[sortafast]

So I just purchased my first new to me cnc mill. I got it delivered on friday but haven't been able to do anything to/with it. Its a Tree 325 Journeyman that is in fantabulous shape that I got delivered for a screaming deal. Looks to have only cut plastics and is very clean. Question becomes hooking it up. I put it into my Father in Law's shop. Issue is that they only have 240v single phase or 480v 3phase available. The machine I have is 230v 3 Phase unit and I am not sure it will be cost effective to get 230v 3 phase run into the building or whatever needs to happen. I am not an electrician so I have no clue how the building is wired. So is there an easy way to convert this machine to run on 480v? I can also drop in a 240v 1 phase line and run the machine off of a rotary phase converter or VFD (like I am doing on my manual mill at home). They also have an unused 480v to 208v transformer sitting around that I might see if it will work (its huge and weighs a lot and is rather big). If it does, will the 22 less volts cause any issues with the systems? I will look at it tomorrow and see what the specs on it are. Is there any thing else that can be done that is relatively cheap and easy to get power to this beast? Any other thoughts?

[jalessi]

Sortafast,

If the transformer is three phase that would be your best and least expensive option. Hopefully it has several taps to adjust the voltage and it exceeds the Kva requirement of your Tree.

Jeff...

[sortafast]

Sortafast,

If the transformer is three phase that would be your best and least expensive option. Hopefully it has several taps to adjust the voltage and it exceeds the Kwa requirement of your Tree.

Jeff...

yeah, I am 99% sure it should far exceed the need of my mill. They have 2 100ton plastic injection molding machines at the shop amongst other support machines so I am pretty sure it should work. It looks big enough to work. Its almost the size of a dishwasher. By the mill doesn't list the KVW or the KVA. It says the max amps it will draw is 20A and I think it said the motor will pull 15A by itself. I don't know what the HP rating is on the motor though. I will have to try to figure out what the mill will pull in by itself and go from there i suppose.

Also, if the transformer doesn't have multiple tap points, will the 208v be bad for the machine at rated at 230V? Will it mess up the electronics (something I desperately want to avoid)?

[jalessi]

Sortafast,


"Also, if the transformer doesn't have multiple tap points, will the 208v be bad for the machine at rated at 230V? Will it mess up the electronics (something I desperately want to avoid)?" Its on the threshold of being too low.

If your transformer only has a 208 volt tap I would try and find a used transformer dealer that would trade you for a 480 to 230 volt unit.
A 7.5 Kva transformer should be sufficient.

Just to be safe ask Al the Man for a second opinion.

Jeff...

[sortafast]

also, does anyone have a manual for this machine and wiring diagrams? I have the prog manual for the delta 20 controller but I want to get docs for the whole mill if they are available.

[underthetire]

The machine will be happy at 208. We always had less problems with them in that 208-220 range.

[Al_The_Man]

Also if you use the general acceptable tolerance for most machine requirements, and used by most Manuf. which is 10% you should be just OK.
Al.

[sortafast]

looks like the Transformer is a 150KVA unit so I don't have to worry about lack of power. I think we can tap it to get it to 220-ish but we won't know for sure until we get it plumbed in which will hopefully be less than a week. They have to get a customer's car out of the way before we can get the transformer in as its a big'un (in addition to plastics they also restore classic mustangs in their shop, interesting place for sure). I am not known for being a patient man so this is killing me.