Rotary Phase Converter Project Page 2

Here's a shot a bit further back where you can see the little "stand" I build to hold the motor in an upright position. I used rubber grommets to suspend the motor and not create vibration. It works fairly well.

What a mess eh? The box is too small. I can BARELY fit my 4 caps in there. 3 run caps each 370VAC oil filled. I am trying to get 3 of the same "uf" (microfarad) rating but for now I have a 60 a 48 and a 40uf cap. It works well enough.

The Start cap is 430uf but only 250vac. I would like it to also be above 300v but this was all FREE stuff.

The TON of wires in there is because I have 4 incoming wires in the box. And then 2 sets of outgoing wires (that's 8 additional wires) for those who require help with math. The rest are just jumpers.

My little switch is a breaker switch rated at 13.5 amps. Just .5 above my motor.

To start my motor I turn the breaker on by flipping it up. Then I push the start button on the black box and immediately flip the breaker off on my gray box. I try to do it just a "blink" after pressing the start button on the black box. So far things are working fine

Another shot of the mess. You can barely see the 2 caps in the back.

Everything is done now. You see the 2 output cords coming out of my gray box on the left. I have them suspended by a spring device to relieve tension on the cords. One goes to my mill and the other to my lathe.

The cord coming from the main panel box (large gray on on the right) is just an existing pigtail I made long ago for my 220v Lincoln welder. It's just hanging down there by the other 2 new cords now, so don't be confused by that one. Remember you can click the picture to see a larger image.