Like many, I own a Grizzly G0462 wood lathe. I have owned it since 2007 and it has proven to be a good tool for me. As a professional luthier, I began to feel limited by the fact that the variable speed would not go below 680 on my lathe. My wife, in addition to being an excellent fiddler, is also an electrical engineer and I asked for her help to improve the tool.
We purchased an Eaton Variable Frequency Drive, type M-Max, which converts normal single phase home current into 3-phase current. The VFD also allows the motor to run in reverse and at any speed from 0 rpms to full speed. In addition, the VFD allows for the setup of a remote control box which is connected by wire back to the VFD and can be configured to control various aspects of the motor's operation. A quick internet search for some of the fine lathes on the market will bring up brand names like Oneway, Powermatic, Stubby, and Robust. From those examples, you can see that they generally have fully variable speed and forward and reverse. These are the options I wanted in my upgrade, so we picked appropriate controls to accomplish these at the handset.
I was able to find a new, but discontinued, 1.5 HP 3 phase motor on eBay for $162. When it arrived, it had been dented in shipment and the eBay vendor knocked off $75 for my time to hammer out the purely cosmetic damage to the fan cover. It ended up only costing me $87 and it is rated for "Inverter Duty", which means it is designed specifically for use with a VFD. I have been assured by another electrical engineer that Inverter Duty is not a requirement for a lathe motor driven by a VFD, but it can't hurt!
The VFD unit is a technical appliance. I am fortunate to have married well, and my wife printed the manual and performed the setup required to make the device function as planned. I have attempted to simplify this setup for you by listing the value we used for each parameter on the setup menu in a spreadsheet I can supply to all who request it. Please note that there is a specific software version used on the VFD we installed and these setup parameters may or may not work on a different software version. The VFD we chose was specifically matched to the horse power, voltage, and amperage of the motor I purchased. Other models are available if you have a larger or smaller motor. Purchase your motor first to be sure what you will use!
Also included in the spreadsheet is a complete parts list of what we used to perform this upgrade. If you are interested, just send me an email from my contact page and I will forward the spreadsheet.