[David Da Costa]

I have a Novakon NM-135 and would like to add a spindle load meter to it.

Can anyone suggest how I might go about doing that?

Thanks

David

[MattTheNoob]

Is it a 3ph motor? If so, an amp meter in line with one of the phases works pretty well.

[David Da Costa]

It runs of 110v not 240v 3 phase.

David

[Al_The_Man]

If this is a single phase motor connected directly to the incoming supply, one clean way would be to put a CT, current transformer in one of the leads and output it to a 0-5amp meter.
The CT is just a small toroid ring that goes over one conductor.
You can scale it by looping through the ring more than once with the motor conductor.
This is the least invasive as there is no direct connection to the 110vac.
http://images.google.ca/images?q=cur...ed=0CC8QsAQwAw
Al.

[Frogblender]

Resurrecting an old thread:

Quick/Dirty solution: use a 120VAC power meter. Cheap and handy.

Example:
Blue Planet Electronic Energy Meter | Canadian Tire

There is also the "Kill-A-Watt". They measure real watts from whatever is plugged into them. I plugged the mill into it, and get a good idea of what the spindle motor is consuming.
When the mill is idle (spindle off, steppers energized but static) I get around 95W (including some flourescent lights, IIRC). Winding up the spindle to 6000RPM no load gives around 400W.