Shop Tour #1: Le-ca-getty Central. The Power House

[Dev Emch]

Here are some progress photos of my new electrical rework for the garage shop. The shed behind the main shop is called the power house and it contains all of the panels, the phase converter and the transformer. I also use it to house the huge quincy 120 gallon air compressor. Right now, I am using what is left over from the original service which is a night mare. Good thing I am comfortable around the juice.:D

The second photo shows the main service ditch which had to be dug by hand. Could not get any digging machines in here and they were not available anyway. I think I need to dig this portion of the ditch a few inches deeper. The main conduit is 3 inch PVC schedule 80. The 10 feet that go under the entry slab is a 2 inch schedule 40 which necks out to 3 inch. I wanted a 2 inch metal condulet on the wall and not a 3 inch metal condulet as there is a huge difference in size and expense. The use of 3 inch conduit is not needed but it sure makes pulling cable easier.

The first photo is the other end of the equation where the sevice pole is located. Notice my 100 amp shop service with its ABB meter? That will go once we get the wire in the ground. Dont want to start cutting stuff until its really needed and were only hours from the cut over.

The last picture shows my new service panels. There is a ton of work remaining on these! Pictured is the main 220 single phase panel with its main line disconnect. Next to it is my three phase panel for 245 three phase. All 220 three phase circuits come into this box. The box under it contains a huge ABB contactor switch which takes all THREE legs offline when three phase is not needed. The phase converter is hooked up to auto-start. A push button box in the shop turns this on and off like a light bulb. An indicator light tells you if the three phase service is hot or not. The on switch, the off switch and the light are all discrete bulletin 800 devices mounted in a die cast allan bradley box mounted to the wall. Push the green button and the shop's entire three phase system springs to life. Push the red button and I take the whole three phase system offline.

There is one more panel box not shown. This is my 440 volt panel which handles the few 440 dedicated machines that I own. This is fed by a square D transformer that can handle 30 KVA three phase. Works great for the oliver jointer and my two 440 milling machines.

Standby as I show you guys my shop tour.... for now, its not as pretty as Lou's shop but I consider it a work in progress. Future plans have it to build a dedicated timber frame woodshop. But I need to save a few more pennies until this reality comes true. For now, this is my hang out.:D

[Dev Emch]

Here are some photos of the items that I use on a temporary basis until they are all hooked up in the power house.

The first photo is the internal start/stop switch for my three phase power. The green button turns on the whole kit and kabuddle. If the orange light aint lit, then there aint *NO* power on any of the three main lines. NO L1.. NO L2 and NO wildleg L3. The red button takes it all down in one punch. That includes turning off the converter. The green button powers up the three phase service center and auto starts the converter. The whole shop is wired up just like a giant unisaw with a mag starter.:D I can add as many of these boxes around the shop as I wish as they all work on the same mondo contactor. The green switches are all wired in parallel and the red switches are all wired in series. This hook up actually takes place on a section of DIN rod inside the grey box that holds the contactor. This circuit is actually powered by a dedicated single pole 15 amp breaker in the first service center. The orange light is bright and you can see if your burning electrons or not makin three phase.

The second photo is one of my phase converter. The first converter I used was homemade from a 15 HP baldor motor. The german shaper needed MORE POWER as Tim says so I upgraded to a 10 HP Kay converter. Due to soft start and power utility issues, this was not good enough. So I returned the 10 HP Kay and upgraded that to a 15 HP Kay which is what you guys see here. This unit has the CNC noise circuits should they be needed. All that really is is a contactor that can take the run caps online or offline as needed by a current sensor monitoring the current flow in the wild leg. Proof that you dont always need run caps to function.;) This rig gets things running but I can still hear a slight groan on the start up of some of the big machines like the planer and shaper. This is caused by excessive voltage drop in a long line. This is being solved by changing the wire to a fatter gage copper, hence, the ditch digging exercise. It also takes me from a barely legal 100 amp service to a fully code compliant 200 amp service. Its about time!

The third photo is one of my square D three phase transformer. This transformer is a 30 KVA buck/boost transformer. Normally, its configured for standard 208 Y three phase and the seven taps on its high side coils reflect this. Because I start with 240 volts going in, I wind up with about 470 volts comming out. Not the best solution to get to 440 volts but it works. Truth is, many older olivers were set up to run on 480 volts anyway. At least, all the saftey stickers on my oliver jointer and Model D trecker milling machine stated this. If it becomes an issue, I may have to find another transformer to allow me to go down in voltage a bit. I got this one for a steal so that idea does not really appeal to me. I have run the oliver on this voltage and it does run fine without any overheating. But then again, what type of jointing operation does it take to overheat a 10 HP jointer? Ohh, maybe face jointing a 24 inch slab of oak with a 1 inch depth of cut. Yup, that may do it...... **MAY** do it!

So that is it for now as I am limited to posting three pictures at a time. The last installment here will be some pictures of my old compressor before I stick it back into the power house.

[Roy Wall]

and Tim the Toolman thought he craved power!!!!!!

Looking forward to this one ......:)

[Bob Noles]

Dev....

With that set up you should be able to sell power to the neighbors :D My goodness that is impressive.

[lou sansone]

hi dev

nice looking power house! I am spoiled by have 3 phase directly. I have told my wife that if we ever move the first thing to look for is the power lines on the road. I am sure that you setup is going to work great and you get to avoid the demand charge that I pay each month.

keep the photos comming
lou

[John Bailey]

Whew!!! Hair's standing on the back of neck just looking at the pictures.

John

[Mike Cutler]

Gee'z Dev. I work in a nuclear power plant, and I'm impressed. That's some nice looking electrical service you got going there.
Nice job all around. It looks llike a class installation.

[Corey Hallagan]

Very cool Dave! Looking forward to see the shop come together!

Corey

[Dev Emch]

And here are the last photos of my Shop Tour #1. Remember, my shop is a WORKING WORK IN PROGRESS. So these pix are only a snap shot in time right now. There is always lots to do and work to be done. Notice that there *IS* some sawdust about.:rolleyes:

The first two photos are my massive pig of an air compressor. Its much larger than I need but I got an excellent deal on it at an auction so it will work for now. This is a 15 HP Quincy 370 pressure lube pump air compressor. The motor is a 15 HP Lincoln but this will be replaced with a 15 HP Baldor motor. The same motor that served me for years in my homemade phase converter.:D I just like the baldor better. Then I will ebay the lincoln motor.

The second photo shows the older style of pressure lube front on the pump. The new ones have a spin on oil filter. In the future, I may machine a new snout cover and add one of these. But as long as I change the oil, I should be O.K. Note the unloader tubes as well. The tiny little pressure gage is for oil pressure not air pressure. This pig can put out 54 CFM at sea level at 175 PSI. So it should be ample for sand blasters, air powered tools, water supply compression tanks, HVLP spray guns, etc.

Since we can post three pictures, the last picture is one of my welder. Again, I live life as a working work in progress.:D Right now, this sycnrowave 250 is set up to stick weld. I am working right now on some new running gear and the installation of an under body mount water circulator for the TIG torch. This welder was one of the last ones made with analog gauges. Many welders prefer this and I agree. Digital has its place but not that close to all the EMI interference! With the side off, I can knock out TV reception when I turn this thing on! It runs on 80 amps of 240 volt single phase. It can switch back and forth between AC/DC stick and GATW TIG welding. My torch is water cooled and I use an argon gas to shield. The circulator has a radiator, circulation pump, simple flow meter and connections for the TIG torch head. Inside this base is a gas flow meter, a rota meter to be exact, that monitors the CFM of shield gas being used. You control the amount of heat with a foot pedal. Its like driving your car. This way, you can prevent thin items such as car body panels from warping under the heat. A buddy of mine uses this same setup to build gas powered, supercharged rail dragsters which he and his dad race on the weekends. I am not that confident in my work yet to risk life and limb.:rolleyes: But this welder does come in handy in making all sorts of things including a new super beefy base structure for my DeWalt RAS saw. The old one was to rusty and not strong enough for my tastes. So I welded a new one from 8 inch channel iron, angle iron and strips. It looks just like the old DeWalt base and will fool most folks. At least until they see that this base is made from 1/4 inch thick steel and weighs more than most complete DeWalt RAS saws!

Well, so much for shop tour #1.:D As I said, my place is a pig pen. Lots of incomplete and lots of work in progress and lots of work getting done. But you guys wanted some pictures. Sweets for the kiddies. I know, I like them too so hope you enjoy.

[Bruce Page]

And here I was, proud of the little 50 amp sub-panel that I put in my garage shop. :o

I’m looking forward to the next installment.

P.s. SMC allows you to post 5 pic's at a time.

[Jim Becker]

Very nice start to your tour, Dev. BTW, you can post up to five pictures per post... ;)

[Seth Poorman]

Hey Dev , Nice powerhouse, Good setup, Are you hiring???:D

Seth..
P.S. Got any pics of the iron?

[Dev Emch]

Thanks for updating me on the picture count. For some reason, I thought I was limited to three per edit/entry. I download lots of photos from others and now I am uploading my own. I guess the disk space is going down now.:D But I cannot think of a better disk space consumer than shop tours and wood projects.

[John Miliunas]

Wow, Dev! Now I for sure can't wait to see the rest of the shop!:) So tell us: Do the lights in the entire neighborhood go dim when you power up a couple of your toys?:eek: :confused: I don't envy you for having to dig that ditch, but me thinks you'll have the last laugh! Good job.:) :cool:

[Rob Littleton]

Thanks for updating me on the picture count. For some reason, I thought I was limited to three per edit/entry. I download lots of photos from others and now I am uploading my own. I guess the disk space is going down now.:D But I cannot think of a better disk space consumer than shop tours and wood projects.

Not sure where you live but my lights in my house just went dim. Did you connect up the panel?

Thats some impressive power right there.

Nice

[Gary Sutherland]

Dev...

Very impressive installation. Regarding your contactor start-up for the 3ph.; does the rotary converter start and the contactor feeding the 3ph panel kick in at the same time, or does the contactor wait for the convertor to come up to full speed?

I don't know if it matters either way since machines with starters would be 'off' at that point; just curious as I may have to install a converter in the future.

Man, I HATE digging trenches!!

Gary

[Andy Hoyt]

Future plans have it to build a dedicated timber frame woodshop. But I need to save a few more pennies until this reality comes true. For now, this is my hang out.:D

Dev - I've spent the last 19 years designing and building timberframes all across the country. If you ever need some friendly advice, please ask.

[Dev Emch]

Gary...
I did it this way for a reason. When you dont use a contactor or other three pole switch, the L1 and L2 leg follow through to your machine. If you dont have a mainline disconnect on the machine, your powering up your pull in coil and other single phase circuits in the machine. Most woodworking machines did not have this switch. Machines that came out of the government and military circles did. You can find two identical oliver table saws. One has a huge metal allan bradley box with a line disconnect and the other had a simple mag starter circuit. Had to do with who ordered the machine. Personally, I like to have the whole three phase system dead as a door knob when not in use.

When you push the green button, the single phase circuit clicks in and pulls the coil in on the mondo contactor. That allows power to flow from L1 and L2 into the three phase service center. A 60 amp, two pole OQB breaker is hooked up to this newly energized L1 and L2. These two leads then feed the phase converter and as it spins up, wildleg power outputs on L3 which then goes back through the third leg on the contactor and energizes the third buss in the three phase service panel. The orange light is actually rated for about 240 volt use. Its LED based and does not burn anything and lasts forever. But this pilot is hooked up between L3 and neutral which is actually 120 times the square root of 3 which comes out to about 208 volts. So when you see a nice pumpkin orange light, your good to go.

If for any reason you need to take something down in a hurry... i.e. the table saw flunked its hot dog test, the red button takes it all down instantly. You loose all three legs and the converter spins down.

Another reason I wish to use a dedicated service panel is the fact that the converter can only output as much as 60 amps total on the L3 leg. Now as you know, converters can run much more combined HP than they are rated for. This converter can run more combined HP than my service can provide in terms of single phase loading. Nonetheless, the 6 gage converter L3 line is not heavy enough to take this loading nor can the converter take more than 60 amps in. That is why there is a 60 amp double pole breaker feeding it. But the combined HP works as a team moving current back and forth between the machine tools and the L3 service backplane. That backplane is capable of handling upwards of 200 amps so it functions as a distribution central for running multiple, combined HP loads under phase converter control. Current flow is never one way only on the L3 lines! Depending on the start status and the load status, current can move in both directions. Your dust collector can help the shaper to start and the shaper can help the osciallating sander to run all at the same time. This is dynamic loading and no one knows exactly what that load configuration is at any given snap shot in time. Its always changing within its limits.

[Corvin Alstot]

Dev/

Are you a pro or is this hobby getting ramped up big time. Very impressive, it sure looks like commercial construction and scale!

[Dev Emch]

Thanks Andy...

I have seen some real "frames" lately up here. I got introduced to TF in europe and seen some of the japanese versions. We all saw how Lou built his awsome shop here on SMC. And who can forget Garret Hack's new shop. A photo of this dream frame is on the back page of the Winter 2002/2003 edition of Tools & Shops put out by FWW. This awsome structure was built significantly from reclaimed or recycled materials. Even the wall bricks and old slate roof tiles were salvaged. And who can complain about the energy savings available from these structures. In Garret Hack's case, he even hid the frame by filling in the frame space with insulation and using traditional three coat plaster. You can use a light bulb to heat the place!

But mine has a long ways to go. I might have to take you up on advice as I get to it. If I am lucky, I may be able to do someting about it next spring at ice out. Thanks for the offer.

Corvan...

It was a hobby that was getting out of control. At least until the computer company I used to work for came onto to hard times.... the next thing I know, the hobby turned full time and I have had no free time since.:rolleyes: Now I do custom work in the summer and high end hand tools in the winter. And inbetween, I try to get the shop a bit more stabilized and nice looking. Were ramping down off the summer so I am using a bit of breathing room to fix this problem before the snows arrive.

[Frank Pellow]

WOW that's some power you have. My guess it that it is more than we had in out whole town (of about 2500 people) when I was a kid. Once we got town power that is, because until I was about 10, the only electic power came from a few gererators.

[Tyler Howell]

Thank you Mr Know-It-All. :D Great set up.

What kind of "custom work do you do in the summer??

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Dev, you are setting up for one hell of a shop!! I can't wait to see it progress.

[Bill Antonacchio]

Hi Dev,

Pictures are as impressive as your vast historical machinery details. Please keep them coming.

Is that Mount Evans in the background of the compressor picture?

Regards,
Bill Antonacchio

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Wow...never seen anything like that Lou....no power shortage at your shop!