Help Help - 230V rewire questions....

[drumpriest]

Hi guys, here is where I feel like an idiot, I need to rewire my bandsaw to 230V, it's an 18" Jet, prewired for 115v. This is fairly straight forward, except for all of those pesky actually doing it details. I can handle moving a couple of wires around on the motor housing and getting it setup for 230v, but I then need to replace the power wire for 230v operation.

I bought a dryer pigtail from the BORG, but I don't think it'll work. It's quite a bit too heavy duty to attach to the switch for 1 thing. But I'm also stuck just trying to get the old wire out of the freakin saw! I figured I'd attach some twine to the cable so that I can snake a new one back into the saw, but I cannot get the stupid grommet thing off of the wire at the bottom of the saw.

Anyone know how these work?? Can I get them off without breaking them?

[Daryl]

Where the grommet seems to have a separate piece , squeeze it with pliars and it will go back into (or out of) the metal part and can be removed.

[drumpriest]

Yeah, that's what I figured, and I've tried that, no success as of yet.

[Tom Slick]

you'd be better off buying just the end, not the whole cord/plug assy.

[drumpriest]

So you think the cord on there is ok for 230v? The manual says no, but it's 14G. I could just cut the plug off and wire a 230v plug onto it, I suppose.

[shoottx]

Electrical wire size calculator

http://www.csgnetwork.com/wiresizecalc.html

[Hellrazor]

Those grommets suck to remove. You have about a 50% chance of wrecking one when doing it. Use a pair of vice grips and slowly increase the tension.

I like to use a minimum of #12 for 220 cords. What AMP rating is the unit @220?

[BobSch]

I like to use a minimum of #12 for 220 cords. What AMP rating is the unit @220?

It sould be 1/2 what the 110 draw so the existing cord shouldn't be a problem. Check the text on the cord itself, it should likst the guage and insulation voltage.

[drumpriest]

It's only a 20amp at 115v, so should be 10 amp at 230v. I am converting it because I have only 15 amp 115v circuits in the shop, and I have an ample 230v supply, also there is a shop wide off switch for all of the 230v tools, which is difficult for little hands to get to.

According to the caculator it should work. It recommends 14G for my needs. So maybe I just need to go buy a plug, and a different 230v outlet, I bought a dryer outlet.

[Uncle Cracker]

You guys do know that the motor will only pull half the amps when supplied with twice the voltage, right?? This is why all your high-power appliances (range, A/C, dryer, etc.) are already set up for 220V, because the wires needed for the same appliance at 110V would need to be huge. The 14-gauge pigtail will be fine at 220V (you just need to change the plug). This is, of course, provided that you make the necessary re-wires at the motor, and that the switch is a double-pole type (switches both the incoming power wires). A single-pole switch would switch the machine on and off, but one side of the windings would still be energized when the switch was in the off position, which is a bad idea...

[drumpriest]

Ha ha, yeah Uncle Cracker, that's why in my last remark I said that it'll pull 10amp at 230v. The manual's switch diagram looks like it should be the same wiring for 115v or 220v, so I would imagine that's a double pole switch. So this project just got a lot easier.

[Tom Slick]

Just out of curiosity, did the plug have one blade sideways?

[drumpriest]

eh? Tom? What are you asking? The plug that comes on the bandsaw is a 115v standard plug. It does actually run on my house circuit, but I'm not comfortable with running it on a 15 amp circuit.

[BobSch]

If it's a standard plug, it's designed to draw less than 15 amps.

[Thalermade]

eh? Tom? What are you asking? The plug that comes on the bandsaw is a 115v standard plug. It does actually run on my house circuit, but I'm not comfortable with running it on a 15 amp circuit.

I think what he is asking is if the 220 plug has one of the two blades set at a 90 degree angle to the other (a 1/4 turn). 220 plugs can be the same physical size as the 115 plugs, they just have a blade turned. As from my experience changing my DC from 115 to 220.


Appliance plugs, from my experience with range and dryers in my house are the very large plugs.

Hope this helps
Russ