22 Jan
2011
22 Jan
'11
12:50 p.m.
On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 11:55 AM, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
I would think a bench drill press wouldn't be classed as a 'portable'
power tool, and thus would be 230V. Certainly small lathes have 230V
motors (and larger ones have 415V 3 phase motors).
But routers (the woodworking tool, not the network switch :-)) would be
110V. As are electric drills, angle grinders, etc.
While the socket is rated at 16A, it will pass more for a short period.
Certainly I've sene an angle grider which can take 28A (!) under surge
conditions, and that was suppleid with a '16A' plug and runs off a normal
transformer.
There is a 32A version of the connextor (and I beleive 63A and 125A ones,
but I have never seen them, at any votlage rating). It's less common, and
I've never seen a portable transforemr with it fitted. There are larger
transformers, 5kVA rating or more, but I doubt you'd be able to feed the
input of that.
In the UK, all 'portable' power tools
used industirally (for example an
electric dril lused ona buildingsite) must be 110V units, powered from an
isolating transformer with the outptu centre-tapped to ground. The idea
is that if there's an insulation failuer, the worst shock the user could
receive is 55V, which is unlikely to be fatal.
So if you were to go to a store that sells routers or maybe a benchtop
drill press with a 1hp induction motor, that would be 115 volts? Over here, portabel transformers giving 110V are
quite common. They are
often rated at 3000VA (the maximum we can get from a UK 13A socket
outlet) and have a pair of 110V 16A output sockets.
The 110 lines here are usually rates at 15 amps, but can sometimes be
rated at 20 amps with (or sometimes without) a special plug with one
of the spades rotated 90 degrees. I'd like to be able to handle the
20 amps, although 15 would probably be enough. Even if you're `just' an enthusiast, scuh
a transformer is worth having.
Some power tools, particularly, the industrial-spcification ones only
come in 110V versions. And although the output is centre-tapped to earth
rather than having one side earthed, the transformer is useful for
running US stuff over here, at least for testing (I made up a cable with
a BS4343 plug on one end and a US socket on the other).
These transfoemrs are not particuarly cheap (I
would guess perhaps $200
or so), and they are not light, so shipping might be expensive. But they
are designed to run power tools.
This sounds like what I'm after. Can you point me at one online somewhere?