Rotary Phase Converter; American Rotary 3 Phase Converter Installation (0001) 

I marked the wires and sorted all that out a while ago. The shop is all wired and everything is running good. Im powering a Bridgeport and 40X44 tool room lathe. I had no idea about american rotary until I happened to pay more attention to keith ruckers videos. He advertises them on his intro and did a video on what his set up is. He has a big shop with big machines he's running on his rotary.

Way over my head. I followed the instructions american rotary game me. Thats all I know.

Hi, great question and yes my thoughts was go total over kill because I don't want any sort of overheating in the line. One thing I've learned about having a shop in the past is the electrical system was ALWAYS the number one problem and things like big welders and big air compressors draw a ton of amps. I really worry about electrical fires.

Hi, and you're very welcome. American rotary specified what was needed to supply the unit and I actually had to call them and talk to them about this. One thing I failed to do in this video was show just how well the instructions are that they provide. Thanks for watching!

Its supposed to be 120 per leg equaling 240 v. But depending on your local grid you might have 127 or 118. Kind of wonky. Some areas have 110 per leg and 220. It will all work fine.

The short answer is no. Im not sure yet if I will install one. Being that Im not an electrician, I need to talk to one to be sure if I will add one down the road. Ive read that there can be problems between the 2 structures with an additional equipment ground conductor added in. So for now its grounded from the 3 phase to the sub panel to the main panel to the ground.

@@opieshomeshop ok so you ran a ground wire from the 3 phase panel through to the sub panel feed. I read that you have to have a ground wire coming from your 3 phase equipment to the panel that’s why I asked.I’m about to do the same set up roughly as you, I was just a little unsure about grounding the stuff.

@@jaymachines7587 The 3 phase is grounded through the sub panel. I was going to do an update on this soon to show how the lathe is wired and all. The feed cable from the main box at the house has a good heavy grounding wire which is attached to ground going to the rod in the ground outside. I read this was preferred because if an additional ground rod is installed on the outbuilding, eddy currents can build up between the 2 structures and cause issues with a number of things, so I opted not to add one outside my shop. You still need grounding though just don't bond the neutral bus bar on the subpanel or add ground to the neutral bus bar. Again, Im not an electrician and what I learned is all from the university of google. It would be best to consult an electrician if you know someone because I hate to give bad advice. Ive been monitoring the set up and so far everything is working just as it should.

@@jaymachines7587 And the lathe does have a ground wire and it is grounded on the 3 phase box. Not neutral.

You need to install a 3 phase subpanel and 3 phase breaker. The 240 that goes to the 3 phase box stays hot even when the unit is off. If it faults the 3 phase breaker will cut, and the 240 will still be live into the box unless the fault is large enough to break the 240 breaker in the main panel. So far Ive really loaded this up and never had so much as a hickup.

@@opieshomeshop Between the idler and that 3 phase panel you need an ICM450 and a contactor. You need it to kill all power to panel in event of a fault. Say for example you had a temporary blackout. The American rotary ON/OFF switch would unlatch. Now lets say you not available to switch it back on right away. All that time you will be pumping single phase power to 3 phase motor. Windings will burn. If ICM 450 would kill all power via contactor, then you have no "single phasing" ( look it up its an official term to a real problem that American Rotary did not address) Just saying be prepared. Maybe they offer a phase monitor? I already have the parts.

@@joeshmoe5935 I have no clue. I went by the instructions american rotary provided. Im a mechanic by trade, not an electrician. Id be interested to see how you hook yours up though. If you do a video on it Ill link it up so people can see what you did. I dont have any of that on anyway if Im not on a machine though. Once Im done doing whatever it is Im doing, I shut it all down. Give american rotary a call, they were really helpful with me.

@@opieshomeshop That's just it. That's why in my example I used a temporary blackout. Power shortly gets cut off to black box. Controller sees it like you pressed the red button. All power to idler gets cut off. If you are not there to immediately shut/power off the machine that was on, you will have 2 legs of single phase going to your machine trying to force motor rotation and amperage will go sky high and you will end up burning those windings on your machine ( mill, lathe drill press etc.) U need it so that when leg 3 is off everything is off. All or nothing. I can see that happening if you have something long and boring on power feed and step away. CNC even worse.

@@joeshmoe5935 I will definitely look into this. Both the lathe and mill are on their own switch so I know nothing is getting through to the motor but I knew 2 of the wires going to - were live but I will install what you said. Uhg, so sick of wiring. LOL