Greetings -

Looking for some advice on running a piece of equipment with a 3-phase
motor. It's tagged at 200V, with a nameplate that says "rerated to
above
specifications by G.E."

The tool is headed for a new shop that I'm building (of very old
equipment),
so I don't have a dedicated 3-phase solution for the shop yet.

I run a small rotary converter in my current shop, and it does well
enough for my lathe, shaper, and mill. I was gearing up to put a much
larger
rotary in the new shop (have a really nice 15HP idler, and other bits
set
aside), but now I'm wondering if I should really run this one off of a
VFD, since I can theoretically limit maximum voltage on one of those.

Relatively naive physics suggests that up to some reasonable level.
over-voltage really shouldn't be a problem for an induction motor -
short of
stall conditions, it ought to draw less current, and probably run
cooler.

Of course, my naive physics has been known to get me in trouble a time
or two, as well.

Any suggestions, most greatly appreciated - this particular machine is
a fairly sacreligious query here, as it's a 1900's-vintage J. A. Fay
and Egan
woodworking Jointer, but in my defense, there's a Rivett 1030F that'll
be going online right across the aisle, just as soon as I work out
440V 3ph.

Will Ray

P.S. Any suggestions on "soft starting" a 15HP idler, such that I
could
realistically spin it up on my new shop's 200A feed (and preferably on
a
100A branch circuit), would also be delightful.