Turning off vacume pumps

[Neville Bastian]

On a bit of a economy drive as my states energy producer is jacking up electricity by 15 percent in July.
Is there a way from the controller to turn on and off the pumps? I was hoping I could turn them on when I was ready to start cutting then maybe when the last sheet was cut when it heads back to the home position it turns the pump off.
I am finding the guys just leaving the pumps running all day and only turn it off during breaks. They seem to get used of the noise in the back ground.

Maybe someone has done this or maybe Daniel can give me a few suggestions.

Thanks

Neville

[mohan kommineni]

Hello Neville

we had the same issue untill we got our remote switches installed on the controller itself and there is a provision on the controller to install the swicthes we have CS 45 and we have two pumps VLTF 250 & VLTF400 some times we use both and some times only one depends on the job size and the spoilboard condition and its working great at the minute we have had this done about 2 years ago its really handy to have it on the controller.

but it will be more economical if thermwood can integrate the vaccum pumps in to machine control to start and stop along with the program using codes that would be fantastic and its going to be more energy saving tooooo.

its all in thermwood engineers decision now to decide .

[Daniel Vonderheide]

Our retrofit department should be able to discuss with you what you are wanting. If you want just on and off switches at the controller, or if you want the pump to be automated by adding code into the program to turn it on and off automatically.

[Forrest Chapman]

I don't know how long your pump is running between sheets or during down time but it probably requires as much power to turn on as it does running for 15 minutes. It also will shorten the pump life turning on and off frequently. One thing that my compressor does is cycle between load and unload which will draw less amps. Wonder if that is what happens when the table valve is open. Forrest

[Will Williamson]

In a conversation with the Becker Plant manager he told me that these pumps were designed to start up first thing in the morning and run all day. He said that starting and stopping frequently would be detrimental to long term service.
on another note my Control is located right next to my electrical control panel for the Vacuum pump, Dust collection and air compressor. I set this up my self day one, it only made common seance to locate all controls so the operator can start and stop every thing from one location. Thinking ahead, did not cost any thing extra.

[jason galbraith]

For what its worth we have green turn on and off switches on our controller fpr the pumps and generally shut them off when we finish cutting a job or in between jobs. Cuts down on the extra noise too.

[Neville Bastian]

Thanks guys,
Yes you have given me some thoughtful ideas. The cycle between jobs is probably less than 15minutes so maybe the extra wear and tear on the pumps is not worth while.
I noticed the demo version I saw in Sydney had a inverter so it could slow down and ramp up the pumps. Down side was the extra $16,000 and length of time for the savings to kick in.
Will I should have thought ahead but in my defense I did ask advice from my Thermwood agent. Must be learning something from my staff. pass the buck.
Thanks for the advice Daniel I will get back to you on what I want to do.
Regards

Neville