Electricity OT on aus.cars

Pinched from elsewhere

Would you believe my Delta Rockwell 8" long bed 37-315 220V Jointer run in > reverse direction after complete rebuilt (no painting)?

Are you using Australian electricity? I'll do my best to simplify the answer.

I think its time for me to explain about 240 current and why it is so different from 120 volt service. First of all, it's twice as big. Secondly, it'll shock you more. Outside of that, 240 is really two

120 volt lines coming to your house from different parts of the globe. The up and down 120 comes from the northern hemisphere, and the down and up version comes from below the equator.

Without trying to get technical, it all boils down to the direction water flows when it goes down the drain. In the top of the earth, it goes clockwise, while on the bottom of the earth it goes counter clockwise. Since most electricity is made from hydro dams, the clockwise flow gives you an up and down sine wave, while the counterclockwise version gives you a down and up sine wave. Between the two, you have 240 volts, while either individual side only gives you 120 volts.

This is particularly important to know when buying power tools -- which side of the globe did they come from? If you get an Australian saw, for instance, it will turn backwards if connected to a US generated 120 volt source. Sure, you can buy backwards blades for it, but that is an unnecessary burden. Other appliances, like toasters cannot be converted from Australian electricity to American electricity. I knew one person who bought an Australian toaster by mistake and it froze the slices of bread she put in it.

If you wire your shop with 240 and accidentally get two US-generated

120 volt lines run in by accident, you can get 240 by using a trick I learned from an old electrician. Just put each source into its own fuse box and then turn one of the boxes upside down. That'll invert one of the two up and down sine waves to down and up, giving you 240. DO NOT just turn the box sideways, since that'll give you 165 volts and you'll be limited to just using Canadian tools with it.
Reply to
F Murtz
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Excellent advice:-)

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Daryl
Reply to
D Walford

We haven't been using 240 V AC in Aus for some time now. Shifted over to

230 V AC though source unknown!
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Xeno
Reply to
Xeno

Clearly you're an expert, so I'd like to ask your advice.

I have a large "Smith Sectric" electric wall clock. It looks like this:

It's mains powered, is about 2 foot across, has a movement which dates from about 1932 as best that I can tell and works 100% reliably,

*except* if the power goes out and comes back on again within ten seconds.

...At which point it will start to run backwards and continue to do so until you unplug it and leave it sit for 15 minutes.

Any ideas?

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Regards, 
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Reply to
Noddy

leave it running backwards! It's ideally representing your intellectual capabilities!

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Xeno
Reply to
Xeno

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` i`se zapped again.... :(

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Reply to
Jonz

Those tiny elrctric motors would start in either direction and there was a little lever jigger that was supposed to kick them in the corect dirction. Maybe worn or some other mystery action on a short loss of power. :-Z

Reply to
John G

And they keep accurate because they use the AC cycles which are kept accurate by the supplier. They are not completely right at any given moment but the supply authority makes the number of cycles correct over a period (not sure if it is 24 hours or what) And previous poster was right in that most of them could run in any direction, sometimes they had a device to start in the right direction.

For fun we used to put (roman numbers to make it not so obvious)numbers on backwards and run it backwards, you can get used to reading it but visitors were flumoxed This is one I made using a battery powered reverse movement,(hard to get now )

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Reply to
F Murtz

what are you wingeing about? You're getting younger.

Reply to
keithr

Speaking on maters horological, where can you buy quality "normal" inards and bits?

Reply to
news13

Ebay, heaps of places google "clock movements"

Reply to
F Murtz

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