Charlie Velasquez
04-29-2006, 11:30 PM
My Unisaw options?
I hope I made a good decision, but won't know till I make my next one and I need help with that.
When a local Brammer factory shut down In the late-80's, a friend purchased a Unisaw 34-450 and 100 cherry, raised panel, cabinet doors with the intention of redoing his kitchen and basement. Poor health hit him and these sat undisturbed till now. He decided to sell these to me for a very good price because he felt I would "appreciate" them. So now, I have a lot of doors and a saw!
However, before it is a bona-fide gloat, I need to get the THREE-PHASE saw running. Options are:
A) Replace motor with a single phase
B) Buy/build a converter.
A) The current motor is a 3450rpm, Baldor 2hp running on 220v three phase. The advantage to switching motors is I could get a 3hp or 5hp motor. If I did this would I need to replace the switch or would it still be OK since it would still be 220v? Anything else?
B) I would like to add additional pieces of equipment, and it seems used three phase are cheaper than single phase (a single phase 6" jointer recently sold for $320, while an 8" jointer of about same vintage and condition, but three phase, sold for $300; and this reduction in price of three phase seems to be common). If I went this route then, there are several kinds of converters. I may have a line on a 5hp three phase motor so I don't think I would look at a static converter, but several posters in the threads I have read advocated a "VFD".
I also read somewhere there is a new kind of a "digital" converter (phase perfect)
What are some things I should be aware of to help me make this decision. Thanks for your help.
I hope I made a good decision, but won't know till I make my next one and I need help with that.
When a local Brammer factory shut down In the late-80's, a friend purchased a Unisaw 34-450 and 100 cherry, raised panel, cabinet doors with the intention of redoing his kitchen and basement. Poor health hit him and these sat undisturbed till now. He decided to sell these to me for a very good price because he felt I would "appreciate" them. So now, I have a lot of doors and a saw!
However, before it is a bona-fide gloat, I need to get the THREE-PHASE saw running. Options are:
A) Replace motor with a single phase
B) Buy/build a converter.
A) The current motor is a 3450rpm, Baldor 2hp running on 220v three phase. The advantage to switching motors is I could get a 3hp or 5hp motor. If I did this would I need to replace the switch or would it still be OK since it would still be 220v? Anything else?
B) I would like to add additional pieces of equipment, and it seems used three phase are cheaper than single phase (a single phase 6" jointer recently sold for $320, while an 8" jointer of about same vintage and condition, but three phase, sold for $300; and this reduction in price of three phase seems to be common). If I went this route then, there are several kinds of converters. I may have a line on a 5hp three phase motor so I don't think I would look at a static converter, but several posters in the threads I have read advocated a "VFD".
I also read somewhere there is a new kind of a "digital" converter (phase perfect)
What are some things I should be aware of to help me make this decision. Thanks for your help.