How do you power your shop?

I posted this in Cnc machining as well due to the fact a lot of the guys being home shops, but also wanted to get opinions from ones who are dealing with these types of concerns all the time.


Curious to know how you guys (mostly the home shop ones) power all your Cnc equipment.

I have 200 amp service in my house with 100 amps going directly to my shop. I currently have a 2 year old 30hp Des-Co Cnc rotary phase converter (up for sale real soon), but I am looking to upgrade due to some issues with my Ikegai Cnc Lathe.

It is a 15/20 hp machine and when ramping up it will flicker the lights in the shop (like a strobe effect) and knock out power to my Yam cnc lathe, and occasionally knock out power to my Haas VMC. The Des-Co converter is only rated for half of it's hp so the Ikegai when ramping up drawing 20hp really draws on the converter.

When I bought the Ikegai, I was told it was a 15hp machine which is why I bought the 30 hp phase converter. Had I known of the power issues due to it using 20hp to ramp up, I certainly would have gotten a bigger converter.

We have gotten by ok for the time being but it's at a point now where I need to have all the machines running most of the time in order to keep up with customer demand, and I just can't with things the way they are now.

I am looking at a Phase Perfect 20hp converter. I'm not sure though if that's big enough to run everything, but I believe someone in the past told me a 20hp Phase Perfect converter would have no problems starting a 20 hp machine.

So what are you guys powering your shops with?

Later,
Russ

Ok I'll admit, I'm not answering you question, but attempting to offer help.
Slay me as necessary...

Ever thought of running machine specific converters, maybe just a second for the big guy?

Also the hundred amps could be the issue too, how big are the wires feeding the shop? What is legal, and what works well are sometimes two different things.

Heading OT, but I know I could flicker the lights in the neighborhood when I would weld at the old house, especially on a hot August night. =) Wires and breakers were even slightly over-sized.

Doug S.

Before we can answer your question, it would be nice to know what type of applications that you have, horsepower ratings and what applications will run at the same time?

macplus said:

Before we can answer your question, it would be nice to know what type of applications that you have, horsepower ratings and what applications will run at the same time?

Click to expand...

Hey Mac.....good point!

Ikegai Cnc Lathe 15/20 Hp.
Yam Cnc Lathe 7.5Hp
Mori-Seiki Cnc Lathe 5Hp - (May not be around much longer - currently down)
Haas VF-0 VMC - I believe it's 5Hp, 7.5 Hp or 10Hp....not really sure.

Those would all be running at the same time in the perfect world....which is now....which is why I am asking for advice. Right now we have to schedule things so the Yam and Ikegai are not needed at the same time as they cannot both run at the same time with our current RPC.

Later,
Russ

One problem your facing or will be facing, your total load (if loaded up 100% ) would require more than 100amp service.
Ikegai Cnc Lathe 15/20 Hp.
Yam Cnc Lathe 7.5Hp
These two pieces of equipment alone would require about 115amps of single phase power ( based on both run at the same time and fully loaded up ).

15/20hp=17.5Hp avg + 7.5hp=25hp x 2.6amps/per hp x 1.73 = 113amps single phase amps

To expand on macplus' point, the literature for the Phase Perfect 20 hp converter states a 110-125 "recommended maximum input circuit breaker rating"

Now, they call this the "Maximum" but in light of your total hp requirements I wonder if the lower number, 110 amps, isn't also the minimum to develop the full 20 hp??