Whole Shop And Machine-specific Help For Dunce

Mark, I have a size 2 A-B starter here with your name on it. Also have a control xformer and an assortment of push buttons you can have your pick from here too. Price is very reasonable. I like to eat!!! So buy me lunch and the deal is made! All you have to do is get you an enclosure. I probably have other electrical goodies here from past hookups you can have too for food.
Jim mentioned using the four pole "dryer" plugs for 3-phase power hookups. That's not a good idea in my opinion. I would suggest buying true NEMA L15-30 standard plugs, either in twist lock or straight blade. These are for 240V 3-phase service. This will also make your insurance company happier too. Ken
Ken,
I'm happy to oblige. I'll get with you shortly.
And I'll do what it takes to keep the insurance folk happy.

I like that idea.

Mark
 
Just turn the breaker(s) off to the one(s) you're not using. Lock-out plug covers are available also, very common industrial safety equipment. You were also talking about NEMA 3R or 4 enclosures for water resistance, most of those have lockable covers.

An example of the cover I'm talking about (but not the receptacle inside) Note the locking hole on the right side. This is one type of RV outlet

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As you bring more motors on line, they add together. So the RPC + the Lathe would give you 45 HP of RPC. No problem.



Sorry that picture is so blurry that I can't tell what I am looking at.

Going to need pictures for the rest of it.
Jim, I'll see if I can get a better picture or two. In the mean time, what the heck is this:
device.jpg device2.jpg
On my computer, these display close to the actual size, maybe a hair bigger than 1:1.
I don't know if this is part of this lathe, or just something that got set aside and wound up being forgotten.

To the left of the adjustable wrench, you can see the cover that goes on it. No screws were anywhere around, so they're gone.

Any ideas? I can't tell for sure, but it seems like it mounts with the two hole that go through the body, at either end, and the plunger triggers this switch/relay to some purpose.. The fixture to the left in the first picture and to the bottom in the second seems to be the entry point for such wiring as goes in the thing. I didn't want to spend too much time poking around with it until I know what it is, or if it's even likely related to this lathe at all.

Sidebar: Once upon a time, as a young army mechanic, I was tasked with putting something back together that somebody else had disassembled, but had gotten hurt and was off to the hospital. It wasn't a piece of equipment with which I was familiar, but hey, I'll figure it out, right? So I'm looking at the tray the guy has placed all the clamps and hardware into, and studying the thing, and I saw a long socket-head screw, like 3.8" threads, and I looked at it and looked at the thing, and said: "Hmmm. Where does it go?" I pulled out the manual, went through the assembly and disassembly steps in the manual, and then I looked at the parts manual, trying to find that danged screw. I couldn't find it anywhere in any of the documentation. I looked at an identical machine, trying to figure out where the heck it went. I couldn't find it. Wound up calling the hospital when we found out he was going to be fine, a few stitches, some bruising, and the usual Army dose of motrin later, but I asked him: "Hey, there's this long screw, 3/8 threads, about five inches long, socket head, and I can't figure out where it goes...." He laughed and said... "It goes on [something else.] Just happened to be carrying it in my pocket because I saw one missing and thought to replace it, but put it in the tray when I set my keys and other crap down, digging for something else in my pocket." Lesson learned. It might not be anything at all related to the task at hand.
I was a diligent young fellow though...LOL

By the way, that covered outlet is just the kind of thing I was thinking about. The lock lug is exactly what I'd want. I'd also probably locate it at roughly eye level for me, only because that would mean it would be some time before it would be in reach of youngsters anyway.

Thanks!
Mark
 
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Mark, There are many ways to skin a cat but it sounds like you generally have the right idea. You might consider a fused safety switch and motor starter as the input to your RPC which then can supply the 3-phase load panel. As far as disconnect switches at each machine that is good to have but not necessary if you have an accessible cord and receptacle at each since plug satisfies the disconnect means. Put the money you save on safety switches toward the motor starter.

Here's my setup. 240V/60A/1P off main panel to 60A fused safety switch to Nema1 starter to 7.5 hp RPC to 240V/30A/3P fused safety switch to 3P main lug only panel. 4 circuits piped to each machine. Bridgeport, Lathe, Surface grinder and Baldor pedestal grinder. I also have motor starters w/overloads on each machine since the circuit breakers only protect the wires. Cord connected to outlets via twist lock plugs. Bit over kill for a basement shop but it was a fun project and ebay finds helped keep costs reasonable. Electrical stuff is crazy expensive new.
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Forgot to mention as far as preventing unauthorized access by kids or others, a padlock on the safety switch is an easy solution. I put one on mine for similar reasons.
 
That's a limit switch. It looks like it goes with the lathe, so maybe used as a door safety switch or something.
I'll look around and see if I can figure out where it mounted. The only door on the thing is right there at the headstock end, permitting you to lube without removing the sheet metal cover.

Thanks!

Mark
 
Mark, There are many ways to skin a cat but it sounds like you generally have the right idea. You might consider a fused safety switch and motor starter as the input to your RPC which then can supply the 3-phase load panel. As far as disconnect switches at each machine that is good to have but not necessary if you have an accessible cord and receptacle at each since plug satisfies the disconnect means. Put the money you save on safety switches toward the motor starter.

Here's my setup. 240V/60A/1P off main panel to 60A fused safety switch to Nema1 starter to 7.5 hp RPC to 240V/30A/3P fused safety switch to 3P main lug only panel. 4 circuits piped to each machine. Bridgeport, Lathe, Surface grinder and Baldor pedestal grinder. I also have motor starters w/overloads on each machine since the circuit breakers only protect the wires. Cord connected to outlets via twist lock plugs. Bit over kill for a basement shop but it was a fun project and ebay finds helped keep costs reasonable. Electrical stuff is crazy expensive new.
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Jim, that's really nice and orderly, looks like it was set up with functionality in mind. I like it. Very nice!

What you say about Ebay is true. When I need some 22k mfd caps for one of my amplifiers, I always check there first. Sometimes, I've gotten lucky and picked them up for as little as $5 each, brand new in package, compared to digikey and maybe $40. It's hit or miss, but if you use the alert functions and narrow your search criteria enough, sometimes you get things like that way cheaper than retail.

Gotten some really good buys over the years that way. Thanks!

Mark
 
Couple ways of dealing with feeding the power to the barn / shop.
If you have a load center in there keep it and add another. Or tap the feed and run it through a fused disconnect to your RPC. Then feed the RPC into a 3 phase panel as shown by others.

Now feeding multiple panels has to be done in a specific way. And will require a buss bar feed.
A buss bar feed is a 8 by 8 box with 3 copper bars in it that gets fed from a larger disconnect that is also fused back at the house.
You will need one on the house as well. Because obviously you can't feed a 200 amp panel off a 100 amp panel. Inspectors will flip if you do.
So you install a main disconnect that feeds the property from the electrical service pole.
That buss feeds a fused disconnect that feeds the house.
That buss bar also feeds a second fused disconnect that feeds out to the barn via a buried or areal cable.
The bar on the barn feeds the two panels in the barn. Or a panel and a disconnect. If you are using a fused disconect outside to feed a disconnect inside for the RPC specifically, it does not need fused, only the one outside and it can be fused for the load of the RPC and not necessarily 100 or 200 amps as if it were feeding a panel

Now this aint cheap. But it removes the need for a second service. Regardless, if you have a 200 amp panel on the house you can't put a 200 amp breaker in it and feed the shop / barn. So a buss bar system is the way to go.
 
Keith,

Thanks! I made a discovery today that makes me think I'm going just a little senile but also that a dozen years or so ago, I had better foresight than I remembered.

Was out in the barn prepping for the unloading of the lathe, which will happen at around 7:00am tomorrow morning. Thought to myself, "you know, that load center I installed over there on the wall really looks too big for 100amp panel.

Then I remembered:

Back when we first occupied the property, I installed a second service pole where the barn was planned to go. It wasn't connected to anything, but I put a yard light on it to justify the second hookup and connection to the electric utility, which made them give me the third big pole we needed without cost. (Their rule at the time was that they'd provide one free to hop the highway, and one free per service account, but we needed two to get all the way down the property, so to get that third pole for free, I gamed them a little bit and put up that second service pole with a meter base, a disconnect, and a yard light, which caused them to permit me a second account and give me that third pole free.)

On that third pole is the transformer. From that pole, it was like a Y with the bottom leg being the supply coming in from across the highway, the top left leg going to the service pole at the house, with 100amp service via a meter base and a 100amp disconnect, then underground to beneath my house, and up into the 100amp load center. On the top right leg of the Y going to my prospective barn and yard lamp, and to save money, I put the cheapest 100amp meter base and disconnect on it I could buy, supplying juice only to the yard lamp at the disconnect.

When we actually built the barn, I put in a new service poll since the barn wound up 50feet further away and on a different angle than the original plans I had when we occupied the property. I left the old meter base and disconnect on the old pole right where it was, and had them move the connection onto my new service pole, and where both my senile moment and moment of foresight come in: When I built that second service pole and installed underground from the pole to the barn, and when I bought the barn load center, I purchased ALL 200amp stuff, including the meter base, the disconnect, and the load center. I just didn't remember this intermediate step, when I abandoned the old service pole in place. The 100amp meter base is still there, but a friend at the time needed the 100amp disconnect for his own purposes, so I gifted it to him.

That's why I had it to give him. Because I'd already bought all 200amp gear for the barn when I actually built it. To reactivate the account now, all they will need to do is install the meter on the base, and I'll have 200amp single phase service, so that cutting out 60amp for my RPC and related actually constitutes a 30% bite out of my total capacity, and not 60% as I was thinking. This is both great news and terrible news, because it means a dozen years ago, I had more foresight than I can now apparently easily remember.

So, I'll need the 60 amp breaker, a Square D Homeline type, and from there to my RPC, and from there to my 3 phase load center. Game over. So no need to ditch anything for the sake of an upgrade I already accomplished 12 years ago. I just need to add the RPC and the 3-phase load center.

I'll take it as all good news except for the fact that I had to open the panel to remember it.

Yay me! Did something right for a change! So once I'm wired up, have them reactivate the account, install the meter, and away we go!

Thanks!

Mark
 
Gotta love that. Kinda like finding a $20 bill in the pocket of a coat you haven't worn since last spring
 
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