3 phase plasma cutter help

[busa4]

i am skilled in automotive electrical wiring but when it comes to household wiring those 3 to 4 wires confuse the s%$t out of me. i purchased a hypertherm powermax 1650 g3 thinking it was a 220 single phase unit. oops! its actually a 200-600v 3 phase unit so this is where i am lost. what do i need to run this machine in my garage with a 220v single phase power supply?
please someone help this ignorant fool....

[jimcolt]

The only real way to get 3 phase power from your single phase power source is to use a phase converter. The only ones that I am aware of that are efficient enough, and large enough to handle the power requirements of a Powermax1650 are rotary phase converters. Here is a link to a website that sells them and seems to offer advice and a lot of info about how they operate.
3 Phase Converter Info- Sales- rotary phase converter, static 3 phase rotary converters.


From my exerience with larger industrial plasma systems..the Phase converter needs to be sized to handle approximately 150 to 200% of the power requirements listed on the nameplate for the plasma system. This means the phase converter would have to be pretty large, and probably quite expensive...

You may be better off selling the 1650 and getting a a plasma system that will operate on your single phase power. The Powermax1250 or Powermax85 are both capable of heavy cutting (the 85 has almost the same capability as the 1650) on single phase power.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

Originally Posted by busa4 i am skilled in automotive electrical wiring but when it comes to household wiring those 3 to 4 wires confuse the s%$t out of me. i purchased a hypertherm powermax 1650 g3 thinking it was a 220 single phase unit. oops! its actually a 200-600v 3 phase unit so this is where i am lost. what do i need to run this machine in my garage with a 220v single phase power supply? please someone help this ignorant fool....

[busa4]

thanks jim.
i wont need the 100 amp capability of the plasma. i got it for a good deal. my main cutting will be 3/8-1/2" thick material. whats the least hp rotary phase converter i would need to power this unit to cut this material thickness?

[jimcolt]

The problem with plasma cutters (all of them) is that they require high inrush current each ime the arc starts, regardless of what you have the output amperage set at. I would be guessing if I told you what size phase converter you would need. If it is too small, It may provide enough amperage to keep the torch running at less than 100 amps....but may not be able to provide inrush current (the ability to ramp up power quickly) that would allow the torch to initially fire.

On every application I have worked with....with our larger industrial plasma systems....the minimum phase converter to get the arc to start reliably was rated at 1.5 times the maximum current draw of the plasma system.

It may be best to talk with the phase converter manufacturers...they may have experience in this area...specifically with plasma cutters.

Jim Colt

[busa4]

ok. thats makes sense now. ill have it fixed and then sell it as i will have no way of powering it up. a phase converter of that amperage is ~2000.00 which doesnt justify keeping it.
thanks jim