Make your own 3 phase converter :-)

[manyhobies]

Hello

If you have 3 phase equipment and do not have 3 phase you can build your own converter by using a 3 phase motor the same size or larger than the motor you want to run. The trick is to hook two of the three legs of the motor up to 220. The 3 phase motor gets hooked up to all of the converter legs (of course with a switch in between). The converter motor needs some way to get spinning which could be with a rope, a kick, or a 1/2 hp single phase motor. With the motor spinning turn on the 220. The converter motor will run on 220. Now the 3 phase motor has 3 phases that are just about 120degrees apart that are enough to start a 3 phase motor. The 3 phase motor will not have quite the starting power like it would on true 3 phase but it does start and run.

I hope this helps someone out.

Regards

Dan

[Al_The_Man]

If you do a search here there have been several posts on building your own, including links to sites. The important part is the capacitor tuning it is more convenient usually to have auto start, via PB and start cap.
Al.