Hello all. I am new to your community and impressed by the range of experience and knowledge being shared here. Hopefully, in time, I will be able to contribute something useful. I am however quite new to metal working. My grandfather was a dedicated woodworker who built and raced wooden sailboats. He had friends who handled most of his metal work.
Last year, a friend of my dad's offered to sell him a lathe and a small mill. The machines were 3 phase and dad was under the impression that there was some way to adapt the wiring to get them to run on single phase. He still swears an old electrician at work had a way (isn't that the way it goes ). I knew in practice it was more involved than that, but that was about where my experience ended. In the apparent misconception that I knew something about what I was talking about, dad asked me to build him a phase converter. Ok, why not. My research lead me to rotary phase converters and ultimately to a YouTube video posted by a member of this site (marcaap). His video appears below.
The video caught my attention because the design appeared well thought out, nicely executed, and was working to run a lathe and a mill. Ha, just what I needed. Marcaap (Paul) had also shared a schematic of his design. I came up in 4-H and teen lead the electricity project. Give me a plan and I can build it and survive to tell the tale. I am not however an electrical engineer and by no means comfortable with 3 phase power. I didn't at first understand Paul's design. That was a couple months ago. I continued my research.
Last month I watched the video again and this time I got it, but simultaneously I discovered that the relay specified in the plan (Steveco Potential Relay 90-66) had been discontinued. I turned to eBay and was immediately rewarded with a NOS 90-66 still in the box. I decided to go ahead and source the other components and posted a request in Paul's thread asking if he could repost the parts list, just to be sure I had things right. I haven't heard from Paul but several other members chimed in.
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/video-of-7-5-hp-rotary-phase-converter.14864/
Ken (4gsr) and Keith Foor (Keith Foor) have both added to my understanding of RPCs but Keith's suggestion that I replace the potential relay (the one part I had ) with a timer relay has meant a return to the drawing board. Toward that end, I decided I better start my own thread rather than continuing to hijack Paul's.
Last year, a friend of my dad's offered to sell him a lathe and a small mill. The machines were 3 phase and dad was under the impression that there was some way to adapt the wiring to get them to run on single phase. He still swears an old electrician at work had a way (isn't that the way it goes ). I knew in practice it was more involved than that, but that was about where my experience ended. In the apparent misconception that I knew something about what I was talking about, dad asked me to build him a phase converter. Ok, why not. My research lead me to rotary phase converters and ultimately to a YouTube video posted by a member of this site (marcaap). His video appears below.
The video caught my attention because the design appeared well thought out, nicely executed, and was working to run a lathe and a mill. Ha, just what I needed. Marcaap (Paul) had also shared a schematic of his design. I came up in 4-H and teen lead the electricity project. Give me a plan and I can build it and survive to tell the tale. I am not however an electrical engineer and by no means comfortable with 3 phase power. I didn't at first understand Paul's design. That was a couple months ago. I continued my research.
Last month I watched the video again and this time I got it, but simultaneously I discovered that the relay specified in the plan (Steveco Potential Relay 90-66) had been discontinued. I turned to eBay and was immediately rewarded with a NOS 90-66 still in the box. I decided to go ahead and source the other components and posted a request in Paul's thread asking if he could repost the parts list, just to be sure I had things right. I haven't heard from Paul but several other members chimed in.
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/video-of-7-5-hp-rotary-phase-converter.14864/
Ken (4gsr) and Keith Foor (Keith Foor) have both added to my understanding of RPCs but Keith's suggestion that I replace the potential relay (the one part I had ) with a timer relay has meant a return to the drawing board. Toward that end, I decided I better start my own thread rather than continuing to hijack Paul's.
Last edited: