American rotary ad10 ?

[Billy Stray]

I have a chance to buy one of these used, it says it's for cnc use. Can I run a 7.5 hp planer with this ?
Or is it cnc only ?

[Bill Dufour]

CNC just means the output is cleaner and better resembles true three phase. Go for it if it has enough power.
Bill D

On edit: I think that is only 5hp and below. I do not understand their numbering system?

https://www.americanrotary.com/pdfviewer/?pdf=3322

[Billy Stray]

It says 10hp 7.5 kw , im at 5.5 kw
It's less than half a new one

[Bill Dufour]

I was looking at a reseller. the factory site says it is ten hp not five. that makes more sense. I would buy it if it fits your needs and budget. A 7.5hp vfd is going to be very expensive and the extra features are unneeded for a planer.
I believe that company has a good reputation.
Bill D

[Billy Stray]

Thanks Bill 👌

[roger wiegand]

American Rotary customer support is great, give them a call. They suggested the AD20 for my 7.5 hp J/P saying that the converter should be rated at double the HP of whatever you're running on it. (looks like starting vs running current in the specs-- the AD10 is rated at 5 HP for starting, 10 HP for running. (I have no idea how you might be running a motor without starting it!)

Aside from an annoying whine from the rotor it has worked great for me.

[Chuck Saunders]

What Roger said. These guys are super helpful and willing to share. They can tell you exactly what their product can do.
Chuck

[Billy Stray]

Oh geez, I hope I didn't buy the wrong one,
I won this on a bid at an IRS auction & I still have to get it here to Massachusetts from SC

[Matt Day]

$525 isn’t a bad price. Wonder how much shipping will set you back though?

[Bill Dufour]

With that fancy type rotary can he still add in extra idler motors on the output circuit and get more horse power?
Bill D

[Billy Stray]

$525 isn’t a bad price. Wonder how much shipping will set you back though?

Plus tax, Plus 15% auctioneer fee
Hopefully if it doesn't work out, I can sell it & recoup some if not all my money and chalk it up to lessons learned..
Education is seldom cheap 😉

[Terry Therneau]

I would give it a go using the RPC that you purchased. A big plus is that a jointer, planer or table saw is not hard starting, a big bandsaw is harder due to the mass, and a compressor is reputed to be one of the worst. I have a Felder700S professional saw/shaper, 4 KW (14.5 A) on the nameplate, and have been running it on an American Rotary A10 without any issues at all. I'm just a hobby woodworker, so there has never been a hard day's work for the machine; panel raising for a walnut passage door, with power feeder, may be the largest load so far. It never blinked. (Well, other than when I just could not get it to run at all for 15 min, because I forgot to shut one of access doors. Which is, of course, what it is supposed to do.)

My shop space is a detached garage with a partial upstairs (gambrel roof), and I put the RPC up above in a corner. I then wired it with a remote switch and an indicator light to show when it is on.

Terry T.

[Matt Day]

Terry,
Could you explain in detail how you wired the remote switch? I’ll be building mine soon and that would be a great feature. Thanks

[Terry Therneau]

Sorry so slow -- I hadn't noticed the question.
The remote switch is a pair of buttons, one normally open (NO) green one and one normally closed (NC) red one, which one can get from many places. I don't remember where I got mine. McMaster Carr has nice industrial ones for over $150, or Amazon ("momentary push button switch station box") for <$20. Make sure you get "momentary", not "latched" or "maintained".

The buttons on the front panel of the AD10 are the same. My start is hooked up in parallel with the AD10 start button, and stop is hooked up in series with the AD10 stop button. I didn't have to cut any wires: if the start goes to two terminals A and B say, make your start button go to the same place. If the stop goes to C and D, then unhook D, fasten it to one of yours, and put the other from your switch onto D. The two switches had one terminal in common, so I ran 3 wires down to mine. These wires carry almost no current so you don't need heavy wire.

I ran the 4 wires (3 power + ground) from the RCP to a pair of surface mount boxes near the saw, one with a green light on it and the other with the outlet. The RPC is pretty quiet, being in another space, so it is good to be able to look up and see if there is power. (I certainly look to see that it is off before I change out shaper cutters). Just due to the layout of my shop, it was easier to have the power come out by the back corner of the machine (where you never stand) while the power switch is on a central post alongside the dust collector switch.

[Matt Day]

Ah, I see Terry. Sounds like a good setup.

I heard remote and was thinking wireless, like a car’s key fob. I’d like to figure out a way to do that. I’ve found a couple posts about it on OWWM and PM, but haven’t gotten enough hard information for me (with my mediocre electrical knowledge) to do it. I’ll keep researching.