[damae]

After a long break from working on my twin Mori Lathes, I finally got around to installing a 10hp rotary phase converter in my shop (garage).

But reading through the old documentation and manuals, I'm a bit worried that my 240v service will be too much voltage for the controls (Yasnac 2000), which are labeled as "200-220v."

Anyone else running on a RPC? What are your recommendations?

Here's my plan:

Sell Lathe #1 (Mori SL-1H). I'll fetch more money if I can demonstrate it under power, making parts. I know I always feel like paying more when I can put a machine through its paces rather than "trust me, it ran fine when it was plugged in."

Use the money from selling the Sl-1H to partially fund a modern retrofit of the remaining lathe, a regular SL-1 with damaged control, but mechanically sound. I'll be designing the retrofit so that it operates fine off of 240v.

Given my plan, I really don't want to have to buy a huge buck/boost transformer. =(

Hopefully someone can share their experience, or common sense.

[damae]

Experiment #1

Rotary phase converter output:

259v (from black to red)
239v (from black to white)
239v (from red to white)

118v (from ground to red)

With fire extinguisher at the ready, I hooked it up and held my breath as I flipped the switch. It was a bit anti-climactic, because all I got was the dull thud of the switch tripping off as soon as it was switched on.

Inside the control cabinet, the main power switch is actually labeled as an inverter. Does anyone know exactly what this component does?

My next experiment will be to borrow a buck-boost converter from a friend and see if getting the voltage down will allow the machine to run. Anyone have similar experiences, or wants to offer a guess of what's going on?

[Al_The_Man]

Normally a main power switch is either a fused disconnect or a Non-Fused disconnect (NFB) that is tripped electromechanicaly when the current is exceeded.
Does it have anything on it to indicate the current rating etc?
You may have to disconnect or pull the fuses on sub circuits to see what is tripping the breaker.
NFB shown, does it look like this?
Al.

[underthetire]

Door switch

[damae]

Door switch

Ha! I'll feel really dumb if that was it =) Let you know later tonight...

[damae]

Door switch did it!

Unfortunately, I had the tailstock out and forgot to cap the hydraulic lines. I lost about a gallon into the coolant drain! As soon as I cap the lines, I'll be able to power it up again and see the control actually working!

I hope the parameter setup sheet I have matches the machine.

[underthetire]

Parameters were pretty generic in those days. Machine config was burned in to eprom. Good deal on the door switch.

[damae]

Al, I finally got around to snapping a photo of what is on the other side of the main switch. Is this a NFB, although it's labeled inverter?

[Al_The_Man]

That certainly does not look like a disconnect, an Inverter usually means that it converts power, voltage or frequency etc.
The fact that there appears to be heats sinks mounted under it, indicates it is a solid state device of some kind.
I have never come across one, so I could not speculate further.
Al.

[Waynno]

I am running 4 Moris off a 20 HP rotary phase converter.

2 SL-1h GII

1 SL-3h LX-2 control

1 SL-2 GII control

The power pig is the SL-2 with the DC drive, It will cause
all the others to error out if they are all on upon start of spindle

(Edit, Actually, its the stopping of the spindle that causes trouble, It
breaks by feeding power back into the rest of the shop that throws
the others silly)

So if I need that SL-2, its a stand alone job, Being Im a one man
shop right now, No prob

The other 3.....the SL-1s, and the SL-3, all have AC drives,

Those three I can run simultaneously along with one Fadal as long as I done start all of them at once

So dont be scared of the RPC, Just make sure those taps are set as I said in the other thread.

That switch you posted, Not clear on the question regarding it, The Inverter
sticker does not describe the function of that switch. All it does is mechanically kick off if
the machine see something it doesn't like, like a door switch open.

Wayne

[underthetire]

Just a cover for the breaker I think. 3 in, 3 out, two for the door swiches, and possibly a shunt trip.