Unplug 3520b

[kevin nee]

I am posting this after an earlier post where a power surge cooked the inverter on my Powermatic 3520B.
I had to pay $499 for a new inverter, and this morning I paid the VISA bill which seems to make it even more
REAL. DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU! Kevin

[Steve Doerr]

I feel your pain. I have a JET 1642 and hate it that it does not really have an on/off switch. The plugin is of course back out of the way and it is easy to say, "Oh, I just let it go for tonight." But your lessons reminds me not to do that.
Good luck,
Steve

[Reed Gray]

I am curious to know if they make surge protectors for 220 volt machines. They have them for computer systems don't they?

robo hippy

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Reed,

They do make surge protectors for 220 volt machines. That helps in the event of a power surge. Power sags can damage too, however.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I bought the Grizzly 220V paddle switch for my 1642. (They can be gotten anywhere.) I put it on the tailstock end of the lathe, in the event that something gets loose and prevents me from getting to the switch on the headstock. That would stop a surge (if it's off at night) but probably not a lightning strike.

[Josh Bowman]

It may have been from your original thread or one like it, I was afraid of the same thing. So on my PM 3520b I put a 3 phase disconnect so I could disconnect the whole thing from the power cord. If you shop around on Ebay, you can often get them for less than 20 bucks. The one on my metal lathe (2 phase) was 10 bucks. Thought it was good insurance. I didn't think until later about 3 phase being possible better, since it will offer a switch for the 2 hots and ground. In my twisted mind, I don't even trust the ground not to get charged during one of our bad thunderstorms.
Another side benefit is for those who have a power system that often blinks and leaves the inverter confused.

[Steve Busey]

On advice from Russell Eaton, even though I cut off the subpanel breaker whenever I leave the shop, I also pull the plug on my 1642 lathe because a lightning surge could still potentially come through the ground line. Would rather be safe than ($500) sorry...

Do I do that for the rest of the stuff in my house? No. Although I do unplug my computer & TV if I know there's a storm coming...

[Steve Doerr]

Steve,
I guess the unplugging comes down to priorities--lathe and other woodworking machines first, computers second and TV last. I never unplug my TV, computers are laptops so they are unplugged 90% of the time. So I better get working on remembering to unplug lathe and bandsaw. Table saw is only plugged in when using it.
Steve

[John Keeton]

I have APC units on our main TV, and on the desktop computer. Interestingly, though, their equipment protection policy covers " Power line transients that APC products have been designed to protect against, as recognized by industry standards, include spikes and surges on AC power lines", however, it DOES NOT cover "DAMAGE TO ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT RESULTING FROM TRANSIENTS ON DATA LINES ..." Not sure exactly what that might include - T1 lines, etc., perhaps. Not being IT savvy, I am not sure.

However, on advice from Steve Schlumpf early on, I unplug the lathe whenever there is questionable weather. Around here, at least this year, that means just about any afternoon/evening in June and July! Pop up thunderstorms seem to be the norm.

[Clint Baxter]

I am curious to know if they make surge protectors for 220 volt machines. They have them for computer systems don't they?

robo hippy

Reed, for my surge protection, I had a surge arrestor installed in the circuit breaker panel. They make them to protect both legs of power and the advantage is that they will supposedly protect anything the panel supplies. As has been already said though, lightning strikes can overwhelm surge arrestors, especially if they strike close.

As to receiving a spike from the ground lug on any of your power equipment, realize that this is typically connected directly to a grounding rod, same as a lightning rod would be. You shouldn't normally get a surge though your ground line unless it is not installed correctly, or if the lightning strikes the grounding conductor in between the breaker panel and the device you're worried about protecting. If lightning strikes that close, the odds of your electronics being scrambled are going to be rather high, needless to say.

Clint

[Ken Fitzgerald]

When ever I finish turning, my PM3520B is unplugged.

When ever I leave town for a length of time as in my recent trip to Norfolk, I unplug every tool in my shop.

I have seen and had to repair damage that lightning can cause to industrial sized power cables and their associated jacks and plugs. Think of 1" soft twisted multi-conductor copper wires...4 of these individually insulated wires inside 1 power cable supplying 3 phase power to a radar unit. Wires melted......plugs and jacks welded together....Lots of damage to radar equipments too.

It's your shop, do what you think is right.

[charlie knighton]

unplug, do not run in thunder condition

had lighting hit a tree about 20 feet from house, fried our tv and neighbors, luckly the tree was just over the line in neighbors yard, his insurance replaced our tv, no proration and his, just new tv same size

[Jeff Nicol]

I guess I am a soul who lives on the edge, I never unplug anything unless I am going on vacation, which is almost never now. In all of my days I can only recall one time that anyone close to me or our family ever had an issue with stray electricity from lightning, power surge or drop and so on. That time was when I was 14 yrs old and we had a strong storm in the afternoon and lightning hit the top of the feed store/grainery about 3 blocks away and a ball of lightning bounced down the road and hit the side of our house and blew up the telephone and cable wiring boxes and fried the TV. It made one heck of a "BOOM!!" but that is the only time I know of.

But with all this being said, how do all the big electronics manufacturers with tons of sensitive equipment throughout the buildings deal with all of the potential electrical ups and downs? I think the most important thing is to make sure that everything is grounded well and some older sheds, shops, garages that have their own circuit panel may not have the proper grounding rods buried/driven in the ground outside the building. Some only have whatever the main panel from the house has connected to it, but that give any stray stuff the need to find a place to go sooner and will find the weakest link in the system. I could be all wrong but so far so good for me!

Jeff

[Ken Glass]

I always pull the plug on my 3520b after turning for the day.

[Russell Eaton]

When I built my shop I had two eight foot ground rods installed. I unplug the big lathes but have never unplugged the small delta or jet lathes. I also have never unplugged my band saw, guess I should.

[Duane Meadows]

Anything with a solid state controller/printed circuit board in it can be damaged by surge... just lost a washing machine that way last week. It was 16 years old, anyway.

Today, that(SS controller/PCB) can be just about anything!

[Richard Jones]

I installed a switch in the feeder prior to the receptacle. 266131