Help With Clicking Press!

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Good for you! I like vintage industrial machinery. It can easily be retrofitted with a guard for the back, and the tripping mechanism to keep all your fingers.

As to 3 phase at home. I have my machine shop equipment from my closed shop in a workshop at my folks old place, and run it fine with an additional 3 phase motor. We call them Jack Motors here. You wire through this motor then to your equipment . Spin the JM by hand then start your machine. This runs my 18 x 54" Monarch lathe, vertical mill, surface grinder, etc...

Some use a variable frequency drive so they can also get variable speed.

Phase converters are available, if you go this route get a rotary model, not a static.

Swap the motor. This is actually something you can do yourself.

[najram2007]

Thanks guys. I think I will need luck with this one. BigGun thanks for the info. If its not too much trouble can you please post pictures of your jack motor set up? I would like to learn more about how to convert to single phase.

[Trevor]

Hi there Najram.

Good to see you have made a decision.

I think by looking at the motor you could probably just buy another motor that is single phase and throw it on. Make sure if you do that the mounting bracket is the same. It will be bigger that's all. You may have to get a high current fuse put in at home to handle the additional current on start up that's all. If you live in an old home you may have to wire in a new cable (to you outlet) as the extra high start current may damage the wiring as well.

You make sure that you keep your fingers out of the way and build that linkage.

Good luck mate. happy clicking

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I'll see if I can dig up a drawing. In the mean time let me try to describe it, oh and by the way with this set up you will only get 2/3rds output. So if it is a 3 HP, you can use 2 of it. This was never a problem for my machine tools.

You will need a 220v plug (we always use pigtails for a clothes dryer, and a dryer outlet at the wall) a 3 phase motor of the same size or larger, and your equipment. I never had to buy an extra motor as there always seemed to be plenty getting tossed for one reason or another.

Each 3 phase motor will have 4 wires - 3 hots, and a ground.

Wire all of the grounds together.

Take one of the 220 plug lines and wire it to one of the jack motor wires, and wire those 2 to one of the equipment motor wires.

Take the other 220 line and wire the same way with the next set of wires as you did the first set.

Now take the remaining wire on each of the motors and wire them together.

To start my lathe I wrap a cord around the jack motor shaft and give it a pull. As the motor is spinning I push the plug into the outlet which will keep the jack motor running. Now you just turn on the equipment like normal. If the equipment motor is running in reverse, just stop , and spin the jack motor the opposite direction as before.

Now a word on motors. The hz need to be compatible with your wiring. Here in the States we can run European 50hz motors on our standard 60hz current, but you cannot run 60hz on 50hz or it will burn up. Here the motor runs a little slower, and cooler which isn't an issue if there is a varispeed control. I ran into this with the winery equipment that I used to rebuild for various wineries in the Napa valley. Not sure what you have in OZ. Also some, not all, but some 3 phase motors are voltage specific IE; 480v only. Luckily most are dual voltage 220/440, and all is needed to change voltage is connecting the proper combination of wires together according to the diagram on the motor. Easy peasy :-)

[wolfe9]

Biggun has you going in the right direction , let me see if I can brake it down a little for you When he is talking about a "jack motor " what he is doing is using a 3ph motor to generate 3ph

power , so you need to acquire a 3ph motor slightly larger than the motor on the machine that you

need to run . ( I will try to find a how to link for you )

Option #2 would be a "static " phase converter that is made up of capacitors to generate the thir

leg , many people say not to use a static converter but I have used them for years with no problems

Quick note EVERY option (except changing the motor )has some trade off , most conversion options

result is less available power at the machine motor but I have never had any problems related to low power , I think it will only be a problem if you are running a machine at maximum capacity . I

think that with this type of a machine it will be a non issue , it can be more of an issue on a mill or saw . more on trade offs later .

Option #3 buy a rotary phase converter , pretty much same as option #1 but factory built and

designed to be a phase converter ( works good but not cheap )

Option #4 Variable Frequency Drive , these have come down in price over the last several years and have the advantage of giving you the ability to change the speed of the motor you are driving but like everything that can have its downfalls too , VFD's are also small and pretty easy to install.

Dont stress over the belt guard or safety linkage those should be pretty easy . I will try to find some links and get them posted later .

Hope this was of some help

[najram2007]

Thanks for all this priceless information guys! I didn't end up buying the mechanical clicker. I was a bit late in making my mind up on buying it and it was sold to someone else. That's how it goes sometimes. It would've been a great edition to the workshop but my production is low at this stage and didn't really need it. And also I will be moving in the near future and was concerned about moving it around too often. For the time being I will invest in converting a 20ton hydraulic shop press for small runs and use a friends clicker for bigger runs. I did have a look at an Italian made clicker last week that was for sale which was in great working order. I did enquire about getting a converter installed and it will cost more than the machine it self !! and I don't have the experience and know-how to use all this amazing info to do it my self. I someday hope to use it in the near future.

[Geneva]

Good going. It will make your shop. There are some parts missing I have enclosed a photo of what is missing from the cutting table. I hope the photo is large enough to see the missing parts. There is a steel frame around the backing board that is bolted to the table also. There is a backing board on your's but it is made of plywood and lacking the steel frame and hold down parts. You can turn the machine into single phase without to much trouble. It maybe easier said than done but all you need is a single phase motor and an electrican to rewire it. Good luck to you.