220v

[alex carey]

I am looking into a new lathe and have no idea if I am able to supply 220V from my house. How do I find out? If I don't have it how do I get it? Can I do myself/with my dad who knows a bit about the subject.

Alex

[David Christopher]

Alex, if your house has been built since 1950 you probley have 220. do you have a closes dryer in the house i would bet it is 220 if not look in the breaker and look at the switches there should be singles and doubles

[Jeff Nicol]

Alex, Where is the 220V needed? If you need it in a building that is not attached to your house and it does not have electricity to it at all then that will be a little more work. If your lathe is going to be in your garage that is attached to the house then the job will be much easier. That being said if the garage or building is away from the house and it has power to it it should have a small disconnect panel that the wire comes into it. If not then most likely the power is only 110v, but if there is a panel that you can look into and there are 3 wires plus a ground then there should be 220V coming in. The three wires will be red, black and white and the ground wire will be bare. The red and black are the two hot leads of 110V each (making the 220V) and the white is the common. If there is a panel with that configuration and there are not any other pieces of equipment using 220V you should be O.K.

If you don't have that and it is in a garage attached to the house check your breaker panel and see if there is an open space that a 2 pole breaker can be installed, this will allow you to have 220V. Then depending on the amperage draw of the lathe the correct size wire and breaker will have to be used. Electricity is not a good thing to mess with if you do not have any experience with it! It can kill very fast, so if you are not sure where your lathe location stands as to the power supply. I would contact someone who can make sure it is done correctly.

Hope this helps!

Jeff

[alex carey]

Yeah i am not even going to attempt to touch anything. My dad is an electrical and mechanical engineer so he should be able to do it for me. thanks for the preliminary knowledge though.

alex

[alex carey]

I figured I would just open it and have a looksy. I took two pictures. Not the best but you should be able to get an idea. One is the meter and one is the box. BTW the power needs to go to my garage which is connected to the house.

It says as you can see 120/240 AC Phase 1 in the box.

I had my dad explain it to me in a nut shell tell me if I got it right. The left side of the box where all the left switches are located is positive 120. The middle is the ground(common) and the right is negative 120. To get 240 you get a new breaker and put all three wires together. Run the wires up to the garage and boom, I got 240. Sound right?

My box says 1 phase, I was under the impression that the 3520 converts it into 3 phase correct?

Is it possible to change the breaker that goes to the garage and turn it into 240 so I don't have to run new wires?

Alex

[Jeff Nicol]

Alex, By the looks of your electrical panel I would change the whole thing out and put in a newer more effecient system! If you don't have a 2 pole breaker extra or empty (not being used) I am not sure you can even get a new breaker for that panel! The company SQARE D makes very nice panels and the breakers are available just about everywhere! But any way you will have to run new wires, like I said in the earlier post you will need 3 coated wires Red, Black and white with ground wire also this is the correct wire for single phase 220V. If your Dad is up on all the electrical work then you should have no trouble. Just a bit of advice I would put a small disconnect box near the lathe that can be swithched off right in the garage just in case anything happens and you need to turn off the power fast!

Good luck and you will enjoy the PM 3520! I enjoy mine!!

Jeff

[Jeff Nicol]

Oops!! I forgot to say yes the 3520 has a Vfd that changes 220v single phase over to 220v 3 phase.

Jeff

[alex carey]

dont jump the gun jeff, i don't have it yet, still in preliminary stages, but I am hopeful.

[Jim Koepke]

I figured I would just open it and have a looksy. I took two pictures. Not the best but you should be able to get an idea. One is the meter and one is the box. BTW the power needs to go to my garage which is connected to the house.

It says as you can see 120/240 AC Phase 1 in the box.

That is the manufacture's rating on the box. You do have ganged breakers and the meter indicates 240 V, so you should have it to the house.


I had my dad explain it to me in a nut shell tell me if I got it right. The left side of the box where all the left switches are located is positive 120. The middle is the ground(common) and the right is negative 120. To get 240 you get a new breaker and put all three wires together. Run the wires up to the garage and boom, I got 240. Sound right?

The part about put the wires together and boom sounds like what you may get if not done properly and to code.

I have worked as an electronics repair technician. I was good at repairing equipment. Engineers are great at engineering. I would not expect either of us to be up on wiring codes and safety issues as would someone who does it for a living.

I have great respect for electricity yet have still been zapped more times than I care to recall. That is only one of the reasons if my shop has wiring needs, I work a deal with one of my neighbors who is well qualified in the field. I have done some electrical work myself. Though, running a line and putting in some new breakers are something I will work with my neighbor to get done.

The explanation of the box and AC above also makes me think calling in the professionals might be in order. DC has negatives and positives. AC is phases of a sine wave.



Is it possible to change the breaker that goes to the garage and turn it into 240 so I don't have to run new wires?


Possible? Maybe, but only if someone had wired it for 240 in the past and only used one side of the line.

But my unhesitant answer would be NO!!!

120 volts is just one side of two lines (Mains if you talk British) to neutral. 240 volts is the two (hot) lines and a neutral.

Just because it is possible, does not make it a good thing to do.

Your best hope is that the garage is wired for an electric dryer and you are using a gas dryer.

Then, you may have an unused 30 amp 240 volt circuit already in the garage.

Also note, the 240 is just a nominal figure. In the part of California where I lived it was anywhere from 208 to about 225 depending on what kind of 3 phase system (delta or wye) the power company had in the area and a few other considerations.

Remember, electricity travels at the speed of light. Make sure you do not become the light.

jim

[alex carey]

thanks for all the tips jim. I will make sure the right person does the wiring. ie not me. I don't know how much my dad knows about it but he certainly knows when to stop and call somebody. If it comes to that we definitely will.

Alex

[Bill O'Conner]

it looks like 6&8 5&7 13 and what ever is below it and 14&17 are 220 breakers but I could be wrong

Bill

[Steve Mawson]

Your breaker box is not full if you can find breakers that will fit. You will need a two pole breaker that will go in one of the open slots. I would guess you need at least a 30 amp breaker. Wire to handle 30 amps needs to be #10 if I remember correctly. Current wire to your garage is most likely #14 or 12. 14 gauge wire will handle 15 amps and 12 will handle 20 amps. If your were to run 30 amps through the wires that are there now you will have a definite overload and good chance for fire if the breaker did not pop first.

I installed an electric stove in place of gas a couple years ago. Ran new wire and put in new breaker. Not too hard since I have a drop in ceiling in the basement making the wire run easy but you need to know what you are doing as far as what to attach the correct wires to etc.

Easiest thing is to find an qualified electrical person.

[Jeff Nicol]

Alex,

If you get a lathe that is comparable or the PM3520b the amp draw of the motor will most likely be under 10 amps. The PM3520B has only a 6.2 amp draw with the 2hp motor. So that being said you would only need a 15amp breaker (double pole ) and it reguires a 14ga wire, if you put in a 20 amp then go with #12 wire. But the bigger breaker would not be good as the motor may burn up before it trips the breaker.

Any way there have been a lot of answers to your question but you still need it done. If I lived out there I would glady help out. I rewired my house and shop, putting a new 200amp service in the house so I could run a 100amp service in my garage. It was all done to code and the inspector said I did a fine job!

Anything worth doing, is worth doing right!

Call an electrician! And good luck!!

Jeff