Wiring up MLCS #9072 Safety Motor Power Switch.

[dbhost]

I have the MLCS #9072 Safety Motor Power Switch mounted to the upright post on my HF #32208 band saw, however I have no clue how to wire it. Can anyone help me dig up docs on these switches?

I should mention, for now, I want to wire it up to the 110V 1HP motor, however, in the long run, I intend to upgrade to a 1.5HP 220V single phase motor, so I will need to know how to wire it for both configurations.

I am planning on completely removing the OEM switch, and painting / installing a metal box cover to hide the hole in the base. I genuinely HATE the OEM switch location...

[LCHIEN]

i think i have one of those, i'll look it up later in the week if you can wait a bit.

[Tom Slick]

If you post a picture of the terminals on the switch I'll tell you exactly how to wire it.

[dbhost]

I won't be in the shop at all until late Saturday, but will have some hours in there. Need to spend some time squaring up some stock, tuning up the Saturn in the driveway, and milling a profile on a base for a pen and business card holder for a friend...

Early Saturday will be spent going to Clarks in Houston for some rough rift sawn white oak for my threshold project. (caliper and moisture meter in hand!), I have figured the profiles out and hope and pray I can pull this off. I am hoping that Clarks 4/4 is actually more like 5/4 so I can resaw, joint, and plane down to a final size of 3/8" (I do NOT want to have anything too high, my BIL is extremely low vision, and will likely trip on anything too proud of the surface...)

I need to get my stock in and will end up stickering it on my rack for about 2 weeks before use. I am figuring on about 10 board feet is what I need, but I have a LOT of projects I need to get to, and from what rough oak is going for up in town, I figure on getting about 50 bd/ft...

No huge hurry on the switch thing, my biggest issues will be when I go 220V, which I still need to pull power for. I need to make a few extra $$ so I can push past the insulation / power / sheet rock phase of my shop build...

[Cochese]

Very interested as well, for the exact same reason. Although, no plans for 220.

[LCHIEN]

the switch has four terminals. You will see some text molded into the backside of the body of the switch that says LINE, and LOAD with arrows pointing to one side of the switch or the other.

Attach the source (wires going to the power company) hot and neutral to the pair of contacts labeled LINE.

Attach the hot and neutral wires going to the machinery to the terminals marked LOAD.

You should use the LINE and LOAD terminals opposite to each other for HOT and the other pair opposite to each other for Neutral. It doesn't really matter whether HOT or NEUTRAL go at the top or bottom of the switch, but they must be the same opposite each other.

Connect the ground wires from each cable to the ground bar located inteh bottom of the switch housing.

If you don't understand what I'm saying or talking about you need a professional to do this for you.

[dbhost]

the switch has four terminals. You will see some text molded into the backside of the body of the switch that says LINE, and LOAD with arrows pointing to one side of the switch or the other.

Attach the source (wires going to the power company) hot and neutral to the pair of contacts labeled LINE.

Attach the hot and neutral wires going to the machinery to the terminals marked LOAD.

You should use the LINE and LOAD terminals opposite to each other for HOT and the other pair opposite to each other for Neutral. It doesn't really matter whether HOT or NEUTRAL go at the top or bottom of the switch, but they must be the same opposite each other.

Connect the ground wires from each cable to the ground bar located inteh bottom of the switch housing.

If you don't understand what I'm saying or talking about you need a professional to do this for you.

No, I got it... Never noticed any text molded in to the back of the switch. Will have to look more carefully... It's the line and load that I was concerned with...

[Cochese]

Mine just arrived today, and the instructions aren't very thorough. Do I just drill out the holes for the relief? There's two metal brackets attached to the housing, one has PF labelled, but absolutely no indication if this is important.

Also, I'm headed out to grab some lunch and wanted to pick up some wire and connections, but I don't think I'll have time to inspect the bandsaw before I do. What gauge wire should I be looking at?

[dbhost]

The reliefs on mine had the holes in them already, I think... Mind you, like I mentioned in the PMs I have only mounted it, I am waiting to swap the 220V motor in to wire mine up...

I will have to double check when I get home... I was planning on using some of those pass through wire clamps for the job instead of the reliefs...

[Cochese]

For anyone in the future looking at an archive of this thread, the proper wire for at least relocating the switch is 16/3. Available at Home Depot.

[dbhost]

Update, and I apologize to anyone finding this in the future as I started another thread on this issue. I got lazy and never went beyond installing the box itself to the post. I am still working on figuring out the ground situation. Loring is quite right on the markings. One side of hte switch IS marked line, the other IS marked load, just on mine the markings are hard to see.

The sole issue remaining, and once I get it figured out I will complete the install and test, is where does the ground connect.

On mine at least, there are 2 brass bars with screws that look like grounding busses. Do I keep the grounds on separate busses, or do I ground them together?

I have multiple, damaged at some point but still great wire in the middle 16ga outdoor extension cords that will make perfect donors of cable to this project. Dpending on the cost of bulk cable at Home Depot, you might be better off buying a cheap outdoor rated 16ga extension cord and chopping it up as a donor...

[dbhost]

So here is the pic of the box. You can see the 2 bus bars, one is marked what looks like PE or something, the other is unmarked. I am thinking, perhaps incorrectly which is why I ask, but line comes on, gets connected to the switch, ground to the unmarked bus, Load comes in on the other side gets connected to the load side of the switch, and... ground connects to, the PE marked bus?

[LCHIEN]

Looks like PE, not PF. You can see the lower bar making it an E.
PE may means Protective Earth.
Which is separate from the Ground in the three wire house wiring system.
I'd just leave it unconnected.
Connect both your tool load side ground and the line side ground to one bar; leave the other (PE) unused.

If for some odd reason you had a local ground connection as in a Faraday cage or something you could use the PE bus for that.

https://wonderfulengineering.com/mai...unding-answer/

8.2.6: Protective Conductor Connecting Points

No. 5019 Protective earth (ground): The protective conductor connects two points in appliances or parts, nothing more. The connecting points to be labeled Green and Yellow for distinct identification. The symbols are usually seen to identify the terminals intended for external conductor connections, or the earthing terminal, for prevention of shock.

[dbhost]

So not on the PE connection, that kind of leaves by default, tying both together and the grounding bus bar. The original configuration had the grounds tied together AND bolted to the stand of the saw. I somewhat doubt that will work well for me, but I am figuring on instead of removing the motor to get to the wire box, I was going to go back with the orignal switch box, and make my wiring connections in there by wire nutting, or crimping the connections together, I could make my stand ground at that point to keep the mechanics of the saw grounded, but doutbe I need to do that...

Oh, and FWIW, I am going from 6' power cord from the OE cord, to a 9', which is awesome since the OE was horribly short. And I sacrificed a $7.00 grocery store 16ga extension cord for the wire. Cheaper than buying bulk wire, and I opted to not hack up one of my 50' Christmas light extension cords...

So once the crimps and new crimper get here, I sould be able to finish this up somewhat quickly...

It's actually nice to be even though it is through fits and starts, making progress on a project I sidelined literally a decade ago... I just want to bang them out.

[LCHIEN]

Since the PE bar is not connected to anything but just floating, you can freely use it to extend your ground bar if you wish. But in reality, jumpering it to the other ground bar uses up one screw terminal on each so I don't see any gain. If you want to ground your table frame then you will probably be best putting two wires under one of the screws.
Or the ugly solution of three wires into one appropriate sized wire nut. Three of them the incoming ground, load ground, and the table ground and not using the bar. which is apparently not connected to anything.