Bought a Jet 20 inch 1.5HP Drill Press -Electrical Help Please.

[Janderso]

'gild the lily' Never heard that one.

 

[Bi11Hudson]

A sore subject to bring up, but for a home shop and type of tool it would matter. With the line adjusted for 120 volts, you would be exceeding the breaker capacity under a heavy load. Not all the time, but often enough to possibly cause problems.
Further, the inrush current (startup) will be several times the rated full load amps. (FLA) This only occurs for a second or so at startup, but for repetitive startups, the heating effect on the breaker is additive, causing nuisence trips. A consideration~~~

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[markba633csi]

Agree. 240v for that bad boy Jeff, but you could use it on 120v for the time being
Mark

 

[projectnut]

projectnut,
Sounds like you have your machine tools set up ready to work when needed.
That's my goal in the end. To be able to step up to a machine and hit the go button without having to deal with rigging an extension cord or unplugging one to plug in another.
Even though it's just me and I'm not in any hurry, I know what I like.

The drill press is going next to the mill, if I have a large piece I can set the tables at the same height if needed for support or work holding.
I miss having a drill press, I've been using the mill. Yeah, it does the job, but a drill press is just easier and quicker to get the job done.

Shhh, I'm telling my wife I am doing some horse trading to pay for it. We kind of made an agreement we were done buying stuff, after the fire.
Just this last piece, wink.

When I first started setting up the shop I hard wired in a mill and a lathe. It didn't take long to see that wasn't the best idea. The shop has gone from 2 machines to just under 2 dozen. I've moved machines around more times than I can count.

I finally decided the best coarse of action was to put a 10' to 15' flexible cord and plug on each machine, and attach outlets to the ceiling joists every 10'or so. Now I can move the machines wherever I wish as long as the cord will reach an outlet. In most cases the machines haven't needed to move for a while, so the outlet in the ceiling is only a couple feet away. All machines are plugged in all the time. I shut off the circuit breakers when not in the shop, and generally only turn on the circuits needed. It is nice to just flip the switch to use the machines rather than drag a cord across the room. Even nicer is that I'm not tripping over cords, and it's easy to sweep or vacuum the floor.

 

[Bi11Hudson]

Food for thought;
Magnetic/Thermal circuit breakers degrade a very small amount each time they are operated and should not be regularly used as a switch.

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[Janderso]

Somewhere in the back of my brain the number 100 comes up for circuit breaker cycle life??
I could be talking out of my posterior here. Not uncommon in my case.

 

[projectnut]

Food for thought;
Magnetic/Thermal circuit breakers degrade a very small amount each time they are operated and should not be regularly used as a switch.

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Somewhere in the back of my brain the number 100 comes up for circuit breaker cycle life??
I could be talking out of my posterior here. Not uncommon in my case.

I can live with that. The price of a couple breakers is well worth the peace of mind knowing there won't be any problems when I'm out of the shop. The oldest machines date from the early 1900's, with a few in the 1940's and 50's. There are some from the 60's 70's and 80's with the newest being about 15 years old. All "appear" to be in good shape but I'm not willing to take the chance that a 75 year old motor will not fail at some point.

At the shop I worked in for nearly 20 years we shut off the machine breakers every night and locked the box. The lights still worked, but no one could power up the machines. Even though the building was separate from all others in the complex there was always the chance some bozo would get in and try to use the machines for a little "government work". The last thing the boss wanted to see first thing in the morning was blood spattered walls and body parts laying on the floor from some guy who "thought" he knew how to operate the machines, and found out too late he didn't.

 

[Janderso]

there was always the chance some bozo would get in and try to use the machines for a little "government work". The last thing the boss wanted to see first thing in the morning was blood spattered walls and body parts laying on the floor from some guy who "thought" he knew how to operate the machines, and found out too late he didn't.

That reminds me of the time I was hanging around on a Saturday at Dad's Ford dealership.
I worked Saturday's quite often cleaning up and washing cars etc.
When I got my permit I was more interested in testing out the trade-ins. I learned how to drive a stick this way.
I was messing with the welding equipment, started a greasy rag on fire, rather than stomping it out I decided to use an ABC dry powder extinguisher. You know what mess that made.
Oh, and the time I was giving my 1970 Ranchero an oil change and lube. I replaced the fitting on the oiler thinking it was grease, it pumped the remainder of a 55 gallon drum of 30wt. oil on the shop floor.
I spent a few weekends working off that mess.
I'm sure glad they didn't have a lathe laying around. On the other hand, I was using the South Bend 13 in metal shop....
Yes, good idea to keep bozo out of the shop.

 

[Janderso]

That guard around the chuck is pretty laughable!

That guard has been removed, permanently.
Maybe OSHA got involved with that silly thing.

 

[markba633csi]

I'm guessing the moving Bakelite parts in a breaker wear with frequent use?
I've heard they get sticky and unreliable sometimes from old hardened grease