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Thread: Need help rewiring lathe motor

  1. #1

    Question Need help rewiring lathe motor

    I just bought a Nova 3000 lathe on Craigslist. The guy that I got it from had it wired to a plug that he ran inside his house and plugged into his clothes dryer outlet. Obviously, that's not the ideal situation. It needs a new power cord, switch, and power plug that I would like to plug into the same NEMA 6-20 outlet that I use for my table saw. The lathe has a 1 hp motor drawing 6.8 amps at 230 volts. I would like to put a new 12-3 cord on it with a paddle switch in between the motor and plug. Any reason I can't do that? Is the 6-20 plug okay to use with that motor? Or is there a better solution?
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  2. #2
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    How far away is the plug?

  3. #3
    At only 7A, you don't need 12AWG (assuming you're <~100' from the plug, as Richard alluded to...), but yes, that all sounds fine.

  4. #4
    Richard, I think I'll need about 20 feet or so.

  5. #5
    Dan, I thought it would be heavy enough! lol I just happened to have the plug and 12-3 on hand so I figured I'd use it if I could. I never did like fooling around with electrical stuff so I thought I'd better check out my plan before I blew up the lathe or burned my house down. Thanks for the reply.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Jordan View Post
    I just bought a Nova 3000 lathe on Craigslist. The guy that I got it from had it wired to a plug that he ran inside his house and plugged into his clothes dryer outlet. Obviously, that's not the ideal situation. It needs a new power cord, switch, and power plug that I would like to plug into the same NEMA 6-20 outlet that I use for my table saw. The lathe has a 1 hp motor drawing 6.8 amps at 230 volts. I would like to put a new 12-3 cord on it with a paddle switch in between the motor and plug. Any reason I can't do that? Is the 6-20 plug okay to use with that motor? Or is there a better solution?
    That should work fine. I prefer locking plugs on flexible cords that might get moved around but that would require changing the receptacle and the plug in the TS.

    A better solution, if you plan to keep the lathe in that spot, is run a new circuit to a receptacle where the lathe will sit but that can be expensive unless you do it yourself.

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    You wrote: "I would like to put a ... paddle switch in between the motor and plug."

    A "clean" way to do this is to mount the switch in a metal box attached to the lathe. Then it won't be something to trip over. Because you are using 230 volts, you have two "hots" and want to switch both at the same time. So when you go to the big box store, make sure to get a DPST (double-pole single throw) switch or tell the guy that you're switching 230 v. It should have four terminals plus a green ground wire screw. For safety you'll want to take the ground or green wire on the new cord and ground it to the metal box. I think that most people would use a "pigtail" on the ground wire from the cord and tie one to the box and one to the switch and continue with the ground wire in the section of cord going to the lathe. If I have misstated this or made this unclear, I hope that someone jumps in and corrects me.

    You have the option with the switch box to put in a receptacle that the lathe plugs in to, or skip the receptacle and wire directly to the cable going to the lathe.

    On my lathe, I ran my cord overhead so that I didn't have to have something to trip over. It is terminated with the same plug that the lathe uses. So it is essentially an extension cord. It added a few feet to the cord but the current is low and the extra voltage drop is minimal. When not in use, I simply unplug the cord from the lathe. When we're having an electrical storm that adds more transient protection than a switch.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    This is the switch I installed on my Nova 1624.
    https://www.grizzly.com/products/Woo...120-230V/D4151

    Some folks use a magnet but I mounted mine fixed. I want to know right where it is if need and not need to think about where I stuck it.
    Note: On my lathe the motor resets of Off if power is cut so this is just an emergency shut off. To restart I have to turn power back on at this switch and then back on at the headstock itself. I'm sure there is some way to rewire the motor/controller itself to install an additional on/off switch at the tailstock but I am not going to try it.
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    "I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe

  9. #9
    Brice, I had planned to mount the ground wires from both the power side and the motor side of the switch to the same screw on the metal box. Will that not work okay?

  10. #10
    Michael, that's exactly what I was thinking. My motor doesn't appear to have a switch of any kind on it so I'll have to rely on the paddle switch to start and stop it. I don't know if it's worth it to think about putting a new DC motor with a variable speed control on this lathe. It's my first one and I just bought it to see how well I am going to like turning and if I'll use it much. If I stick with it I can see myself upgrading not too far into the future.

  11. #11
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    It will "work" electrically but I don't think that the electrical code allows you to put multiple wires under a single screw terminal. So using a pigtail is the recommended method to do this. All a pigtail consists of is connecting the multiple ground wires with a 10 cent screw-on electrical connector (sometimes called wire-nuts) with a single extra wire going to the metal box (and screw). (The ground wire in the cables are typically the bare/uninsulated wires). On the cardboard box for the screw-on connectors they usually show how many wires of various gauges the electrical connector/wire nut is designed for.

    Also, the metal electrical box will have a rating of how many wires it can safely contain. I haven't memorized that spec. so you'll need to look on the packaging for the metal box or look it up in the code. If in doubt, a 4" x 4" bigger box instead of a 2 x 4" rectangular one is easier to use and to stuff with all of the wires. The cost difference is perhaps 30 cents but it may keep you from cussing when you're trying to close it up.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    Upgrading to DVR. You may or may not be aware but Nova first made the 3000, available with belt or DVR. They later changed the name(s) to the 1624-44 with belt and DVR XP with electronic.
    I believe most specs remained the same except for the design of the ways.
    You may want to check with Nova to see if their upgrade for the 1624 will fit the 3000. Not 100% but pretty sure it will with no problem.
    Upgrade with all that is needed runs about $550.
    "I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe

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