Fitting an 110v power feed to a Chester 626 milling machine

[Johnlukes]

Hi All,
Before I purchase an align 500 p 110 volt x axis power feed, I want to determine if there is a 110 volt supply anywhere to be had on my mill. It is a Chester 626 with a factory fitted 3 phase motor and built in inverter.
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks
John

 

[BaronJ]

Hi John,

You should get a 230 volt unit if possible, otherwise its going to be a 230 to 110 volt transformer. You will need access to the star point and any phase to get the supply voltage of 230.

As an aside, I thought that you had moved to the USA !

 

[Johnlukes]

Hi,
I thought that might be the case, but the 240 volt version seems to be harder to come by and more expensive!
What made you think I had emigrated? No plans for anything like that

 

[BaronJ]

Hi John,

Put it down to old age and mistaken ID. I thought that you were the John Jukes I used to know from a few years ago.
Sorry about that.

 

[Pencast]

hi
looking at the electrical panel in the photo ,it looks like a 240volt unit ,do you have a inverter fitted , this milling machine doesnot have a 110volt transformer fitted .they were sold as a seperate unit ,to be fitted as an extra, chester may have fitted this transformer unit internaly within the body,
if you wish to send some photos af all the electric component on the machine i will look into it for you ,

 

[Johnlukes]

hi
looking at the electrical panel in the photo ,it looks like a 240volt unit ,do you have a inverter fitted , this milling machine doesnot have a 110volt transformer fitted .they were sold as a seperate unit ,to be fitted as an extra, chester may have fitted this transformer unit internaly within the body,
if you wish to send some photos af all the electric component on the machine i will look into it for you ,

Hi Pencast,
The inverter is fitted within the machine, I need to remove the transformer box to get in and take a look, I’ll try and do that today and post up another picture.
Thanks
John

 

[Johnlukes]

Hi Pencast,
The inverter is fitted within the machine, I need to remove the transformer box to get in and take a look, I’ll try and do that today and post up another picture.
Thanks
John

So this is the inverter inside the body of the milling machine

 

[awake]

As I understand it, you are feeding 240v single phase into the inverter, and it is three phase from there. Is that right? In the US, it would be possible to wire a 240v outlet with not only a ground, but also a neutral that is 120v from either hot leg. With that neutral available, you can take 120v straight off the single-phase mains, before it goes into the inverter. But ... is that sort of wiring available in the UK? Or is it just the two hot legs plus a ground?

 

[BaronJ]

In the UK it is live, neutral, protective earth.
240 Volts between live and neutral. Neutral and earth are normally tied at the substation and at the point of entry to the property.

 

[BaronJ]

John Lukes,

If you know the power rating of the power feed you are interested in, you can buy a transformer of that rating quite cheaply. Otherwise why not just make your own ! There are lots of designs kicking about on the web.

 

[nealeb]

...or go to a car boot sale and buy a second-hand ex-site 110V isolating transformer. They are typically fairly cheap and not unusual at car boot sales. The only point to watch is that the output is generally centre-tapped with the centre tap taken to earth so that the output voltage on either output terminal is never more than 55V above earth. You do need to check that it would be compatible with the power connections on the power feed unit. At worst, though, it's generally possible to take the top off the transformer case and remove the internal earth connection so you have a straightforward 110V isolated output. I did this when I converted my lathe - using an inverter to get 415V 3 phase meant that I no longer had 110V available for the control electronics so I just used an old site transformer.

I actually have a Warco VMC, pretty similar to the Chester 626, which I bought with power feed fitted. That uses a 240V-110V transformer which is completely independent of the rest of the electrics (down to a separate 13A plug) but I know that the electrics on this class of machines does vary according to date of manufacture and who is putting their badge on it.

 

[Pencast]

John
looking at the photos, this machine has no 110 volt terminals to tap into.
I agree with the other comment ., I have a site transformer in my workshop on a ring main system , i use 3 power feed units on my bridgeport mill, also 110volt power draw bar ,also useful for power tools . cheap to buy easy to get hold of.
plenty on e bay .
You could also fit a 240volt to 110 transformer in the control box fitted to the machine .
I think that the transformer you have there is for the work light .
hope this helps
if you get stuck let me know , i will have a look at my stock for a transformer .
Pencast

 

[h7eh7e]

May try to take the desired voltage from the transformer.