best way to run 3phase or convertor

[paulmitchell1984]

ayup lads n lasses

basically what im wanting to know is whats the best way to run 3phase tools withought 3 phase..
would include, bench grinders pillar drill etc. no welders

i dont have 3 phase and thinkg it would bankrupt me to have it fitted,

so would i be better looking at a convertor of some sort or messing about and swapping motors about.

im asking this as i have access to some cheap 3 phase pillar drills grinders etc, theres also a lathe and miller but i dont have room for them

 

[addjunkie]

One machine a vfd is cheapest, multiple to run one or more a rotary phase convertor suitable for the largest load. You can use a static phase convertor, but vfd way cheaper.

 

[daleyd]

If your knacky enough with electrickery and you only need one at a time you could have 1 vfd run through a series of contactors to feed each motor, one at a time. Decent make inverters allow several parameter sets so you could have different size motors - a box to mount the contactors in and and series of illuminated push buttons to tell you which one is selected.

 

[Chris Stevens]

ayup lads n lasses

basically what im wanting to know is whats the best way to run 3phase tools withought 3 phase..
would include, bench grinders pillar drill etc. no welders

i dont have 3 phase and thinkg it would bankrupt me to have it fitted,

so would i be better looking at a convertor of some sort or messing about and swapping motors about.

im asking this as i have access to some cheap 3 phase pillar drills grinders etc, theres also a lathe and miller but i dont have room for them

5 or 6 years ago bought 15hp rotary converter from Ebay for £160, works perfectly and very easy to plug whatever is being used into output socket.

 

[paulmitchell1984]

cheers guys, im not that up on elektricary but have a mate whos a sparky, so was trying to get some options together and then have a word with him

 

[Henrik]

Cheapest is a rotary 3 phase converter started from a drill.

You'll be able to get 240(ish) volt delta using one of those, and in reality you need no other components other than a motor and a plug.

Mine looked like the first pic in this thread for years: http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/rotary-3-phase-converter-arduino.61246/

Having said that, a rotary phase converter does not give you speed control, if that's important to you.

 

[outofthefire]

If your knacky enough with electrickery and you only need one at a time you could have 1 vfd run through a series of contactors to feed each motor, one at a time. Decent make inverters allow several parameter sets so you could have different size motors - a box to mount the contactors in and and series of illuminated push buttons to tell you which one is selected.

Or you could keep it simple and have it feeding a wall socket and just plug each piece of equipment in as needed :-)

 

[Ton-up]

Get a Vfd. I got mine 12 years ago from Drives Direct. It will run up to 3.5kw and its been perfect. I run a 3kw lathe, pillar drill, linisher, grinder, etc ,off it without changing any settings at all. I have a changeover switch so my compressor wont come on while I am using the vfd and blow the trip but otherwise I just wired everything into it and use one machine at a time.
I put it in a dust proof enclosure, put a potentiometer on front and being able to change speed of things like the linisher from standstill to fast is so useful.
You would wonder how you did without it!

 

[WorkshopChris]

If you only have single motor machines (drill, bench grinder, small lathe ) and you are confident in modifying or bypassing start/stop switches. Then a vfd may be the way to go but with bigger machines with multiple motors, interlocks or 3 phase transformers for dc spindles or control it starts to much more involved.

 

[daleyd]

Or you could keep it simple and have it feeding a wall socket and just plug each piece of equipment in as needed :-)

You could do but if the motors are different power ratings you need to make sure you select the correct parameter set. and who doesn't like some automation?

 

[Burdekin]

I run a boost energy 3kw rotary converter. Runs my Harrison m300 lathe and Harrison milling machine no bother but they are expensive but is basically plug and play. I think you can do similar with a large VFD but how that works I don't know. My converter isn't loud, just has an unloaded electric motor in a box. I need to spur off the converter to run other 3 phase machines but is still on the to do list.

How much is 3 phase if you have an electric pole close by on your property? Mate is considering it for his workshop and would dig the trench himself.

 

[Ton-up]

You could do but if the motors are different power ratings you need to make sure you select the correct parameter set. and who doesn't like some automation?

I don't need to do that. I was advised by Drives Direct when I bought it that It would cope with whatever I needed to do - and it does. In a perfect world (or with certain equipment) you may need to, but I have used it constantly over 12 years without a problem.

 

[daleyd]

I don't need to do that. I was advised by Drives Direct when I bought it that It would cope with whatever I needed to do - and it does. In a perfect world (or with certain equipment) you may need to, but I have used it constantly over 12 years without a problem.

Yeah as long as they are near enough they should be fine. Obviously if they are vastly different then you may need different settings, unlikely in a home workshop though, granted.

 

[mfletch]

I use a 2.2kw vdf nice and quiet