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Thread: Running a 60hz motor in Europe

  1. #1
    Associate Engineer
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Posts
    2

    Running a 60hz motor in Europe

    Hello all,

    I am having a lot of issues running a US made table saw in Europe. The original motor specifications are 3hp, 1phase, 3500rpm, 220v. Before I ever plugged the saw in I got the motor rewound. Not exactly sure what that means and whether or not I should have got it done. Now the tablesaw, (a powermatic 66) bogs down whenever I run anything through it. Even if I lost 5/6 the hp, the hp should now be 2.5hp, more than enough to cut. The blade, fence, table... are all aligned to within 0.005'' and a new melamine blade is installed. I also changed the pulleys to increase the blade speed to what it was before. In my shop i have single and 3phase power. The outlet that the table saw is plugged into used to be a 3 phase but I converted it to single phase by using 1 ground wire, 1 neutral, and 1 hot. The other 2 'hot' wires are insulated and left unattached.

    I am wondering what the problem could be. Nothing that I have done to solve the problem has helped. Please help.

    Thanks in advance,

    Vlaho

  2. #2
    Technical Fellow
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    1,043
    Hi, well, hate to say it but there was no need to rewind the motor. The problem now is that you (we) have no idea what winding set up you actually have. For those kinds of motors, the 50 v 60 cycle is more an academic issue than a real world problem.

    Next, I think you have a grave misunderstanding of what 3-phase might be. You cannot convert 3-phase safely to single phase just by rewiring the outlet.

    Before you set fire to your workshop, you need to get a qualified electrician in and have him/her check all of the outlets and their configurations. Then you need to throw away the rewound motor and go buy one that matches the original spec.

    Just one old fart's opinion.

  3. #3
    Associate Engineer
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Posts
    2
    Thanks for the response. You are surely correct about one thing, I have no understanding about what 3-phase power is. And now I am doubtful that the people who did the work do and that is why I am seeking help here. All the electrical work in my shop was done by qualified electricians. Since I don't have any 3 phase machinery, the electricians converted (possibly incorrectly) the 3 phase 'outlets' to single phase outlets. I checked all outlets and they are all 220v. Everything else that I plug into the outlets runs correctly. Is it possible that the wiring 2.5mm2 (14awg I think) is too small for the motor???

    I am not sure what you mean when you mention to check the outlets configuration. I would really like to tell the electrician what to do, but unfortunately I am not educated in the field and any help is surely appreciated. I apologize for my incompetence, and am thankful to those who take the time to respond.

    Regards,

  4. #4
    Technical Fellow
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    1,043
    By check the outlets I meant get a qualified Electrician to wire the connections. If they do it to the local Code standard then it should be safe. Although, just lifting two legs of the 3-phase to get 1-phase 220 sound flaky to me.

    Bottom line for the rewound motor, it must be replaced with a known good condition, correct voltage 3hp motor. Actually at 3hp, why don't you use a 3-phase motor since you have to replace it and have 3-phase available?

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