A New Year's Evolution.

[Robert Schaubhut]

Hi Sam ,
Bet you have been a very busy businessman/husband/dad/woodworker/neighbor/../../../ Your new environment seems very pleasing. I believe you have made a wise choice for you and your family. When you get time......................Go be with them!
Shaz

[Sam Blasco]

No internet access for a week (actually, very limited, a wifi spot at one restaurant in town where I could check emails during lunch)! Wow, talk about being in the wilderness. I have been busy this past week. My single phase service was changed to three phase Delta (stinger leg) service on Wednesday. Power is good, 245 volts across all phases, and to ground 122.5 on two legs and 208 to the stinger. Just like it is supposed to be. Much better than the weak legs I was getting in Miami. I pretty much spent the week running conduit, outlets and pulling wire. Finished the DC runs and also ran air lines. All the machines have power now and dust can start flying. Re-installed slider on Sunday and should be able to square it up again on Saturday. We are also moving the house during the next couple of weeks so won't be much shop time until that is done. No new pics, as not much has changed in terms of space or lack of full boxes and pallets. More to come later.

[Chuck Ellis]

Sam,
Great little shop... I'm not exactly sure where Smithville is, I'm vaguely familiar with the Austin area of Texas.. my son lives at Bastrop and works in Austin.. it's a great area and my wife and I even talked about retiring to that area around Austin... but wound up in Tennessee about half way between the two families.. mine in Texas and hers in Illinois.

I like the pictures of the downtown.. reminds me of my hometown in central Texas.

[Sam Blasco]

Originally Posted by Chuck Ellis

... my son lives at Bastrop and works in Austin...
I like the pictures of the downtown.. reminds me of my hometown in central Texas.

Then your son and I are neighbors! Smithville is in Bastrop county, exactly 13 miles from the town of Bastrop. The town and the people have a great feel to them. Definitely stop by next time you are in the area. If you time it right, there is a little arts and crafts festival every first Saturday of the month. Give you guys something more to look at and do besides looking at antique shops, my shop (and my antics). Love to have you.

[Sam Blasco]

Nothing much to report this week that is exciting, but things were necessary. Spent all weekend replacing lighting fixtures. Since half the ballasts in there were bad or going I decided to pull them all down and go with new fixtures. This allowed me to make the jump to T8, and my full spectrum bulbs should arrive the end of this week. Not fun work, but the results will be worth it. All is not good news, though, as it looks like my combo doesn't like too much voltage. I'm getting 245 volts across the phases of my 3 wire delta set up and my combo likes 230 volts, +/- 5% (218-241). The internal protection keeps tripping -- my sensitive Italian. I've asked the electrical company to see if anything can be done on their end, but my guess is, not much. I think because the transformer is right outside my door, nothing is being lost down the line, so to speak. Right now, I'm counting on adding two buck/boost transformers inline to do some bucking. But there is alot of conflicting and confusing data out there as to which ones I need, kVA wise, that is. I'm thinking 500 or 750, depends on whose formula I use. I intend to get if figured out this week and will post the results.
That's all the news that is fit to print this week, and I have a house to move. (the wife won't let me stay at the shop to get my electrical mystery figured out until the house is moved -- what's with that?)

[Garry Foster]

Thats so close I would try and find out if the trip point is adjustable or even selectable via a resistor. Often these things are set closer than they really have to be to protect things. It all depends on how responsive those that made the controller or what ever is tripping are.

Also often the power company can change some transformer taps to adjust voltage, so maybe you will get lucky there. I must admit most of my experence has been more along the single phase distribution.


Good Luck.

Garry

[Sam Blasco]

Originally Posted by Garry Foster

Thats so close I would try and find out if the trip point is adjustable or even selectable via a resistor.
Good Luck.

Garry

It is close, and the internal tripper is adjustable, but only for a small range. I did try setting it to its max and it didn't help things. On Sunday I installed the two buck and boost transformers, dropped my voltage by almost 18 volts and things are humming along happily. I think the main motors would have been fine working in a +/-10% range from optimal, but they set the overrides narrower, and if it was just a simple switch i could have bypassed it or installed one with a wider range, but there are so many other electronics involved on this machine, six motors in all, circuit boards, micro switches, etc, I thought it would be prudent to set the voltage where the mother country says to set it.

I thinks the strangest part of this episode of the adventure is I spent a week googling, asking, yahooing, even went to the library, and no two experts agree on anything pertaining to three phase power, even sources I have trusted in the past, but certain generalities kept popping up, and from all that the transformers seemed the right choice, but until they were installed and the machine worked I just couldn't know with any certainty. Of the electrical forum boards out there it was fun to listen to the electrical engineers argue with field electricians and linesmen. Calculus arguing with common sense and experience. Good stuff and it makes some of our less tame woodworking forums out there seem tame.
So, another obstacle overcome, and some dust can start flying as I start dialing in the squaring fence (re-checking actually) and making storage platforms for the wood. Next time you hear from me there will be some additional pics.

[Pete MoncrieffJury]

Blimey, by my standards it looks like an aircraft hangar set off a motorway (freeway to you guys) I'll have to post some pics of my set up. Couldn't be more different.

I love the idea of a workshop that is visible from the galleries. Bound to generate interest.

Apart from the envy I feel I hope that it all works out for you

Pete

[Garry Foster]

Originally Posted by Sam Blasco

I thinks the strangest part of this episode of the adventure is I spent a week googling, asking, yahooing, even went to the library, and no two experts agree on anything pertaining to three phase power, even sources I have trusted in the past, but certain generalities kept popping up, and from all that the transformers seemed the right choice, but until they were installed and the machine worked I just couldn't know with any certainty. Of the electrical forum boards out there it was fun to listen to the electrical engineers argue with field electricians and linesmen. Calculus arguing with common sense and experience. Good stuff and it makes some of our less tame woodworking forums out there seem tame.
So, another obstacle overcome, and some dust can start flying as I start dialing in the squaring fence (re-checking actually) and making storage platforms for the wood. Next time you hear from me there will be some additional pics.

Sounds a lot like the 120 or 240 arguments.

Or is it that the 110/220......?

Glad you got it working......that is the final test.

Garry

[Stuart Ablett]

Originally Posted by Pete MoncrieffJury

Blimey, by my standards it looks like an aircraft hangar set off a motorway (freeway to you guys) I'll have to post some pics of my set up. Couldn't be more different.

I love the idea of a workshop that is visible from the galleries. Bound to generate interest.

Apart from the envy I feel I hope that it all works out for you

Pete

Pete, I agree, it does look like a massive space, but I'm sure the Sam will fill it up soon enough

The idea of people being able to watch the work is cool, and would drum up some interest, it would also, I think, make one work "cleaner" or at least tidy up more often

BTW Pete, I look forward to a tour of your shop!