What is the best way to make an electrical connection froma ceiling mounted outlet to machinery that is located in the center of a shop? I have a large planer that is going into the center of my shop and need to run power to it from above. There is a metal beam 11 feet from the floor in the area and I've attached a piece of unistrut to this beam to extend over the planer.
I'm thinking of a whip and a "chinese finger" or some such, but I'm not sure what they're officially called. I've googled and looked at the grainger catalog, but haven't found what I'm looking for yet.
I you can't feasibly supply power under floor, I use the hanging locking plug and let the socket hang from the ceiling above head height, so if there is reason to disconnect and move the equipment can walk upright w/o dodging or running into it.
Something like Leviton 2320/2321 is 20A version, they're also available in 30A if needed...
Mike Dembroge wrote: > What is the best way to make an electrical connection froma ceiling mounted > outlet to machinery that is located in the center of a shop? I have a large > planer that is going into the center of my shop and need to run power to it > from above. There is a metal beam 11 feet from the floor in the area and > I've attached a piece of unistrut to this beam to extend over the planer. >
Go to your handy dandy electrical wholesaler.
You want to get a fitting with a loop that fits into the Unistrut.
This is the point that will support the weight of the hanging cable.
Next you want a Kellums type cable grip that will grab the cable and hook into the Unistrut fitting, leaving about a 2 ft pigtail where you will attach a plug that will plug into the ceiling receptacle.
Doubt you will find any of this at Grainger or McMaster-Carr.
They are strictly an industrial electrical distributor items.
Thanks for the info. I'll look up what Leviton has. My planer draws 38 amps, so this is on a 50-amp circuit which I'm hoping won't make it more difficult to find.
If you strike out, try Hubbell. I had 50A / 220V 4-pin twist locks in amplifier and dimmer racks for power distribution. Cable end and surface mount were available.
It's 220v, 1ph. I don't have 3ph in my shop space and that's not an option for me. The planer is an Oliver 4455 with a 7.5hp motor, so it's a beast (considering this is a move up from a dewalt bench-top model).
The electrical is a bit of a tricky issue and a bit of a long story. This is my first "pro" shop that I'm setting up. My shop space is an individual "storage unit" inside a huge wearhouse.
When I first spoke with my current landlord about renting shop space from him, he said that they supply a 100-amp panel in the space and put 110v outlets every 10 feet down the sides of the shop. They have 1ph only running to the building, and I was fine with that as long as I can put in
220v myself after I move in. After a few weeks, my landlord called me and said that they were running 220v in his shop next to mine and why doesn't he just run mine too as long as I show them where I want the outlets and how many.
So, we talked about where to put the 220v outlets and and everything seemed fine. That was, until I got a bill for $2,260. This is just to add four
220v circuits on top of the 110's that they were already adding. I was floored! I can't see how adding the 4 circuits could take more than a day, but I bit my tongue. I'm going to be here a long time and don't want to make waves I guess, so I never said anything and just ate the cost as a learning experience. The other kicker is that the 220v circuits are all
20-amp. When I ordered my planer, I neglected to realize how much more power it would need. Being my first shop, I knew I was going to overlook/screw-up something!
The reason this history is relevant is that my landlord is now saying that he doesn't want me to add the 50-amp circuit for my planer myself. he wants me to work with his electrician directly. I wonder how much this is going to cost?
I can sort of see his point, and while I'm no electrician, I have wired my own house and garage and have a dad who's a retired electrician. Plus, I'm real careful. If Im' not sure about something, I have no qualms about asking for help. I'm hoping I can come to a compromise and perhaps run all the EMT and wires myself and then have the elctrician hook it into the panel.
I'm not familiar with the terms "inrush" or "nameplate". I've know what "peak"power is. Is that the same as "inrush"? The plate on the unit states "Total Amperage: 38". Is that what you mean by "nameplate" perhaps?
It's an Oliver 4455 planer with Shelix cutter head and has a 7.5hp motor.
...snip rest of saga for brevity--in short dealing w/ commercial electrician instead of diy ...
Actually, this might be worth consideration of a single to 3-phase converter if this is intended to be commercial shop. In particular I can foresee additional equipment down the road if you're really going to be here a while...
Just a thought if you can take a couple of days to work this out and consider longer term...
I'm wondering on this planer w/ "Total Amperage" if there maybe are two or more motors...cutterhead being larger and drive/table as others. Don't know Oliver well enough by number to know for sure...
I'm w/ you, Lew, though, needs more thought methinks including perhaps as I noted before might even be worth converting this beastie (back?) to
"inrush" is the high starting current surge that can be multiples of the steady-state current draw.
"nameplate" is what the manufacturer placed on the motor/device as its requirements. Those are "real" values in the sense they are given specifically to allow for proper sizing of wiring/starters/etc.
"peak" I presume you mean is the bogus marketing claim of some homeowner class of products that is useless for anything other than dividing back down by to get at least an approximation of reality...
First, I was thinking of this planer being "old iron" and not new, when it finally dawned on me the Shelix head obviously pretty-much disqualifies that... :)
Second, also on reflection, the 3PH would cut down the wiring required from the location of the converter to the motor/planer, but given the arrangement you outlined it might still require the long run of large capacity to supply it if you couldn't locate it near the service entrance.
I did go look at the Oliver Machinery site to see what I might learn, but the spec's published there aren't as complete as what you've provided, unfortunately, so still some question as to what the overall requirement really is, precisely.
I'd probably shoot off a request to them (Oliver). If it's an American-made motor (I don't know what Oliver is using these days and their spec's didn't say), you could also contact the manufacturer for clarification of the plate ratings. If the electrician is at all experienced in other than simply household wiring, he should be able to tell you what code requirements would/will be before making final decisions.
In just a quick lookup from my "Wiring Simplified", for a 7.5 hp motor recommends #6 Cu wire for a maximum distance of 110 ft (one way) for 2% voltage drop. Longer run would need large ampacity wire of course, and if use Al for cost, even larger.
I did a quick calculation and 7.5 hp is theoretically 25A at 220V. Assuming 80%, that is still "only" 32A so still a little pessimistic at
38A nameplate it would seem for running draw. I'd try to find motor manufacturer, probably.
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