The Woodshop Shed

Give me 3 phase or give me death - Rotary Phase Converter

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


Another project completed on Mainiac time, as the original rotary phase converter (RPC) plan was drafted and the metal stand fabricated in 2004. But after I scored a used 3 HP single phase TS my need to run a salvaged industrial three phase machine was no more.Enter 2019 and I've started working on a home brew bandsaw mill project, that will be driven by a three phase electric motor and I had to blow the dust off of the RPC build and figure out where I stood.The motor, the metal for the stand, the control box and the motor contactors, fuse block, terminal block and switches were all industrial salvage. The only out of pocket cost to me was paying my bud to weld up the stand, the twist plugs and the capacitors…. All totaled I have ~$80 into this…. and a lot of hours. (similar size converters purchased new run about $1K)If anyone wants to take on a project like this, I highly recommend doing a mock-up and bench test on a plywood panel, as this helps your figure out where to place the components and where you can make connections.Shown running a 5 HP vacuum blower on the bench. Phase Voltages are balanced to within +/- 2 volts when under load.There is one mystery wood component in this build to qualify it as a project post….. a cork gasket on the motor box.:^)

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