>-> but the darn thing was a 3-phase unit.  We're *slowly* getting there.
 > Hey, there aint nothing wrong with three phase motors!  They'll run on
 > single phase!  Go to an airconditioner junkyard and chingle the man for
 > the BIGGEST run capacitor he has lying around.  The motor has three
 > wires.  Tie the run capacitor between two of them, then hook the juice
 > to the one that's left, and one of the others.
 > Depending on HOW big the run cap is, it works fine.  (Might be a bit low
 > on starting torque.)
About 20 MFD per horse power usually works. Derate the HP to about 60%. This 
is called a static converter. Starting torque can be improved by adding 
relays and start capacitors. A much better method is to build a rotary 
converter to feed a 3 phase panel and connect your other motors to it.  The 
rotoray converter doesn't need starting capacitors. It starts with relatively 
little load. Or you can bring up to speed using a pony motor.
I have a stack of reseach and literature here and have built several of both 
types. I presently run a 1 1/4 inch gear head drill press and another 3 HP 
bench grinder using static converters. They work, but not near as well as 
true three phase. They do need a bit of tinkering to set up at the beginning. 
You have to keep in mind that you will always have unbalanced current in the 
phases that must be controlled or you'll end up with a partially burned 
winding and a useless motor. Which I can rewind for a handsome price. 
--- FMail/386 1.22
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