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TheKid Offline OP
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I bought myself a nice old J head Bridgeport a while back and I need to get some power to it. I have single phase 220 in the shop but need three phase for the mill. Called the power Co and they said no problem we’ll be right out, no charge. Apparently in the 15 minutes it takes to drive from their office to my place the bill went up from $0 to $1600.

So I need to build a phase converter but I am not by any stretch an electrician. I have a 1hp AC motor for the pony and have two brand new 3 phase motors to use as the generator. My dilemma is that the motor on the mill is a 1hp and the two I have for generators are a 7.5 and a 10hp. Will those be too big? About the second to last thing I want to do is burn up the motor on my mill.

Any help is appreciated, I need to get this thing up and running and making money.

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~~~Told me, "Kid ya better put that old Bridgeport away,
Said, "There ain't no money in it and it'll lead ya to an early grave~~~

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Oh don’t worry Bristoe. I gots me a real job that’ll surely drag me to the grave quickern standing in front of a mill. I play a structural welder for 10 hours a day burning off roll after roll of aromatic flux cored wire. Hacking black sheit in the shower every night makes me wish I was still bitchin about being covered in cutting oil and having chips stuck in my boots.

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There is a whole forum about rotary Phase converters, static phase converters and VFDs over at Practical Machinist.

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Padded VA Hospital Rooms for $1000 Alex

Originally Posted by renegade50
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VFD is the way to go. You should be able to get up and running for a couple hundred bucks.

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As others have said, VFDs are really the only way to go anymore.


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I would spend the 1600 to get true power onsite. With a mill to start, other machines that use 3p are likely behind it.

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The bigger motors are not a problem as you will be making a "bus" . You will need a capacitor to shift the third phase. Let me see if I can find a schematic laying around here somewhere. The VFD route is very doable too these days as the prices are alot cheaper for these now than in the past. You will need to overate them a bit for reliability but they work great. 240 volts is all the voltage you will be able to get sourcing from single phase no matter which method you use so make sure any machines you get are able to wire up to low voltage or have dual voltage motors. 1600 really is not that bad a price though to get it going ..........

Last edited by okie; 03/18/18.

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automation direct has the stuff needed for the vfd, give them a call

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A VFD is nice but it is only good for that one machine. you can build a cheap Rotary Phase Converter with any 3phase motor larger than the 1hp on your machine. I would use a 3hp/3ph motor and a start/run unit from either WNY Supply or Anderson. You hook up 220v single phase through a 40amp breaker for the single phase supply and come out of the unit three phase that you can hook up to your BP mill. To run all you have to do is switch the unit on and it starts the motor and it will single phase to produce true three phase power for your machine. The unit has the run capacitors in it to give the third leg full amperage.

It is an easy alternative plus you can hook other machines up to it and run them as well should you get a lathe or other machine needing three phase.

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I agree with the guys saying throw a drive on it, and I do this sheit for a living. Fast, easy, and cheaper to buy AND run. You get another machine, throw a drive on that one too...

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is it possible to just get a single phase 220 motor for your Bridgeport machine ? might be a easier way to go and cheaper ? call the company that made this Bridgeport machine. 3 phase electrical parts get expensive and so do electricians.


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Three phase will run smooth and be better for machining. The Bridgeport motors are proprietary C-face motors. Any other motor single or three phase would have to have a mounting plate to fit the top housing.

A VFD is good if you get the right one and it replaces the switch on your machine plus you can have variable speed from the POT. A RPC will run the whole shop though and you must use the machines as they were designed.

decisions decisions...

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Now I’m really confused. Machine has a VFD on it albeit not as sophisticated asthe one in the video above. It is just a simple looking gray box with a dial and a direction switch. I was under the impression that it was just used for variable speed. It also has a big breaker box with a kill switch on it. I asked the guy I bought it from and he assured me that the way it is now it needs 3 phase run to it. He would be happy to help me hook it up as well if he weren’t 1000 miles away

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All VFD's are not the same.

A single phase VFD that converts to 3 phase is what you need.

That Mill should have a drum switch for fwd/rev and a speed controller.

Toss all that and the VFD takes there place, Just has to be the right VFD.
They are rated by HP so you need a single phase to 3 phase 1 hp VFD.


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Originally Posted by renegade50
My ignoree,s will never be Rock Stars on 24 hr campfire.....Like me!!!!

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Start here..... http://www.gohz.com/1hp-vfd
Price: $159.32

Be sure that programmable module they show detached in their image isn't a option, you want the entire VFD "with" the module....


Just start from this link, there are ton's of products, options, and prices....


Padded VA Hospital Rooms for $1000 Alex

Originally Posted by renegade50
My ignoree,s will never be Rock Stars on 24 hr campfire.....Like me!!!!

What are psychotic puppet hunters?
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Originally Posted by rainshot
The Bridgeport motors are proprietary C-face motors. Any other motor single or three phase would have to have a mounting plate to fit the top housing.


I don't know if you could do a retro fit with just an adapter plate.
Being, as you stated it's a proprietary motor the shaft is going to be quite unique not just the mounting of a different motor.

But we are talking about machinist here and they can work wonders and sh it cucumbers when it comes to creating custom parts...but he's got to get the mill running first...

I replaced a motor on a mill like that once probably ten years ago, it was a direct change out of a smoked motor.
If I recall correctly the motor cost was over 3 grand.


Padded VA Hospital Rooms for $1000 Alex

Originally Posted by renegade50
My ignoree,s will never be Rock Stars on 24 hr campfire.....Like me!!!!

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Because I have several 3-phase machines I am putting together a rotary phase converter. My vertical mill presently runs just fine on a static phase converter which came with it; these are cheap and provide ~2/3 the hp rating of the motor.


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Here are single phase input, three phase output VFDs of the appropriate voltage and size for as low as $134

https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/Drives#Product__F__Accessory_Type_ms=%22AC+Drives%22&start=0&Nominal_Input_Voltage_s=%22230+VAC%22&Horsepower_With_1_M_Phase_Input_s=%221%22

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