3 phase equipment.
Discussion
I’m looking at buying a lathe, for my home workshop. The one I have my eye on is unfortunately 3 phase, whereas I have normal household supply to the garage.
What are my options? Is there a simple converter that can be used? Can the motor be converted? Would it be easy or economically viable to change it to a single phase motor?
What are my options? Is there a simple converter that can be used? Can the motor be converted? Would it be easy or economically viable to change it to a single phase motor?
wolfracesonic said:
Inverter is what you need to be Googling; check this guy out, Canadian but probably in a similar pickle to you re. 3 phase, funny as f
k as well Ave's 3 phase tutorial He also has a vid somewhere about using a variable speed drive to reduce chatter on the lathe by slightly altering the speed up and down to prevent resonances building up.
I’ll check out the video. k as well Ave's 3 phase tutorial He also has a vid somewhere about using a variable speed drive to reduce chatter on the lathe by slightly altering the speed up and down to prevent resonances building up.I did mentioned ‘inverter’ to the guy selling the lathe, but he told me it was actually called a ‘convertor’, which threw me on the Google front.
wolfracesonic said:
Inverter is what you need to be Googling; check this guy out, Canadian but probably in a similar pickle to you re. 3 phase, funny as fk as well Ave's 3 phase tutorial
Well that made my brain hurt. Not as simple as I expected.k as well Ave's 3 phase tutorialThe one the lathe vendor has is a good 18” long, big box, not a neat little device like the video shows.
jason61c said:
get yourself a rotary phase converter, then you can run the machine as intended.
I run a 4 post lift, milling machine and lathe on one at home.
What sort of size or rating would one need for a lathe, 8” chuck? Not a home hobby lathe, but a proper industrial small lathe. Not sure the wattage of the motor.I run a 4 post lift, milling machine and lathe on one at home.
Buzz84 said:
A single phase to three phase inverter would be the best and easiest option. Plus think of all the other three phase machinery you could get to run on it.
Thanks what I was thinking too. I also want to buy a decent sized Mig welder at some stage. Three phase gives better options. 
I’ve heard of that before, using the converter to actually turn the motor on and off.
Unfortunately the lathe I thought was going to be mine has reached my financial limit, with 5 days still to go on the auction.....
Time will tell, I shall see how it goes then whack my max bid in seconds before the end.
Unfortunately the lathe I thought was going to be mine has reached my financial limit, with 5 days still to go on the auction.....
Time will tell, I shall see how it goes then whack my max bid in seconds before the end.
eliot said:
Really don’t see why or even if you could buy and run a 3 phase mig welder and run it off an inverter. 190a single phase mig will weld thick box section and thick (10mm + ) plate easily - can’t imagine what would need anything more for home/hobby use.
You state your main breaker in the garage is 64A - I suspect that’s the rating of the switch itself and bears little to the capacity of the SWA feeding the sub consumer unit in the garage.
To get a better idea - inspect the rating of the MCB on the other end of the swa in your main consumer unit.
I run a very large old miller tig welder, which can be 3 or single phase . Using it in single phase mode means that it pulls 50-60amps when it’s on it’s mid 200amp range. That required a dedicated consumer via henry blocks to splice of the main incomer before even hitting the domestic consumer for the house.
Not sure about the welder, but a 180amp won’t run off 13amp plug so I was thinking 3 phase might be easier? My 160 amp stick welder ‘nearly’ runs off 13 amp, but blows the plug fuse on a full power run more than an inch or so. You state your main breaker in the garage is 64A - I suspect that’s the rating of the switch itself and bears little to the capacity of the SWA feeding the sub consumer unit in the garage.
To get a better idea - inspect the rating of the MCB on the other end of the swa in your main consumer unit.
I run a very large old miller tig welder, which can be 3 or single phase . Using it in single phase mode means that it pulls 50-60amps when it’s on it’s mid 200amp range. That required a dedicated consumer via henry blocks to splice of the main incomer before even hitting the domestic consumer for the house.
The garage was wired to the obligatory Part P b
ks, so I assume the sparky would not be allowed to fit a 64amp breaker unless the supply wiring was suitably mahoosive. I don’t recall exactly what we did when we installed it all, but I’m sure a dedicated wire runs direct to the incoming house supply.I’d much prefer a simple single phase lathe, but this one seemed perfect for what I wanted....until the price soared anyway.
eliot said:
Are you really sure your garage is run from a 64amp breaker in your consumer unit or are you reading 64amps from the red switch on the consumer unit in the garage?. A 64amp circuit into the garage would be on very thick 10 or 16mm armoured cable - it's significant, costly and not typicaly run into a domestic garage unless specifically requested.
The 180A mig will need a 16 amp commando socket fitting of it's own a 16Amp mcb, from your garage consume - which is a fraction of the cost and hassle of messing with 3 phase.
Well, I’m not positive about the amperage, but I did run a fairly fat SWA cable out there when I built the garage. I shall check into it more. The 180A mig will need a 16 amp commando socket fitting of it's own a 16Amp mcb, from your garage consume - which is a fraction of the cost and hassle of messing with 3 phase.
spikeyhead said:
I run a Harrison CNC280 lathe from a rotary converter. Not tried any of the other ways of getting three phase but can confirm that it works well.
ETA don't forget the cost of tooling, three and four jaw chucks, tailstock chucks, fixed and travelling steadies, tool holders, cutting tools and a grinder all add up and can easily double the cost of a cheap lathe.
The lathe I have/had my eye on comes with 3 and 4 jaw chucks, face plate etc. I have my own bench grinder already. Plus I still have a whole bunch of tools, HSS stock, drills, morse tapers, centres etc from my old machine shop days 30 years ago.ETA don't forget the cost of tooling, three and four jaw chucks, tailstock chucks, fixed and travelling steadies, tool holders, cutting tools and a grinder all add up and can easily double the cost of a cheap lathe.
S6PNJ said:
If you are still looking for a cheap 3 phase converter, I stumbled cross this link today which gives instructions on building your own! Beware - it's an american site so some things might be different.
Sounds interesting, I shall check it out. ETA I’ve just checked it out, too high tech for my simple brain, unfortunately. I meant to pop back and say that I got beat on the auction, the lathe went for nearly double what I had budgeted. It was a Colchester Major, lovely piece of kit with taper turning, screw cutting, collets, the lot.
I shall keep my ear to the ground, see if anything of interest pops up.
Edited by King Herald on Saturday 20th January 21:47
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