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Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
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>> http://www.schlockmercenary.com/ << \ ...and Kill them.
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>> The simplest solution would be to replace the motor by a
>> suitable single phase one of suitable power (e.g. 3/4hp).
>
> Also the cheapest, unless you have the bits to make an inverter to hand.
> Buying any kind of new inverter/phase converter is more expensive than a
> suitable single-phase motor.
I don't know about that - there have been several 0.5-1 HP inverter
drives, new, on fleabay for less than £40 recently. I bought one for £19
a couple of weeks ago, one went for £29.99 a few days ago, and so on.
The electronics in an inverter are about the same as a medium-end PC
psu, or a 12V-230V inverter - and these are widely available for
£15-£20-ish, new, manufacturers price.
There's no real reason apart from scarcity why they should cost more
than £40 or so, and the usual £90-140 can't really be justified
nowadays. Too many manufacturers can say: "Here's a better one for a
third of that. How many you want?".
Reminds me of. many years ago, buying digital watches at 19p each in
order to get the silver oxide batteries - I was throwing the watches
away, thinking I was buying them as old/surplus stock (they weren't
actually much good, though they did tell the time) and selling the
batteries.
I asked for more, and they offered me a discount, 17p each - but I'd
have to wait until they were manufactured!
Gobsmacked doesn't come into it
-- Peter Fairbrother
> Bought a 2HP high-torque one for my lathe - it's a tad underpowered but I
> mostly only do light work in it. If I wanted it to perform more like
> original spec, I could've bought a 3HP or even 4HP, but they cost more.
Austin Shackles - 03 Apr 2009 19:45 GMT
>>> The simplest solution would be to replace the motor by a
>>> suitable single phase one of suitable power (e.g. 3/4hp).
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>nowadays. Too many manufacturers can say: "Here's a better one for a
>third of that. How many you want?".
I guess it's easier for lower power requirements. When I was looking into
it for around 3HP, they were pricey, new at least, compared with a
single-phase motor.
Frankly, unless the motor is odd in some way which makes it hard to replace,
I don't seem much point in paying to make 3-phase from single-phase, rather
than paying for a single-phase motor. I guess if you had a lot of 3-phase
kit, buying one fattish inverter would make sense.
The exception to this is if you want to use the inverter to make an
electronic variable-speed machine at the same time, of course.
Was running the Student at 1200 (max speed) for quite a while this evening,
and it gets the gearbox casing quite warm. I don't think I'll try making it
run any faster...

Signature
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Travel The Galaxy! Meet Fascinating Life Forms...
------------------------------------------------\
>> http://www.schlockmercenary.com/ << \ ...and Kill them.
a webcartoon by Howard Tayler; I like it, maybe you will too!