Buddy 220?

[acb]

OK, my 32" Buddy (w. router) is on order and the electrician is dropping by tomorrow.

Is there significant advantage to running the Buddy off 220, or should I just ask for a couple of 110 circuits?

[Gary Campbell]

Art...
There should be some documentation as far as the electrical requirements for your machine. Not being very familiar with the Buddy, I cant advise you beyond the fact that, if you do have the option to wire it for 220V the machine will run cooler and have slightly more power. However, most ShopBots leave the factory with fairly rigid electrical specs, ShopBot should be able to give you the requirements for yours.
Gary

[acb]

Well, the specs say "110 volt (12 amp); or 220 volt (6 amp) [Single phase, 50-60Hz]." Not sure exactly how that option is implemented on the Buddy, whether I get to wire the appropriate plug or what, but that's the least of my worries.

The PC router is rated for another 15A (110 only) so I'm gonna be putting in two circuits no matter what. And this is for a home shop; I don't have any other 220 gear and I don't expect to be running the Bot all that heavily.

So my question is pretty subjective, but I guess I'd put it this way: On a scale of zero to five... where zero is "makes no difference at all," and five is "if you don't do it you'll regret it, soon, and for the rest of your life"...
how do experienced Shopbotters feel about running their Bots on 220 versus 110 VAC?

[myxpykalix]

I run mine on 220 it takes less electricity to run 220 than 110 however i can't give you the technical specs on why.
I have a 20" thickness planer, 8" jointer, 18" bandsaw, and the bot all are 220.

220 is nothing more than 2 110 lines combined.

[ed_lang]

Art,
Call ShopBot and ask the folks who make the machine. They will know best.

[road_king]

ART,
I am planning on purchasing a Shopbot Buddy SOON. I found the electrical requirements on the SHOPBOT web homepage. Try going to the homepage then click on "products" on the top. The "Electrical Requirements" will appear on the left side of the web page. I printed the doc and will give to my electrician. Hope this helps.

[blackhawk]

Art - I would definitely go for the 220 volt hook up. The big thing is that you will cut your amperage pull in half through your feed wiring. This is much safer in terms of fire safety. Less amperage equals less heat in the wires. It also helps on voltage drop if you have a long wiring run.

[dana_swift]

Art and all-

The SB-32 I have is wired internally as two 110v circuits with a single contactor and TPST main switch. The clear intention is to use a 220v circuit, but since there is no power savings whatsoever because it is in fact two 110v circuits. The stepper motor drivers can take a lot of power if the gantry is pushing close to stall forces, so the double feed is a real requirement.

I strongly suggest you use standard 220v to the bot, then wire your router to the contactor inside the control box so the bot control software can start and stop the router automatically. The stopping the router automatically when a fault is detected can prevent damaging things.

The 110v router will get its 110 volts off the 220 circuit supplied to the bot control box. At first this is all confusing, but it will make more sense when your bot is delivered and you can see how it is set up.

For what its worth, I plug my 220volt wired bot into a 220v 30Amp welder plug. Then I can unplug it and move it like any other tool. I recommend you have your electrician just wire up a 30A 220v welding circuit (4 wire is safer). Then make a power cable for your bot with 10/4 stranded cable (not cheap.. but worth it) and wire it to a mating male plug. Then any time you want to guarantee the bot is safe you can just unplug it.

To connect the router to the bot control box, I cut a 12ga extension cord in half and wired the female end to the router control contactor. Then I just plug in the PC router "like normal". Since I have had to change my router already, that really made it easy.

FYI my (high pressure low volume) vacuum system (two pumps) operates off a separate pair of 20A 110 volt circuits, but it doesn't need to shut off automatically in emergencies, instead I prefer it to stay running so my part stays in setup so it might be possible to restart-the cuts after making appropriate corrections to whatever went wrong.

Likewise dust collection is on a separate circuit that can keep running when the router shuts off.

Art- if you would like photos of any of this, I will happily take some.. You are in for a very pleasant experience, bewildering at first, but worth the trouble!

Hope that helps

D

[dana_swift]

Another thought about the advantages of a real 220 volt circuit...

If you read on these forums you will see that some people have had serious problems with electrical noise.

A unseen advantage of a 220 volt circuit, is it consists of two 110 volt circuits (phases) where the voltage in the two legs is going in the opposite direction at all times. (They are 180 degrees out of phase.)

All electrical circuits create magnetic fields proportional to the flowing current (and cross section area), but having two circuits wired next to each other going in opposite directions tends to cancel out the magnetic field generated. This helps reduce the energy available to crosstalk into places where you don't want it.

If you use two 110v circuits on the same phase, it will work electrically, but you do not get this benefit.

One last benefit of a standard 220v circuit is the double circuit breakers. If one phase faults, both phases get powered off.

And lastly if you use a 208 volt 3 phase power to run the bot off two of the legs, you do not get the benefits! The phases are now 120 degrees apart and the magnetic fields only cancel part way. Better than nothing, but not as good as a standard 220 volt circuit.

Enough physics and electrical engineering for now!

D

[acb]

The quality and enthusiasm of this Forum was a huge factor in my decision to take the plunge (you should pardon the expression!) Thanks to all, with particular props to Dana for all the practical details and to Gerald for pointing me to that document I'd somehow missed.

So, 220 it shall be.