desirable? I would assume the motor radiates more
noise than VFD would.

The enclosure won't help much with electrical noise. The biggest problem
is noise introduced back into the power line. A line inductor will
usually help if this proves to be a problem, but unless you have
something very sensitive in the area, or an AM radio, you shouldn't be
troubled by noise.


If I can mount it there without an enclosure,
then I don't need to remote the display.

I've got the VFDs on both my lathe and mill mounted out in the open for
just this reason.

http://www.suscom-maine.net/~nsimmons/Feeler05.JPG

On the lathe the VFD is on a stanchion, on the mill, obscured by the
chain hoist in the photo, the VFD is on the top side of the DRO arm.

Ned Simmons