Although I do not recommend this item, here are the links to the VEVOR Power Feed. US power feed: s.vevor.com/bf... CA power feed: s.vevor.com/bf... Discount code: VVS10 (use this code to save 10$)
Noticed the mark on the potentiometer was at about 11 o clock, you should be able to rotate ccw to stop the feed and turn cw to increase. I have 2 power feeds very similar. If you cannot stop the feed with the pot you have a problem
Hello Lyle, These power feeds share a lot in common no mater where they are from. I have installed several over the last few years on various machines. I just recently installed one (from ALSGS, model AL-310S) for my Grizzly G0755 ( the G0755 was a tent sale - damaged purchase) So I have a few suggestions and recommendations for you. #1, the 2 black springs left over are for the limit switch cover. They fit over the limit switch buttons and are carefully fitted into the limit switch cover. This keeps the cover centered and in place. It is a bit fiddly to install but works great. #2, Pay attention to the limit switch cover that it does not rub on the mounting spacers. Some trimming of the cover back side may be required. #3, Take a file and lengthen the top of the limit switch to table mounting slots as needed to to ensure the limit stops hit the switches perfectly centered. #4, Lead screw modifications.. Occasionally an additional woodruff key will need to be cut to ensure the brass bevel gear has sufficient contact. This will also allow you to shorten the out side of the gear and move the manual handle in for a few more threads available. #5, pick up a spare plastic driven gear (typically blue colored) These occasionally fail due to crash or over load and are very inexpensive. #6, In the past where the DRO scale has to remain in front, I have made offset (downward) stops and a lowered limit switch bracket. Now some travel rate (feed) specs on my last install.... 19.5" (495mm) travel range... Fast, 1 minute 6 seconds Slow, 33 minutes, 16 seconds Rapid, 47 seconds Additional advice concerning travel over shoot. These do not have a rapid braking so at high rates of speed it is easy to over shoot by .75" (19mm) so pay attention to your max table travel and move the stops in towards the center accordingly. (another reason to keep a spare plastic shear gear on hand)
Thank you so much. I intend to print this out so that I can study your ideas. these are excellent suggestions. In fact they should’ve been included in the directions. I should tell Iris, my contact in China to include this, lol. By the way, I was wondering what those extra springs were for
Adding braking to such a motor is pretty easy. It may need a relay, depending on the controller wiring. Basically you set it up so that the motor connections are shorted out the when power feed is disengaged. This makes the motor act as a generator against a 100% load, which stops it almost instantly. For safety, it maybe better to add an "engine braking resistor" which you can buy from China, however you will need electronics knowledge to calculate the ohms value.
so the two springs you have in your spare parts are for the limit switch. you put them on the ears of the switch, compress them as you put the cover on and it holds it in place. My dial nut is not as out of shape as yours. It's very good as a matter of fact. Enjoy, what a difference it makes having a power feed. Much nicer. I get a slower speed on my vevor x. I suspect you can adjust it. Mine will crawl. Mine is so powerful it will feed on a tightened gib lock. And I widened the keyway on the brass gear, rather than changing the key. Your speed control is horrible, doing what you did with the dremel will burn out the mosfet inside. I really suggest you try talking to Vevor.
Good Morning Mr. Pete. I have the same unit on my Bridgeport with similar problems and a few differences. I finally had to replace the original Bridgeport unit when the circuit board shorted out. The speed control on yours is faulty beyond repair and the seller should send you a replacement and pay for return shipping. The problem on both units is bad potentiometers. Mine will completely stop and crawl at any speed with full torque but won’t repeat at the same setting after stopping and restarting. I can live with mine but yours is definitely not acceptable. The factory is obviously not testing these units properly before shipment or they would have caught the variable feed problem. With your exposure to the American market you should have no problem getting a replacement. Thanks again for all you do.
You will want to to make a stand-off to give you a little more space between the crank and the unit, I got my hand pinched by one of those when I hit the feed by accident. I was not the only one at that university shop to do that so the guys running the student shop made extension collars so your hand couldn't get stuck
@@mrpete222 I wish I was still in proximity to that shop, I miss those guys. It was just a shaft extension they machined to fit onto the shaft in the place of the handle and moved it out about 2". I think they used set screws to hold it on which isn't ideal but how often are you taking it on and off?
Mrpete, thanks for all your videos,. It already has a speed adjustment built in. The black knob with the white line on it in front of the feed switch lever adjusts the speed of travel .
Better Business Bureau profile for Vevor CURRENT ALERTS FOR THIS BUSINESS Pattern of Complaint: BBB files indicate that this business has a pattern of complaints concerning problems with online purchases. Consumers allege items are not being delivered in a timely manner. Other consumers have reported issues with items received. Items will come defective or they receive the incorrect items. Also, consumers report issues with contacting the company. Some indicated the company has failed to respond to their requests or just don't communicate with them at all. On January 4, 2022, BBB submitted a written request to the company encouraging them to address the pattern of complaints. As of January 20, 2022, BBB has had no response. Stop supporting the America hating Chinese atheists.
Mark the gears up with a chalk pen to read the backlash on the brass worm gear, just like if you were setting the backlash on a ring gear and pinion in your cars rear end
There should be a trim pot or two inside the power feed that will let you adjust voltage to the motor. Mark the trim pots so you’ll know the original position of the screws and then adjust to get get the best balance between speed and torque.
You can't adjust the speed of a non synchronous motor without losing bundles of torque. The only way it can be done is with a variable frequency drive or a gearbox.
@@Phantom-mk4kp What I stated as a solution is essentially what Mr. Pete did with the Dremel speed control box. Obviously you will lose some torque as Mr. Pete demonstrated. You could put a sewing machine foot control in between the power feed and the power supply and get the same result but without a fixed speed setting. What he did was find a “happy medium” he could live with. That’s all I was suggesting rather than relying on a “go between” unit. Just open the power feed up and tweak the trim pots. I never implied there would be no torque loss. I never implied that it was the perfect solution. I just suggested it as another solution to the problem. Reread my comment and feel free to point out any other statements you imagine I might have made in error.
@@FriedPi-mc5yt @FriedPi-mc5yt There will not be any trim pots inside I guarantee. It will have a triac phase angle controller and the only variable component will be the control on the outside
Hi mrpete, I have watch your videos for years and always seem to learn something. I was thinking that maybe the knob for the speed adjustment is not installed on its shaft in the correct location? it may need to be loosened off and rotated on the shaft to allow for slower speed? Just thinking it may not have been assembled correctly in factory. Thanks.
usually the potentiometer itself has the end stops, not the knob. I'm sure if you opened it up and reverse engineered how the speed control works, it would be possible to adjust the range electronically. It could be that they ran out of some component value, and some "smart person" in manufacturing substituted something "close enough" which wasn't close enough at all
Hey, Mr. Pete, I think I know of a guy that could make you a metric knurled nut to replace that plastic piece of junk…. 😉. Great video! Congrats on the power feed.
Mr. Pete, you are so much more than just a “shop teacher”. The level of detail that you go into, and the information that you provide was never taught in any shop class that I attended. You are a gem. Thank you.
I AIM to be a machinist, but I wouldn't call me one yet. I keep picking up all kinds of metal junk because it might be useful, and all machinists seem to be afflicted with that problem, but I'm still just learning to throw things out. A few years ago I would save everything except metal chips, now I throw anything smaller than about half an inch. Progress!
Unfortunately, I was a blacksmith also, so would also save metal chips for pattern forge welding in a canister for Damascus steel axes and knives. That's why those two hobbies go together so well. I totally loved machining good tool steel. But no air hardening steel. Oh, hey Lyle. Not a bad upgrade. Even if the brass gear had enough copper in it that they called it copper! 🗜️⚒️🧙♂️ 乁( ⁰͡ Ĺ̯ ⁰͡ ) ㄏ
I have a Grizzly mill. Love it BUT. there power feed sticks straight out the side, making the table area needing more room. Also with there power feed you loose a handle one one end. I would be interested in installing this one to improve on these faults. Also the limit bumps were only adjustable by loosening them and moving them. Impossible to make fine adjustments. I remade them out of aluminum and installed screws to contact the switch. Now you can very easily make fine adjustments.
Mr. Pete. according to the specifications on the internet, the speed range is 0-200 rpm. So there must be some issue as some people have suggested. Maybe you can make a video to replace that plastic nut with an aluminum or brass one , if it suits your pleasure, lol. For the price of the unit, you almost cannot complain. It's possible to spend that kind of money just going out for dinner for two people at a regular restaurant.
It wasn't just the key that was damaged. The internal keyway on the collar you had to use a puller to remove is also damaged (pass the reamer through it to confirm). The metal is disrupted on either side of the keyway. Those burrs are what damaged the shaft inboard of the key when somebody had to drive the collar back on with a hammer. I suspect the machine had been used for a period of time with the clamp nut loose and the key was taking all of the load.
The load on that collar is squat, hardly enough to damage/overload the key, it just keeps the graduated collar consistant when locked. Probably forced on when misaligned, got a nasty burr that wasn't cleaned up for the 2nd or whatever it took to get it pushed/banged home.
I think I would open up that unit to see if you can adjust the minimum speed pot on the drive board? I would also buy a spare gear that goes on the bottom of the unit. It is a sacrificial plastic item. One crash and it's done.
Free is nice.. Servo is better.. !! I owned a tool and die shop 37 years. We had 9 vertical knee mills. I had mostly all servo brand (pricey but America) but I bought a couple of these or similar from China and we wore them out pretty quick. If you’ve been hand cranking all this time I’m betting you’ll get decent mileage out of this one. A cross feed and a knee feed should be next on your wish list. The shoulder joints get old and the ability to catch a sip of coffee between feed cuts is always nice. I’ve served my apprenticeship under my dad and we had 3 Index Model 55’s.. later After he passed I bought Bridgeport, Lagun, Comet(junk), Millport (ehh!) Enco and An A Trump (loved that mill had a 40 taper spindle and 5 hp) now I have an Acer.. it’s my second one and I have to say I love it. I’m working as an Engineer/Tool and Die Designer/maker for an old old customer these days. Keep cranking those handles.. it keeps us sharp and in shape. You know what CNC really stands for??? Christ No Cranks…
I've been considering one of these (or similar) for a long time. The installation video is very informative and will save some folks the heartache of ironing out the details. I was sold until the speed thing, now I might consider tracking down an original Bridgeport power feed and paying the price. Thanks for the presentation.
I bought a similar one but a different brand for about 150 a few years ago and it had english parts and mated up with no issues it also crawls at slow speed, so shop well
Look at Align brand power feed. I bought one a couple years ago from Precision Matthews in Pittsburgh PA for I think around 275.00. I haven't had an issue with it at all in that time period with using it 2-3 days a week in my shop. I do a lot of face milling and I can put a mirror finish on with it if needed. The speed control works great and will go from 0 IPM on up without the torque loss. I did however have to broach the keyway in the drive hub like Mr. Pete did, but other than that, it wasn't bad to do, and I saved a ton of money over the Servo brand which would have been a grand. The Align brand apparently has a little better motor and speed control than some of the other import units like the Vevor, but it looks pretty much the same. I know you get what you pay for, so I was hesitant to pull the trigger on the Align brand, but I'm glad I did so far.
I have two simular units on my Grizzly G0705. Although differant branding I believe the same manufacturer makes them all. That being said both of mine will slow to a crawl and actually stop. I would remove the knob and see if the dtop is built into the knob. Bossibly needs repositioning. Either its defective or some minor adjustment is needed.
I have been saying for years, that all of the dollar stores are selling, incredibly cheap, worthless junk. The real point is, they are transferring our money to their economy.
Thats interesting i installed this exact same power feed a week ago and out of the box mine moves MUCH slower than yours. I wonder if something is defective in yours. I had to do a bit more modification than you to get it to fit tho because my mill is an 3/4 size Enco. I had to bush the shaft for the roller bearing to fit.
That is a Chinese copy of a Taiwan made Align. The Align is a perfect unit, with the control knob fully anti clockwise the unit will not run at all. Operate the direction lever, slowly turn the knob, you should here a nice "Click" and the handle start to rotate, you can have it so the handle barely moves and has the full torque. You would need a very slow feed for slitting saws or side and face cutters .I bought a brand new Taiwan clone of the BP, that came with the X drive fitted, when the warranty ran out I purchased another identical unit for the Y axis. No problems fitting at all with either unit and it gets used several times a week for short runs. Hope you can sort your one out. I know it was free but complain to Vevor. Regards from Australia.
Well, their ad clearly says 0~200 rpm. So either something's wrong or failed. QC in China is more a concept than a practice. For that price I'll likely get one for my mill. Thanks Lyle!
Only havibg a little suitcase sized lathe the video was entertaining. Modifying the 1/8 inch woodruff key, preserving the conversion kit, was brilliant. It's interesting to motorize the mini mill. Made it for the Mini lathe leadscrew.
Lyle, not contradicting you. You mentioned not to install anything dry and I agree. It brought to mind something that boggles my mind a little. Today, gasket/seal manufacturers offer Teflon oil seals for engine crankshafts, transmissions shafts and I am not sure about the coverage. They are installed dry, no lubricant on the shaft. A Teflon seal must 'run in' n order for it to seal. Installed with lubricant will cause it not to seat and it will leak or weep lubricant as long as it is installed. I had conversed with a well known transmission guy and he complained about Teflon seals and stated they do not work. I thought that odd and then discovered about the dry installation. Maybe he was totally unaware of the installation process.
I can tell right now I wouldn't be happy with that unit. That too fast feed speed would bother me every time I used it. I put a Shars power feed on my Bridgeport and it feeds much slower but is a little fussy to set. Very tweekie to adjust. I also had to do more than my fair share of modifications to make it work. You would think there's enough Bridgeports out there that someone could make a value priced feed that is designed to better fit.
I had a similar power feed on my Bridgeport for about 9 years, never had issues with it. It did have better speed control as I could slow the speed down to a crawl.
@mrpete222 Mr. Pete, as I told you before after retiring I've downsized my shop. I went from a Bridgeport to a Clausing 8530 mill. I bought the same Vevor power feed and I'm taking measurements on how to adapt it to my smaller mill.
There's something wrong with that power feed as mine will go at a much slower feed rate staight out of the box. Mine looks exactly the same except I bought it at Enco years ago.
Great video and honest review. I agree, I don't find that unit very impressive. And that crazy fast feed speed, what were they thinking? lol Thanks again Mr. Pete!
Good video. Just to note, there are Taiwanese version of these power feeds that look the same but are of much higher quality. 1. The knurled nut is metal. The slowest speed is much slower. Fits and finish is much better. I have mine on a Precision Matthews Mill which is also made in Taiwan. The Chinese machines are much lower quality, overall.
You tested with a block of aluminum that would make a great spacer for the limit switch.... For the price of the unit it may be worth taking the risk..
Mr Pete, I would recommend contacting vevor. If you look at the product description on the link you posted, it says power feed from 0-200 RPM. Maybe something is wrong with the one they provided or maybe something you're missing. Hope that helps! To me 0-200 means 0 not 60 or so
I think something is rotten in Denmark. Maybe some adjustment needs to be made internally. I am certain all of those regardless of brand or cost are made in the same factory and made the same way. Using the little speed adjust knob in the center of the direction lever I can slow down the feed until it actually stops. They were exactly the same on the Grizzley I had and the Precision Matthews. Thanks for the video keep on keeping on.
If you have a power outage while using it, make sure you turn it off if you don't have the limit switches installed later. Seen that reminder in another video on the same item.
I added a spacer block of Aluminum to each side of the glass scale and to the reader head to shim them out and around the limit switches, works fine (mine is NOT a Vevor brand, but some other Asian copy)
I'm sure you can find a creative way to adapt some limit switches. Robin Renzetti put his scales inside the table. Super well protected and out of the way, but a lot of work for sure. It needs to go a lot slower.
I just looked through his videos, and cannot find that one. Can you give me the exact name of that video. And do not included in this thread, I will not find it. Start a new comment. Thank you.
It has to be a Chinese translation thing calling brass copper. I've seen it in many catalog items and even some of the things I've bought. (step 2 "install copper shim ) I looked all through the box a few times, there were no copper shims but there was a bag of brass washers, ah-ha!. It took a minute but I figured it out. I have a bench mill with a drive like that, that mounts horizontally. Most likely made by the same company but it seems to be able to turn a lot slower than yours. For the price you can't beat them.
@@mrpete222 That would make it an even better project, since most of us have imperial machines, but need to make a metric thread occasionally. Showing how that's done would be an AP lesson on threading.
The power feed on my mill mounts on the left end of the table and replaces one crank handle. The other crank can be set to "free wheel" while using the power feed, or else I know it would have grabbed me by now. My power feed also has a speed control very similar to your fix, and I'm able to get very fine feed rates with no loss of torque. In all fairness, though, my power feed was specifically designed for my mill, while yours is a universal model. With as many Bridgeports, and clones thereof, as there are out there, I'm thinking Vevor will probably get more specific in their design of this unit. I'm betting they are watching this video.
I used a window motor from a vehicle and if things bind in any way it stops from pressure just right. I can get very slow with my potentiometer so I'm happy. Great review !
Thank you sir. While I don’t have a Bridgeport, I was considering for my mill. The company claims it does fit. I will have to give it more consideration for the cons over the pros.
I installed a similar unit on my Precision Matthews mill, makes a world of difference not having to turn the crank! No complaints so far, been using it about 2 years.
these standard powerfeeds are desingd for hobby machines with 2 mm (1/12) pitch spindles the bridgport has probebly 1/8 or 3/16 pitch . max speed is higher and so the slowspeed is faster nice job
another great video! Your tone is similar to what mine was when I installed one on my Bridgeport - disappointment. I was replacing a burnt out 20 year old one. I bought the "Taiwanese" one thinking it would be better. It's nearly the same as the Vevor. I don't use mine much because I've yet to get a good gear engagement and can't get the dial and nut to work properly - I ran out of patience. I have all of the shims installed. The woodruff key issue was a good excuse to use my surface grinder. My kit came with a nut for the handle that threaded down the shaft more because it went into the handle body. I think mine can be slowed to a crawl.
Those springs can be put inside that little cover/box thing and they will help to keep It from flopping around and provide resistance against the plungers. It's odd that you can't slow it down any further. Mine will go very slow. There should be a POT right on the side of the unit, I believe I can even see it in your video. Try using that to slow it down. It's separate from the speed control on the front and is adjusted with a screwdriver. (You might need to pop a little plastic cover off, the POT is underneath)
All they need to do is change the gear ratio, slowing down the speed and increasing the torque. They should offer that as an upgrade. That one may be optimized for a finer lead screw pitch.
Looks good but - have you had any problems with the proximity of the crank handle and the new switch handle? Could you fit the limit switches to the ends of the table on the rear side as a safeguard but not adjustable?
Now that you have upgrades the Bridgeport with power feed, you'll have to come up with a project to put it to use. I'm really looking forward with what that project will be. KOKO!
Glad you were able to make it work. So many of these import tools are 95% of the way there. I hope they take your suggestions and improve. If anyone else want to buy one of these Harbor Freight has a speed controller that should work. Part number 59386, rated for 8 amps.
I have the same one and had the same frustrations installing it. However, like some of the other commenters, mine will slow to a near stop. I think yours must be defective.
I am not a machinist and I suspect you have other subxcribers who are not. I enjjoy watching you make and fix things. I also like your cynical delivery. I looked up the Vevor company and found that they do not have a sterling rating.
Mr. Pete’s unit is faulty. The speed control is bad causing the feed to run much too fast. My identical Vevor product on my Bridgeport will slow to a crawl and even stop. The company should send him another unit that works correctly for a better review.
I fitted a similar unit to a Tiwanese B/P knock off at the Railway Museum that I volounteer at, last year. Instruction not too good, but worked it out OK. No problems with the key, as all metric to start with. Took some time to set up the spacing for the gear mesh, the limit set up went on the front and fitted OK, as the DRO scale is on the back and not as wide as yours. The table feed can be set low enough to actually stop it and it works a treat. This unit cost about A$700.00 and is a different brand.
I am shocked that it won't turn slower. Next you should see if they'll send you one for the Z axis. I love mine, don't miss manually raising the table at all.
I have had one of those for several years never gotten around to installing it. I don't care to bother with the slow speed setting and having to use a dremel to achieve proper speed so I am going to leave it in the box of which it came. Great video, you saved me from some wasted work and time to install then have to remove it....
I share your thought about finding work arounds when it comes to new products. We shouldn't need to re-engineer a product to make it work properly. I would think that since the product was produced using milling machines or devices such as that, that someone at the factory would know about surface finishes.
Mr. Pete I had to work on a pipe beveler similar type of operation. There it was a minor adjustment located in side the drive. I would try to contact Vevor and ask if their is an adjustment. I know you should not have to do this. But it should be able to slow it down to better speed. Nice looking powerfeed but looks is not everything. Thanks for the video.
Mr. Pete, adjustment pots may be available on the circuit board inside the power feed box. Unplug it and remove the cover, there may be adjustments on the speed circuit board. I love your videos, Mr. Pete, I even watch them backward.😂
I am not a fan of the metric issues on that power feed… That said it is cheap, like really cheap. But that plastic knob would irk me. And wow that things lowest speed is very fast compared to the American one it’s knocking off! That’s a little scary for a heavy cut honestly. Even with the Dremel controller its a bit faster than the minimum speed. I think it was 450$ for a rebuilt one 5 years ago, I probably would have skipped the power feed but I got the mill for cheap with a broken power feed and no parts to convert it to original. I would probably spend the 450$ again over that power feed, it really is that much better.
You should be able to turn the feed speed all the way down to zero. Something is not right with this. The motor is DC but is being controlled by PWM pulse width modulation, (pulsing the DC off and on to give an averaging voltage for speed)
I modified one of these, (not a vevor, but a weng ding, looks identical to what you have there.) for my Hardinge TM, I had to make a different end plate, and a lead screw extension with thrust bearing, but it does the job just fine. One point of note, if you do a lot of cast iron work place a piece of packing tape over the rapid button, it will keep the fines out otherwise it will jam up and cause issues.otherwise its been a fine item.
Thanks for doing the review. I bought an economy model from ebay and have not been happy with it. At a slower speed it is jumpy and will ramp up without warning or encouragement. That is hard on end mills and that cuts into the budget! Researching a better unit, but it doesn't look like it will be a Vevor!
@@mrpete222 yeah i would be questioning them for it. If they cant get the quality control right on the units they send out to the people they are expecting to review them for a large audience then what hope does joe sixpack have.
May be time to spend a pile of money on a new DRO to fix that thickness issue! Sorry… pretty sure my DRO was 3x more than the rebuilt power feed, and the power feed costs almost as much as the used mill. The new ones have magnostrictive scales that are only 1/2” thick, more with a chip guard but not big enough to limit the travel when mounted to the back of the table. I am a fan of the limit switches on the front as well as the ability to clamp stuff to the front edge. The switch on mine is set up with movable and fixed stops. The fixed stops stop the movable stops to limit the table travel to prevent a crash they just bolts. The movable ones i use to limit travel in situations where clearances are tight, like when using a dividing head or sometimes on a sign plate or to avoid toe clamps. The movable ones are nice knurled knobs in tee nuts that I made.
Cool video on the power feed unit, definitely a shame it doesn't have considerable slower speed for fine finishing cuts. That is when it is most needed. Atleast the price was right for you Tubalcain.
Great product review. Like most if not all Chinese products I have experienced, a person has to finish making it or modifying it to work. They cut down on the windings on the motor and it has to run fast. I guess it's only $100 but, I'm sure people would pay a $100 more to get one that operated correctly. Thanks for the video . That oblong knurled knob would drive me nuts. Small detail but, I couldn't buy it either for that reason alone.
Yeah, right.😂 They say the same for other steels, too. We call 1018-1026 steels, they call it C20 steel. And similar for other greades, too.@@mrpete222
I was never offered Silkworm to eat on any of my trips over there in years past. Just wanted to sell me counterfeit watches and high priced silk underwear! Yikes!@@Daledavispratt
I built a power feed for my mill/drill after not being able to find a commercial unit that I liked. It's based on a Dayton gear motor, and works great, but its' fastest speed is about the same as the Vevor's slowest speed. No rapid traverse, but it can be disengaged with a lever, and my goal was basically just help milling long, slow cuts.
