Adam Savage Installs (the Wrong?) Lathe Variable Frequency Drive! 

Adam Savage Sets Up His Shop's Second Lathe: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Jd1aVr-0u9w.html Subscribe for more videos (and click the bell for notifications): ru-vid.com

"Make sure faces are clean" and there is a massive chip inside the chuck made me laugh. At 30:14 .

Who's gonna bite the bullet and tell Adam that that's not a three-phase motor with a VFD, but rather a brushless DC (BLDC) motor with speed controller? Torque and Speed curves are vastly different on these very different types of motors...

also all the shop revamp videos are getting me to finaly organise things in my landry room/work area.

When you were mounting the new plate, there was a small metal shaving that you might have sandwiched between the plate and the mount. Check the video.

Adam clamped a piece of swarf between the two pieces of the new chuck.

12:59 - Every Tool's a Hammer!

Moments like 01:22 are one of the big reasons why I love this channel

Thankyou for welcoming me to your humble hat, Adam. Most gracious of you, although you had no hat on.

Not even 20 seconds in and I've already had to pause and snort at "welcome to my humble chapeau".

Adam, I really like the idea of making the lathe motor variable, but unfortunately as you found out you can’t just match the horsepower when you go from a fixed speed to variable speed motor. As torque times rpm gives you horsepower. If you want to do the substitution you need to work backward from the original motor. It looks like from the size of the original motor it is built for high torque and heavy duty cycle. So for your variable motor the minimum torque regardless of speed needs to be the rated torque of the original motor. Your new motor will require more horsepower to address the work the motor has to perform through the gear train and the load from the machining effort. I hope this helps. Keep up the great work.

I've had vfd's on both my recent lathes. Previous lathe was basically the same as the one shown in the video. What I find to be useful about them is the soft start and stop. I almost never use the speed control, the lathe gearbox is just more convenient most times. As others have already mentioned; what you have there is a dc motor and speed controller. I imagine its meant to spin at pretty high rpm. What you really want is a three phase motor (likely 220v) with the same hp and mounting as the old one. Then you just need a 220v single phase to 220v three phase vfd (very common).

You can have horsepower (watts) in two ways, having very low speed, but high torque motor, or having high speed, low torgue motor. Torque is almost exclusively created by leverage, so larger the motor in diameter, more torque, and by extension, slower the motor. You bought a spindle motor, they're usually meant to run FAST with high RPM and create the total power from that. The original motor is meant to spin slow, with high torque for the same overall power. That's why the motor is so much "smaller"... So you need to be exact on what type of application you're trying to use the motor for, for a lathe, you need low speed (

If you like VFD, I'd recommend looking up Clough42's Electronic Lead Screw project. It's more work than a VFD conversion, but brings a gigantic amount of versatility to the lathe's capabilities.

A spindle motor like that likely won't do well with the inertial load of your lathe spindle with chuck. If you gear down more and run the spindle motor faster, it will probably help a bit. The inertia of an endmill in the spindle is a fraction of what a bigass chuck will be, even with the stock geartrain. There's probably current and time limits that may or may not be adjustable which you will be fighting against. I appreciate the raw nature and honesty in your machining content. A+ on the bondhus hammer. If you peck whilst drilling and using the annular cutters the chips will break and be more manageable. Those birdsnests can be super treacherous. Once they catch something, you're in trouble. Did you change the speed on the split sheave mill head with the spindle off? The belt can get chewed up and it's supposed to be shifted while running.

Not a clue what's going on here,,wouldn't have the first idea what to do with a lathe if i had one, but here i am happily watching this. Clueless but fascinated!!

It’s like Christmas Day to Adam every single day he comes to the cave now! Soooooo happy for you buddy!

Frequwncy Adam, Frequency! V Frequency D.

Aaaah, something very satisfying watching Adam chase microns in his setup. The rule of thumb is you go for 10% of the final tolerance you want to work to. For an aesthetic item lathe then this is plenty accurate.

I love your energy Adam, thank you for al your years of education and entertainment. i love your workshop reminds me of my dad's old workshop that sadly no longer exist.

Can someone tell me what happened in the video? My OCD was watching the spot of grease on Adams nose the whole video😂😂

Your journey into machining has been my favorite. I love precision.

Great video Adam. Really SPOT on. Right ON THE NOSE.

Adam you make everything so so interesting , Thank you once again .

You are so motivating. A maker to the core! Thanks man!

Wow Adam, you’re shop looks awesome! Seem much more functional than your old one! Still love the old shops character but I’m sure you will make this shop even better!!

🇨🇦/🇺🇸... Adam... I am SOOOO GRATEFUL for you! You are SO nerdy with some geekiness mixed in that I feel that I can do anything. I'm a 63 year old Canadian who found himself in Michigan (how the hell did THAT happen!?) and have never made much of myself, to be very frank. Many of us, watching you in Mythbusters frankly thought that you were more of a... how do I say this... star?... but you know... show biz shows only what they wanna show, right? Since you've been doing your channel, I've come to realize just how REAL and NORMAL you are. You aren't an academic... but you just jumped in and did shit and, as Harrison Ford once said when people would come up to him and ask him if he believed in "The Force"... he said, "FORCE YOURSELF"... and you did.. you forced your way into existence, for lack of a better term. Again, I'm grateful for you! Cheers! :-)

12:57 Every tool's a hammer, right there XD

I would love to see in depth videos on how to use that CNC mill more. I'll likely never be able to own one so living vicariously through you is my best bet

Awesome :) Used to use an external version to pick-up off a broached bore for finish turning. Had to hand clock it to a couple of microns to get the part in spec. When you clock something with the dti, take up half of the deviation to get it to land in the middle, should be able to get the dti needle static. There are multiple grades of ER collet too, run-out can be anything from 10, 5 & 2um . The tighter the run-out the more expensive they get !

I am a retired Machinist and Adam could still close in that 0.0005" run out to 0. Nice video.

Every time I am watching these videos, I'm hunting for the precious gems in the background. The nice old looking wooden drawer cabinet with handwritten notes stating its content. Or almost at the end, that nicely worn red cabinet left from the lathe. These give the shop a lot of character. My OCD did not allow this; everything must be the same shape, size, color, nicely aligned and with all the same style labels on it. (Un)fortunately that never happened because Ikea decides to change the color of their boxes, I can't get a second workbench with the exact same size again and making those labels just takes too much time. So here I go: I'm officially "Savaging" my shop 😁

Adam, If you mark the position of the material in reference to the chuck first. Then when you take the piece out of the chuck, you can return it to the chuck to the same centricity. I do this with my 4 jaw chucks all the time but it would probably work with a collet check as well.

I love the shop infrastructure videos!

Five years hence, “I found my favorite can of WF-40 behind my lathe!” Slight edit, WF-40 = WD-40… Big fingers, small screen keyboard.

Would really love to see you using that watch lathe you built up. See what you learned from it, must-have tools, etc. I have been considering one for my dining shop, not much space to work with and generally only work on small things anyway.

I couldn't help but look back on my post-WWII Logan as he took that drill to the lathe bed, and all I could do was grit my teeth and shudder. I changed out the 3ph motor for a single-phase and that was spooky, even with no alterations from stock. Guess the fact that it was Chinesium helps with decisions like that.

(edit) @18:00: I should have watched the rest of the video. Or just read the title. I see you realized this already. I can't agree with your component choices. The high-speed spindle motor that you have chosen seems to me a poor substitute for the lathe's original motor. It will run much faster, which your lathe's spindle bearings will not be designed for. Furthermore, it will have much lower torque, so it will not develop anything like the same horsepower at the speeds your lathe's headstock can handle. You should have gotten a 56 frame, 220 volt 3-phase A/C induction motor with horsepower and RPM ratings close to those of the original motor (probably around 3450-3600 RPM, but it could be 1725-1800 RPM), and a standard sensorless vector or V/Hz VFD. I have had good luck ordering such parts from Automation Direct. I have no affiliation with them, and there are, of course, many other places that you can order the parts from. Note that, although the motor takes 220 volts 3 phase, you can get VFDs that will run them from 120 volts single phase input, at least for small motors up to about 1 horsepower.

22:44 DUDE!!! You’re freaking me out with your hand being there 😅

30:16 Looks like theres some swarf still on there!

Great job. Thank you 😊

Great stuff. You should build yourself a nice drafting table (on wheels!!) with a camera stand. I’d love to see more montages of how you do your technical drawings!

Seeing Adam's R2 unit really makes me want a build series from him on how to build an astromech, maybe an R4-P17?

Hey Adam. I really do not like that tiny switch. If something goes wrong, you need to know to be hit e-stop without looking for it. Please consider and additional, easy to access switch/mushroom with "first order availability". Thanks

hee hee hee hee ..... yes he does say chapeau (hat) when he might have meant château or abode (house/dwelling) 😂 🤣 😂

"I just talked for twenty minutes but forgot to press record!" Ah, Adam. Heh.

Nice lathe!! Looking to get a glass lathe soon myself!!

I love watching Adam for the things that no one ever says like “last year when I invested in angular cutters” and “your swarth can cut yourself to ribbons”! 😀

2:23 VFD is Variable FREQUENCY drive. It gives you speed controlled 3 phase power.

That backhand slap at the WD40 can was PERFECT! 😂😁🤟

Great video sir

the dog at 29:54

I would love to meet you and walk through your cave..!! I'm so glad you became a youtubeer

29:52 surprise doggo appearance

What do you mean "two" lathes? Doesn't the watchmaker lathe count?

If you drill a pilot hole in the cutting path, you can eliminate the rotating birds nest

I'm just glad he catched that caliper

Your recent shop infrastructure videos are great. Do you have plans for your welding area?

The kite with the grenade launcher on the ceiling 😆

Every time Adam, says "beautiful ', l'm waiting for his face to melt....lol

29:51 Hi Maggie! Heeheeheeeeeee

Angry pixies? Sounds like someone watches AvE lol

They say the kid who dies with the most toys wins. Adam comes close, but I still think the guys with the big mixer consoles have the edge.

Love the reference to angry pixies :)

Spindle moors are designed for high RPM not particularly high torque and that isn't a VFD but a BLDC controller.

That Spindle motor is meant to spin at probably 20K RPM. The motor you took off is probably a 1750 RPM motor. 2Hp at 20000 RPM and 2 HP at 1750 RPM are hugely different amounts of torque. The VFD is faulting because the motor cannot produce the torque needed at the RPMs you are trying to run at.

this is oddly satisfying to watch

This man is a genius!

9:15 there is however, a "cheaper" option. A indexing boring head with a trepaning tool. Takes a bit longer BUT you get an even better cut, you cut to the right size AND the "trench" is thinner too, because a trepanning tool doesn't need to be thick. One size fits all with that device that every mill should have, because it's just about the most versatile tool in a mill's box, which essentially (depending on size) turns the mill into a lathe.

I would have turned the boss to fit snugly to start with because that is the most accurate. If there is no adjustment then the it can't get out of adjustment. Then if needed, you could always turn it smaller later.

My Traveller RPG gaming group finally figured out that the dude they were hiring to modify the prospecting droid they bought, a Mister Artom Sauvage, was totally based on you. It was his janky, cranky homebrew shop assistant JME-INM1 that gave it away...

I’m not a machinist, I do t know about this stuff, I just like watching people make things; that hole saw(?), the way it make the cut material rise up and out of the hole and spin around like that, that is on purpose right? Like that is some really smart engineering on display there?

Adam, enjoy watching your videos, wish I had that kind of space for a shop. Was wondering if you would share where you ordered the VFD motor combo through? Also do you use a tap follower for tapping holes? It keeps the tap perpendicular to the hole.

If you were to use a standard 3 phase motor of the same hp rating and vfd you could rewire your original controls into your vfd the all the nice ramp up ramp down and torque control.

That's a big humble hat you have there. LoL Chapeau = hat

Adam, you can get ER 40 collets up to 1 1/8".....I am not sure if they come bigger, but I do have collets up to 1 1/8"...cheers, Paul

"...some electronics that does some fancy things to the angry pixies that drive the motors..." Never change, Adam. Please never change. :)

😂 thanks for being clumsy and saying "Angery Pixies"

Easiest way to adjust 4 jaw chuck or 4 screws: Measure the min and the max and put zero on the dial in the middle between min and max. Then adjust whatever screw in whatever order to read zero. It's much easier than going back and forth on 2 screws at 180 degrees. No matter the angular position it should read your zero.

Dream place !

I see you are a man of great concentration... your tongue is sticking out when you are really in deep concentration... it is also a sign of genius

Need to get a tap center to go the mill collet. Spring loaded to keep your threads straight.

Watching youtube machinists is either an experience of zen perfection, or Savage chaos. I love Adam but the whole shop and his process gives me tremendous anxiety.

Did anyone else notice the string of swarf hanging out when he said make sure it's super clean with nothing in the way? 😮

how come are your workshop and tools never coated with dust, wood and metal chip? everything is so clean all the time! and at 30:17 there's alluminum swirl hanging out from the piece you machined, it got stuck between the two plates. would that be an issue in the future?

Now Adam needs to make a mounting bracket/arm for the VFD control

That vice needed a proper tightening down .. Maybe a little cutting fluid .. Raw dogging stopped the mill dead… No hate in any case Mr Savage is absolutely a brilliant mind

0:15 Welcome to my humble hat?? 🤣🤣

I REALLY need to see him remove that aluminum shaving. It's driving me nutty! 😂

Your Humble hat... too funny

@2:20 True fact: To make anything *awesome,* add _Moore._ Step up to the Mike, because Moore is all you need. _The Moore you know._

had to double check, yes, he did say "Welcome to my humble hat" knowing him though I expect that was intentinal.

WD-40 and Ballistol are both excellent cutting fluids for aluminium if you experience high grippiness.

Lights did not dim. New circuit, or does this motor have less initial surge?

26:34 one comment to be said about throwing a mandrel on the main screw (for the first time). You want to do this several times before cutting the face (on and off, to ride the threads together). I'd say at least 5 or 6 times. And before that, you want to clean all the surfaces meticulously after you've made sure there's no edges, dings, bings, bongs and bangs on either of the two threads (innie or outie). First time i did this, i didn't know, and i messed up, because i assumed the quality of the finished part was on par with the price i paid. It was not, and the finish was half baked (i won't name and shame, because i did go back and read the text and it was stated that the part was a "blank" and that i had to do the finishing, i didn't assume that meant the whole part) and that threw the face by just enough to make me re-cut the parts after i chased my tail trying to understand what went wrong.

20 minutes in and I am fighting the urge to wipe my nose off.😉

Won't you need an emergency stop? Seems a bit fiddly to switch on and off

Just wondering what the speed range is on that spindle. I'd not expect it to be a great fit for that use, just because the RPM range might be too high... But, if it works, it works :)

Great! May I ask why no tapping oil?

What about an episode on some of your watches?