New member hello.... and first question post, re: heavy 10 wiring

Hello all, long time casual reader finally joining in discussion officially... Glad to be here!

I recently picked up a 1975 heavy 10 that was originally put in service as a 3 phase machine. It has at some point along the way been switched over with a 1.5 hp 120 / 240 single phase motor (Dayton 6K272-D)...

The owner had been left to sell it due to the death of a family member, and it was not able to be seen under power. It is wired in, and appears to have been done for some time, but I do not want to make any assumptions as to the correctness of the wiring for obvious reasons.

My concern is the contactor array in the box at the rear of the machine. The control housing attached to the back gear cover is a low speed / high speed / stop button, forward reverse switch furnas unit.

I imagine with a fixed 1725 rpm single phase motor, the high / low function will not be available, but I'd like to use the original controls if possible. I could easily change to a f/r drum switch if I had to, but It looks as though that the machine has been run in this configuration before.... Anyone have experience switching a 3 phase control array over to running a single phase motor that may be able to guide in double checking the current wiring?

Thanks in advance for any guidance you may have for me!

Dan

Both single and 3 phase usually use 3 poles on tge drum switch with wiring different.

For 3 phase it simply reverses 2 of the wires and single pase similar but it is a start winding that gets switched.

The motor plate would show how to wire either or and it is simple to change that to switch wiring.

Just plug it in and see what it does.

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Tony Quiring said:

Both single and 3 phase usually use 3 poles on tge drum switch with wiring different.

For 3 phase it simply reverses 2 of the wires and single pase similar but it is a start winding that gets switched.

The motor plate would show how to wire either or and it is simple to change that to switch wiring.

Just plug it in and see what it does.

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Click to expand...

I get that, I have a good understanding of motor wiring and reversing in both types, but it is not equipped with a drum switch. It has a 3 button (slow, fast, stop) with one switch (fwd, rev) control panel that is wired through a gang of contactors in a cabinet at the rear of the machine, and the schematic inside the door is faded too badly to figure out.

The line cord in still seems to be the 3 phase configuration. no plug installed, but it is a 4 wire lead with 3 legs going to a main power contactor, and one to case ground.

Well then the fun starts...

A voltmeter and paper combined with time.

Google also friend if panel is factory yiu may find a manual or print.

If shop made then not that hard.

Locate the contactor and confirm the coil voltage.

The wiring of the coils should be simple.

The motor leads can be done by hand via tracing each wire or supplying the control voltage to the panel only and confirming with an ohmmeter how each power lead is connected to motor.

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doctorgoodwrench said:

I get that, I have a good understanding of motor wiring and reversing in both types, but it is not equipped with a drum switch. It has a 3 button (slow, fast, stop) with one switch (fwd, rev) control panel that is wired through a gang of contactors in a cabinet at the rear of the machine, and the schematic inside the door is faded too badly to figure out.

The line cord in still seems to be the 3 phase configuration. no plug installed, but it is a 4 wire lead with 3 legs going to a main power contactor, and one to case ground.

Click to expand...

There is only one thing I can suggest in a situation like this, and I do it every time this crops up.

You should do your best to draw a diagram of all the wiring in this machine, as complete as you
can make it.

Try to include all the contactors, the button control station wiring, the motor connections, and
the way in which the incoming power wiring attaches.

Because the wiring was done by the previous owner you have no idea if it was done correctly
or safely.

You will probably go through several drafts and that is to be expected, as the exact topology
of the setup is uncertain right now.

If indeed the motor is now single-speed, single phase, then possibly the best approach is to
undo the original contactor-based control and use a drum switch as you mention. And
of course you could consider reverting to a three phase motor and VFD control.

jim rozen said:

There is only one thing I can suggest in a situation like this, and I do it every time this crops up.

You should do your best to draw a diagram of all the wiring in this machine, as complete as you
can make it.

Try to include all the contactors, the button control station wiring, the motor connections, and
the way in which the incoming power wiring attaches.

Because the wiring was done by the previous owner you have no idea if it was done correctly
or safely.

You will probably go through several drafts and that is to be expected, as the exact topology
of the setup is uncertain right now.

If indeed the motor is now single-speed, single phase, then possibly the best approach is to
undo the original contactor-based control and use a drum switch as you mention. And
of course you could consider reverting to a three phase motor and VFD control.

Click to expand...

I agree completely, and I always end up starting from scratch myself as well, Just throwing a hail mary pass in hopes someone has been down the road with the same configuration... Thank you for your input. I believe the original 3 phase motor is in the bottom of the cabinet, I may very well go the VFD route if it checks out.

kinda sounds like its wired for 3 phase, someone stuck a single phase motor on and never got any further. By your description I don't know how you'd get reversing single phase out of the control rig you have.