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Thread: Single Phase? Three Phase?

  1. #16
    If you run 3phase through a converter you will have to it wired so you can turn on the converter at each machine or you will have to walk to turn it on. I would recommend getting it done right. I have it so I have to walk flip the breaker to turn on a 10 hp roto converter. I find it a major pain. I like a nice flow. That is why selling the Oliver 232 recently was a little less painful. I have a 3hp fully restored Porter 300 12" jointer I run off it, a PM 180 planer 3hp and a Porter 10" Belt sander. So I still walk but not anything like with the table saw. Tony

  2. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Scolaro View Post
    If you run 3phase through a converter you will have to it wired so you can turn on the converter at each machine or you will have to walk to turn it on.
    Or you could just leave it on till your done like I would. It is really quiet and hardly uses any current when idling.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
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    12,402
    My rotary converter is on the floor next to my Hardinge HLVH lathe. It is a Dempsey unit,and my elevtrician put a flip up sawich on it. I just flip the switch up with my toe. I have another that isn't quite so handy,for my Harrisson universal milling machine,and shared by my Deckel FP1 mill. The converter is on casters. The 2 mills are not too far apart.I don't use them often,anyway,but do want the Hardinge lathe handy.

    I'd be afraid to leave the units running. I might forget to turn them off at all.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    New Hill, NC
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    2,568
    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Scolaro View Post
    If you run 3phase through a converter you will have to it wired so you can turn on the converter at each machine or you will have to walk to turn it on.
    There is another way that you can do it, which I believe is a better method if you plan on utilizing mutiple 3-phase machines.

    Wire your rotary phase converters to feed a 3-phase load center, instead of the actual equipment. This allows you to utilize one phase converter for the entire shop, versus slaving it to a particular machine. You will also have the circuit protection of the standard circuit breakers in the load center. Additionally, if you add additional equipment in the future that requires more electricity than your converter can generate, you can add additional converters in parallel with the first one to increase the amount of amperage available at your panel.

    In my previous shop, when operating the converters I would turn them on and leave them running until I no longer needed the power. They fed a 3-phase load center.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Mid Missouri (Brazito/Henley)
    Posts
    2,769
    Another consideration might be how MUCH 3-phase service will cost you in the *Industrial District*! It may be fact or fallacy that utility companies charge a minimum amount which is quite Large, regardless of power you actually consume.

    That being said, it may be cheaper to use single-phase power and a rotary phase converter. An RPC *develops* power as more machines are run from it. My paltry 5hp Arco RPC will power up to three 5hp machines, if started one at a time. Each machine acts as a generator for the next machine. Arco has been in the RPC biz a LONG time and they should know.

    Another attraction of using 3ph is that used machinery CAN indeed be found for only pennies on the dollar. Single phase machines are scooped up FAST by the @home woodworkers! Bucking the system, I have a whole shop full of 3ph bargains that went embarassingly CHEAP!! How about a 5hp Powermatic #26 spindle shaper for $125. 3hp Moak shaper $80? Northfield 12" jointer, $120? Davis & Wells 2hp shaper, $100? Dammm I wish I'd bought that Rockwell RC63 24" planer for $1500...but...I'd have to get a 10hp RPC.....Oh Well!...
    [/SIGPIC]Necessisity is the Mother of Invention, But If it Ain't Broke don't Fix It !!

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