Most likely, you've got the wires reversed - or the building has them reversed in the outlet.
In the breaker box, you should have two bus-bars set off from the back of the box - each is at 110V relative to ground. To get single phase 220 - 240 V, a breaker spans both bus bars, and thus has a voltage difference of ~220 V. This setup, which has been common in North America for 30+ years is not usually messed up... usually...
I can't lay my hands on my NEMA pocket guide right now, but you should have one each red & black wires coming from the terminal screws of the breaker to an outlet, a white neutral wire should be present, and a green or bare ground wire.
There are reference pages on the web to show you how this should all be wired.
If the outlet is wired up right, then the problem is with how you've connected the wires on the machine - and in that case, the easiest fix is to reverse the wires to the switch...
All of the usual safety warning apply here - read up and follow the procedures, and when in doubt, pay a licensed electrician to do the work. Actually, I'd prefer it when someone is sure that they know it all hires an electrician, because they're more likely to screw things up than someone who keeps checking up on their references! :thinking:
My Enco 12X36 lathe seems to run in the opposite direction stated in the operating manual. It has a single phase 220V motor in 2hp. To have the spindle rotating forward (counterclockwise) the switch on the carriage is rotated up toward the bed. The manual shows this switch rotating down away from the bed for counterclockwise. Any idea why this is backwards?
