? about converting from 110 to 220

[Bill Bolen]

My lathe (jet 1442) and my BS (grizz) are both dual wired so the owner can convert from 110 to 220 just by moving a few wireing contacts. My question is if I made this change over from 110 to 220 what are the advantages. Would I notice and increase in power or torque? Afterall the motor stays the same. Running a new circuit for this is no big deal so I can take that one out of the equation. I seem to remember doing this to a friends Craftsman Radial arm saw many years ago but its not being my tool I never really got much feedback good or bad. Thanks to you electrical guru's who are in the know...Bill..

[Dennis Ford]

If you have long wire runs or poor voltage, then the conversion will be a large impovement. If you do not have problems with voltage drop then you will not see much difference (if any).

[Mary Thompson]

dennis is straight forward and to the point. A new circuit might be nice if your lathe shares the same circuit with other stuff that might run at the same time like a compressor, lighting, portable heater, or how about the next monster lathe you buy?

[Tony Greenway]

William, if you read the label on the motor, it should state the amps it requires to operate. Switching over to 220v will use half as many amps, which will cost less and also give you more torque.

[Paul Rains]

and don't say 10;) what is difference in 220 and products that say 230?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Paul - a lot of folks use 110 or 120 volt labels for single phase and 220, 230 or 240 volt labels for 2 phase power. That is all it is - different labels.

Toney, 220 VAC power requirements are listed per phase (there are 2). Each leg of the input will have 1/2 the value of the 120 VAC version but in reality - the current used for the motor remains the same. The only advantage that I am aware of for the 220 VAC is that each of the hot wires carried 1/2 the current which equates to a smaller gauge wire for a given run.

[M Toupin]

William, if you read the label on the motor, it should state the amps it requires to operate. Switching over to 220v will use half as many amps, which will cost less and also give you more torque.

While you will half the amps, you still use the same watts which is how you pay for your power. If your wiring is good, then there is no difference in a motor run on 110v or 220v. HP is a measure of work and it doesn't matter if that work is done with 110v or 220v, it's still the same amount of work done. Torque will not increase or decrease, nor is it any cheaper to run that motor as you pay for power in watts, not volts or amps.

It's about the watts 735w = 1hp, well 745.699872 watts to be exact.

Watts = volts X Amps

It doesn't matter how you get there:

Just to keep the math simple:

110v X 20a = 2200 watts
220v X 10a = 2200 watts
440v X 5a = 2200 watts

Mike

[robert hainstock]

The only reason to consider this IMHO is that your next lathe will require it.
Remember, "Vortex" :eek::)
Bob

[Dick Sowa]

There are only two reasons I can imagine where 220V is useful.

First, like Mike said, if you increase the voltage, then the current will lower. Lower current, means smaller wires, thereby saving money.

Second, as motor size increases, the current draw does too, and vice versa. A 120 VAC 2HP single phase motor draws almost 20 amps, a 240 VAC single-phase 2HP motor draws about 10 amps. A 480 VAC 2HP three-phase motor only draws about 6 amps.

I guess the third reason, would be like Mary said...if you have other stuff on the same circuit, and your motor will overload it.