On Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:10:27 GMT, Ken Sterling (Ken Sterling) Ken wrote:
Bruce (or anyone qualified).....
Three phase power ----- isn't each leg 120 degrees from the others?

yes

Single phase power - 220v - isn't each leg 180 degrees from the other?

Single phase means there is one leg only. Think of single phase as
line segment (one line) and three phase as a triangle (three lines).

If the above is correct (and I'm hoping I understand it correctly) it
would stand to reason, that if you needed to hook up a 220v single
phase machine and you had 3 phase available at that location you
could, (and I am not saying it's correct) connect to two of the three
phases and run the machine, even tho the sine waves wouldn't be 180
out,

Each leg is single phase.

it probably wouldn't hurt anything. Am I correct in this
assumption??? Any and all comments welcome

Read wikipedia article on Three Phase Power, it is very good.

i