JB wrote:

Hi Guys,

Once again I am here with my hat in hand humbly requesting your assistance.
As some of you know, I am in the process of purchasing a Colchester Circa
1960's MK 1 1/2 lathe. It has a two speed 5hp 3 phase motor. Will I be
able to run it successfully on a static phase converter?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Regards.

Joe...




I run a 5 horse 2 speed as you are speaking of on a 7.5 horse rotary
built from a phase-a-matic heavy duty static converter rated for 8 hp.
It will NOT start the lathe on the low range but doesn't have any
problems at all with the high range.

Yea, I know...I need bigger. I just wanted to throw out some numbers
that may help. I would suspect that you will not get good service from
a static converter alone. It may be "good enough" for light work in the
speedier gear range but you'll have to seriously oversize it to go into
the low range.

Koz