DC motor controllers
 

There is discussion on this NG periodically about using DC motors on a wood
lathe, and then there are discussions about controllers - a friend and I got
a big pile of controllers a week ago, and I'm starting to sort through them.
There are working ones, non-working ones that are repairable, and a
"non-repairable" VFD that would be great if it only works. You can get
information on these controllers from www.minarikcorp.com - the manuals are
on-line. And, you can ask me questions if you like. The "repairable" ones
are the best deal if you are willing to tackle the electronics, otherwise,
the working ones would be your best bet. The RG300 and 500 series would be
good choices, the MM would be really nice for a pen turning lathe or a
smaller tool. All of these adjust speed with a 10K pot, so they are very
easy to hook up. Most are bi-directional - set the pot in the middle for
off, turn one way for forward, the other way for reverse. most can be
configured to turn one way only, and can have separate speed adjustments for
each way (all this is explained in the on-line manuals)

I've tested the pile I brought home with me, here is what works
and some prices. Note that I didn't do a full factory test, I connected
power and a small (.2 amp) DC gear motor and made sure that the controller
would operate the motor properly. It is possible that there are subtle
problems that this qauick test wouldn't pick up, but at least it separates
the "repairable" from the working.

The following work
MM22000A - 0ne availalbe $35
RG300U - one available, $48
RG51U - one available, $25
RG500UA - one available, $55

The following don't work, but are in my opinion repairable - they produce
field voltage (if applicable) but don't drive the motor properly:
MMRGD10-230AC (this is a very cool controller, if it worked, I replaced the
SCRs, but it's still inop) $12
RG300UA - missing a couple of 2K resistors so I can't complete the test $15
Mystery controller (Minarik), similar to the RG500, but a bit larger, no
heatsink, digital speed select. three of these $8 ea, one missing some SCRs
(that I used on the RG10D above) and some other parts $2
XA970207 - I suspect the diode bridge, will experiment later $12
MAC03 series AC controller, missing a capacitor, a resistor, and a
transistor - very nice VFD (if it works), $18

The following doesn't work and is probably not repairable, but may be good
for parts
MAC08 series, no heatsink, missing a capacitor, a several surface mounted
parts exploded. this is an AC VFD, the CPU is probably OK, the power light
operates like it should, but I'm not going to try and replace the surface
mount parts. This would be useful if you have another MAC08 series drive
(it is not the PWM variant of this drive). $4



--
Bill

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william_ b_ noble at msn dot com

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