Hi - I am somewhat new to turning but find myself getting quickly sucked into the vortex!! I am currently using a Jet mini lathe and have turned numerous small items over the last couple years and just started turning some bowls (about a dozen 8-9" bowls) and find that I would like to do larger bowls/platters. I'm interested in upgrading to a bigger lathe (have been looking at the Laguna 1836 and the Grizzly G0766). I feel that most people say it is worth it to go with a 220v lathe up front as many end up regretting it later on. I would definitely prefer 220v, I think that my garage is only wired for 110v.
Does anyone have any idea how much it might cost to have an electrician run 220v to my garage (home is 3 years old, main breaker is in basement under and adjacent to garage) - even just a ballpark number ($100s vs $1000s)?
Also, I may be moving in 2-3 years to a more permanent home so I don't want to spend too much money to upgrade my current home but don't want to wait that long to get a bigger lathe.
Additionally, I was reading a blog about different lathes and the author wrote the following about the Laguna 1836:
"The 110 and 220 version of this lathe are almost identical. The 110 volt version is 1.5 HP. The 220 version is 2HP. Note: It is only a guess on my part, but I think there really is no difference in the motor or VFD other than a 110 verses 220 switch on the side of the VFD that is preset to either 110 or 220. They are just running the VFD in voltage doubling mode. Voltage doubling allows you to run a 220 volt 3 phase motor on a 110 volts single phase input via the VFD. Most of the modern low HP VFDs support this. Voltage doubling is sort of ok, if you are willing to live with a 30% reduction in motor efficiency (aka HP). The 110 version is 1.5 HP and the 220 version is 2 HP. This is consistent with 30% loss due to voltage doubling."
I don't have an electrical background, so maybe this is nonsense, but does this mean that the Laguna could be toggled to run off 110v or 220v depending on a switch on the VFD? If so, that would be great as I could use it in 110v mode for now but if I moved could switch to 220v. Or is this not how it works?
Any info/recommendations would be appreciated.
Tom