Another obligatory New PM-833TV and PM-1340GT Ordered!

This is the aftermath of a global disruption due to the pandemic. The delays are being seen in many industries, not just machine tools. From what I understand it's tough to buy vehicles, and appliances, and soon TV's due to the world wide chip shortages. Major disruptions can have lasting impacts. I hope things settle out soon, and things approach normal. I'd love to upgrade some of my machinery, but for the most part, it's quite difficult now. Hardly anyone has stock.

@Christianstark Hang in there. The wait will be worth it.
 
I totally get it. I just think when an order is pushed out several weeks to a month, it should be communicated.

WobblyHand said:
This is the aftermath of a global disruption due to the pandemic. The delays are being seen in many industries, not just machine tools. From what I understand it's tough to buy vehicles, and appliances, and soon TV's due to the world wide chip shortages. Major disruptions can have lasting impacts. I hope things settle out soon, and things approach normal. I'd love to upgrade some of my machinery, but for the most part, it's quite difficult now. Hardly anyone has stock.

@Christianstark Hang in there. The wait will be worth it.
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Ok. Starting to research running power for my machines.

I think I have landed on a 40 amp breaker with some 8G copper Romex type that I had left over after removing an older double oven run at the house to wire a dedicated outlet for my Miller Multimatic 215 welder.

For my machines, I am trying to decide what to do. Do I run a dedicated breaker for each? If so, what size breaker, and what gague wire would you suggest? The 833tv will be here first. For flexibility, do you suggest I buy spools of single conductor THHN and run and pull through conduit? Stick with standard NEMA outlets, or go twistlock? Other opinions?

thanks!
 
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On a 2 Hp motor, typically a 20A breaker with 12AWG fire should be fine. Assumes single phase with a full load current of around 12A and not tripping the breaker on starting. If 3 phase and powering with a 2 Hp VFD, also 20A even though they recommend a 30A which would need 10AWG wiring. I ran both lathe (2 Hp 3 phase/VFD) and bench mill (3 Hp BLDC) off 20A breakers in the past, and I had each machine on it's own breaker. My current lathe and mill are 3 Hp on oversized 3 phase VFD's so I use 30A breakers with 10AWG wiring. Separate breakers are nice if you have the panel space and the ability to pull multiple circuits.
 
My subpanel is in the small room where I will be running conduit. Is there reason to go ahead and err on the 10 gauge side of things now? Price of copper won’t really be an issue with the runs I need.


I’m also thinking about getting 100 foot spools of 10 gauge in red, black, and green to run the 220 power, and have left overs when I move my shop, though it may be a year or so till I can have the larger space prepped. The mill has a VFD built into it, and I’ll be installing VFD on the lathe.
mksj said:
On a 2 Hp motor, typically a 20A breaker with 12AWG fire should be fine. Assumes single phase with a full load current of around 12A and not tripping the breaker on starting. If 3 phase and powering with a 2 Hp VFD, also 20A even though they recommend a 30A which would need 10AWG wiring. I ran both lathe (2 Hp 3 phase/VFD) and bench mill (3 Hp BLDC) off 20A breakers in the past, and I had each machine on it's own breaker. My current lathe and mill are 3 Hp on oversized 3 phase VFD's so I use 30A breakers with 10AWG wiring. Separate breakers are nice if you have the panel space and the ability to pull multiple circuits.
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If you're buying THHN (or solid core) spooled wire, then presumably you'll be running that in conduit. That's how my shop is wired - #10 THHN in 1/2" EMT. I pull Black, Red, White (neutral), and Green to each drop - that way I can peel off 110VAC or 220VAC or both as required. 1/2" EMT will support up to 5 #10 conductors.
 
That’s interesting. I never considered that. So I could run 4 wires to each machine location, and power the 220v motors as well as all the 110v accessories, like DRO and power feed. I think I will up my breaker to 30A, and run 2 x 10 Gauge x 4 conductor legs.
davidpbest said:
If you're buying THHN (or solid core) spooled wire, then presumably you'll be running that in conduit. That's how my shop is wired - #10 THHN in 1/2" EMT. I pull Black, Red, White (neutral), and Green to each drop - that way I can peel off 110VAC or 220VAC or both as required. 1/2" EMT will support up to 5 #10 conductors.
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Run #10 stranded so you can pull it through the conduit, it will also give you the option to use a 30A breaker if you move up to 3 Hp machines in the future. I pull 4 wire to my machines because I split off 120V for drives, DRO, etc. I use a supplemental breaker at the machine otherwise 20A 120V sockets.
 
Christianstark said:
Hi all! So due to a bit or ordering confusion on my part, I pulled the trigger on a 1340GT earlier than I had anticipated, to add to my previously ordered 833-TV! Bob Ross would call that a happy little accident. So the waiting period has begun. My happy accident has eaten away my tooling budget unfortunately, so I will be looking for some low cost hand me downs on the for sale channel here. I need it all. I also opted for the 3 Phase version of the 1340GT, so I will also be doing some research on how to select, and build controls built around a VFD for that.

I may be asking @mksj for advice here, or at least pointing me to some of his previous advice posts on how to get that started.

For now, I will start researching how to add a sub panel to my existing 200A panel, so I can run the 220V needed for these machines.

Busy times ahead!
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Maybe by the time you get your machine I will have posted my design for the VFD conversion. I'm >95% complete on the conversion of my PM1440GT to VFD. The difference with mine from most of the others I have seen is that it is solid state. I got rid of all of the big clunky contactors /relays, the big transformer etc. and so I then had room in the back of the stand hole to put "everything" including the VFD and power braking resistor. I still need to built a mount for my proximity detector and need to get a small panel connector for its cable. It all seems to work great and seems to fullfil all of the safety requirements. Once, I figured it out the electronics were simple and cheap. As is proably always the case, the wiring logistics was the biggest deal. --- Dave
 
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