Briefly, here's my situation:

Tonite, I'll be looking at a nice (hopefully) Griggio 640 SNAC bandsaw (24" throat, @16" resaw) at a great price. It is powered by a 240v 3 phase motor.

I have two unused 240v outlets in my townhouse, a 40 amp for the oven, and a 30 amp for the dryer. Both are unused, because I have gas appliances. There are no 240v outlets in my shop, aka garage.

So here are the considerations as I see 'em.

  1. The townhouse is rented, adding 240v to the garage is a fair option, but not a great one, as it would be $$ out of my pocket.
  2. Running a custom "extension" cord from either the dryer outlet or range outlet. Access to the townhouse from the garage is through the laundry room, which is adjacent to the kitchen, so max length of run would be 50' from the range, 40' or so from the dryer.

AND
  1. Change the motor to a single phase 240v, if possible. With this option, what size should I go with given the power limitations?
  2. Purchasing a 3 phase converter. I have a modest sense of the size I would need (roughly 50-100% the existing motor's HP rating), but no idea what sort of input amperage the converter would need. Nor do I really have a sense of what are the practical differences between a static and rotary converter.


What are the valuable characteristics of a 3 phase converter from the perspective of a home woodshop, and what features would simply be overkill and/or counterproductive?

Note that I can currently get both the bandsaw and a used 3 phase 15hp rotary converter for less than half the cost of a new 24" Italian bandsaw. Naturally, being used, these are transient opportunities.