I recently finished converting my lathe to a 3 phase inverter/ motor drive. I've had had no luck finding a suitable enclosure for the inverter. Those that are deep enough are far too big in height and width. I had a dig round in my old installation gear and found a pair of boxes about right for height and width, but not deep enough.
![boxes.jpg boxes.jpg](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==)
Measurement showed that stacking the boxes on top of each other would give sufficient depth. So, onto the mini mill and remove the back from one box. I did it this way because I'm hopeless at cutting straight lines with a handsaw. I also machined off any sticky-up bits to give a flat surface.
![cutting.jpg cutting.jpg](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==)
Using plastic rods in the corner holes for location and strength, the boxes were glued together and when set, undercoated and then sprayed black
![box1.jpg box1.jpg](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==)
Fitted the inverter on the box's metal back plate and fitted it in the box. It looks off-centre in the photo but that's down to the camera angle.
![fitted.jpg fitted.jpg](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==)
I then tried the lid which was already prepared with a window cut for the inverter display and then sprayed. The piece of Perspex for the window is at the bottom of the picture and just needs gluing in.
![lid_on.jpg lid_on.jpg](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==)
I now have to fit the cable glands, wire it up (again) and fit it on the wall. That's the easy bit. I then have to decipher the programming instructions which came on a CD with a 301 page PDF document. It did come pre-programmed, but I need to increase the maximum frequency (currently set at 50Hz), so I can get the full range of speeds on the lathe. Hopefully that will be relatively easy to do.