Phase converter questions

[btomlinson]

Hi everyone, have a few questions about phase converters.

#1 Does anyone have any experience with running a Haas SL20 (20hp) or similar lathe with live tooling and servo bar feeder on single phase power ?

#2 I have looked at American Rotary's converters. would there be any drawback to initially buying a large unit ( 50hp +) where you would have room to expand to multiple machines running simultaneously

#3 Does anyone have a estimate on how much more electricity a single phase converter uses compared to a true three phase setup ?

Thanks for everyone's help

[wisp]

Hi Tom, I use an 15hp American Rotary brand phase converter on a 10hp CNC mill, and it has performed excellent.

You should be good to go with a 50hp converter. With a lathe, you normally double the spindle HP for the converter. Lathes draw more load on the converter .

My phase convert seems to use very little electricity, i have seen no impact from it on my electric bill.

Here is a link to a video of my machine running if you are interested.... FLASH VIDEO