220 volt worklight?

Bob Davis · 2003-12-16T22:02:23+00:00

I recently bought a Jet drill press. Its seems to work well and I'm happywith it. I added power and wiring to my emerging shop and I have anabundance of 220v. outlets. I convert every stationary power tool to220volt. Last night I did the drill press. Before powering up, Iremembered about the builtin worklight, which uses a perfectly ordinary 60watt light bulb. Looking through Jet's manual and instructions, there is nomention anywhere about changes in the worklight when converting to 220 volt.However, the internal schematic clearly shows the worklight is connectedacross the incoming power lines. So if these become 220 volt, then thelight will be 220 volt, too.Before taking a chance, I called Jet technical support and asked about it.The tech guy was less than stunning - atypical of my support experience formy table saw. After my explanation of what the worklight was, he firmlystated that the bulb would not have to be changed. I tried to argue andexplain the wiring. What I really wanted was Jet's direction on what kindof replacement bulb I should use and where to get it. He told me the bulbwas only on one leg of the 220 and it would not be a problem. Ok. So I powered up the drill and tested the motor. It ran justfine with no sign of distress running on 220 volt. I got that part right.Then I screwed in a light bulb. It went POW and tripped the circuitbreaker, slightly melting the center contact on the bulb. I restored powerand checked the voltage across the light bulb socket -- 240.1 volts.After searching for three hours and consulting with my dealer, he helped mefind bulbs at Grainger and let me purchase under his dealership name.Great. I picked up two 60 watt 230 volt bulbs which cost an arm and a leg,by the way. I was really unhappy when I got home and discovered these bulbswere "fatter" than their 110 volt counterpart. They would not fit in theJet drll press. Finally, I got out the wiring diagram and studied it. Ichanged one connection to put 110...

Dec 16, 2003 40 Replies

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Greg G. 22 years ago

Yea, I'm pretty wary of much that is sold by Sears and Home Despot. Especially if it's brightly colored and makes unrealistic promises. Kind of like women...

Greg G.

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