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Eight wire motor wiring?

BHolcombe

Aluminum
Joined
Apr 15, 2019
I have a Japanese made ‘super surfacer’ machine which was produced most likely in the 70’s or 80’s. It was originally wired for “220v” 3ph.

The previous owner had someone hack in a static converter by putting a starter and capacitor in the peckerhead. They messed with all of the wiring to accomplish this so I’m starting over.

The wiring diagram provided with the manual is generalized and features motor wiring with different labels and 9 leads…. Not sure what to make of that.
 
Motor tag

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Peckerhead

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This is where the wiring ties together, the switch to start this is a simple disconnect which I assume is wired into what looks like a contactor. There is an amp meter also installed which ties in here. It’s broken, so I may be replacing that also.

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Another of the peckerhead wiring

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The tag has been altered from 3 phase, to 1 phase by overstamping the 3 with a 1.

Hard to know what was done, exactly. It may be as implied, that the 3 phase motor was just re-wired to start up with the capacitor and then run "single-phased". Same way that an RPC "idler" is done. That limits power to around 50% of original.

I suppose it is possible that the motor was re-wound, but that seems less likely, it would likely have been cheaper to replace the motor.

The 9 leads would be a dual voltage motor for 3 phase. That seems correct, as I see a "380" dimly marked on the voltage line of the tag.

Edit: But that would be for a 6 wire wye/delta changeover..... so the 9 wire reference is not a clue there.

If there is a motor starter, as it appears, has that been replaced? The existing one in the pic does not look 3 phase. At least the overload seems not to monitor 3 wires. I don't recall just when the rules changed to require monitoring all 3.

What is your goal? Restoration, or getting a working machine?

I take it that you want 3 phase input capability, and full motor output?

Is the motor special in some way that makes it very hard to replace?
 
Last edited:
3ph input and full power is what I’m looking for.

Thanks for the detailed replies.

I’m not terribly interested in replacing the motor so long as it’s functional.

Not doing a restoration, I’d like it to be properly done and functional. Needs to have full power becuase I’ll be making passes using the full width of the blade.
 
I’m going to bring it to a motor shop tomorrow, fellow there wants to check it out. He suspects it might be a six lead motor with two thermal overloads.

I’m not super keen toward the idea of replacing it simply because I don’t yet know how it’s wired. It’s made with custom mounts and such so a direct replacement is not going to be without some aggravation and shop time.
 
The 6 wire motor is a very good possibility. A motor listing 220 and 380V is definitely a 6 wire motor, doing a wye-delta voltage change.

They really messed up that data plate. And for no good reason, since the motor may be the same as always.... I'd have labeled the main electrical box with the machine voltage, and not scratched-off and overstamped the motor tag.

The motor specs are not relevant if you know what to plug the machine into........
 
Glad to hear that sounds reasonable.

I can’t understand why they did any of this modifying. Who buys a machine such as this, then has an “electrician” hack it up rather than spending a few bucks on a rotary phase converter and plugging it in like normal.

These machine were a large investment (especially for a small shop) from the original importer, and he bought it something like 30 years ago, so good chance he was the first owner.
 
I dropped it off at the shop and it’s being rewound. They tested it and none of the markings made any sense. So it should be 9 wire when complete.
 
They are rewinding it.

I’m moving from the disconnect/contactor to a disconnect and mag starter with push button controls.
 








 
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