The Home Machinist!

Most happy to help a great site and great conversations about what runs in my veins - steam locomotives! (very tiny little ones!)

My point is to take heed with your wiring when you split 220VAC, OR take precautions that prevent you becoming part of that missing neutral.
BC

$11,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did my own. Might be up to local code... probably. They're not as strict here, for non-commercial properties at least. I was under the gun with the county... wish I could have done it myself but they required a "certified" electrical contracto...

Hey John, The electrician that wired this shop building gave me this data as we were discussing how we wanted the shop wired. There were individual dedicated outlets for specific machines and when I told him how the Bridgport was wired he very stoutly alerted me of what this post is about. We had ch...

I put some in the outdoor pole lamps at church to replace 130 watt sodium vapor lamps. 20 feet in the air you cannot look at them...but glad I did it. Not sure how they would work in my garage..unless they can be dimmed a bit...would show too much dirt and clutter. But look at all that stuff you ca...

Yes the Sunnen is a bit more rapid than cylindrical brass laps... I had forgotten about those - they're on a shelf in a cabinet where they barely get any light - Now it's time for Bill Shields to pass on all that keen knowledge to some deserving young folks. That will take things back up the hill. BC

Neutral is always carried to all panels. Not with three wire 220 VAC John. Only two legs of 120 and ground. Clothes driers and Portable AC units only use three wire circuits. Neutral is only carried to 120VAC outlets for stable 120 Volts. That is what I'm talking about - three wire 220VAC is not sa...

Has anyone else tried one of the three winged LED ceiling lights that screw into a mogul base? Screwed one into a garage light 'socket'.They are so bright you cannot look at it without damaging your eyes - like 6500K lumins... or something like that. LEDs are the way to go now. Hand held flashlights...

The residential line here is single phase, so only two legs of 120, a neutral and a ground - four wire. They call it 220 VAC single phase here and not 240 VAC although you can read 130 VAC on a "110" outlet from hot to neutral or ground. I use 3 phase motors and phase converters - VFD's. M...

A surface grinder is the ultimate answer to 'D' valves for sure. Piston valves are the best but five times the work. Whenever I think of piston valves I remember what some of the old timer steam fans had to say...And the way they 'hid' 'D' valves in a piston valve housing - Little Engines and others...

220 VAC four wire feeding a machine is very convenient because you can power everything on the machine; power feeds, dro, coolant pumps and etc. without each having its own wire feed cord to an outlet. That convenience is tempting to do the one leg 110 and ground trick - which is to be avoided. That...

We had a new shop constructed about a year ago and along with the local county building permit came stipulations about the shop wiring. This required hiring a licensed electrical contractor to do all of the wiring in the entire shop - everything. That was expensive but we passed the final county ins...