Any ideas for adding AC outlets to headstocks?

[edma194]

I'm soon upgrading two PowerPro headstocks to Gen 2 and this is the perfect opportunity to do this on these machines. Later I'd like to do the same on my sanding machine with a conventional headstock.

I want to add a duplex outlet and an additional switched outlet wired to the power switch.

My basic plan is to mount these in an ordinary metal electric box screw into the motor pan. I'm going to install Wago lever nuts to tap into the power switch output. I also want to add lever nuts to the power cord so it's easy to remove the motor pan and power cord together. I'm considering having the outlet box attach to the headstock with a magnet on a power cable so I can move it's location but I don't like the idea of that exposed cable or using MC cable. I also want to tap into the power for a cooling fan mounted underneath the motor pan so the outlet box is probably going to be attached to the front side of the pan.

Any comments or suggestions? Anyone done something like this before?

[chapmanruss]

It is not something I have done.

If you plan on plugging the Headstock into the duplex outlet to share a single power cord plugged into a wall outlet with an accessory that may be okay depending on the power need of the accessory with a Power Pro Headstock. For a conventional Headstock it needs to be plugged in to "dedicated" wall outlet due to its startup power needs.

If you are adding an outlet box to your Shopsmith to plug in accessories only, that has been an available item (see pic below) in the past but not available for a long, long time. If doing so it should be plugged in to a different circuit than the Convectional Headstock and even for the Power Pro to avoid tripping a breaker.

Since I believe you are looking for convenience, I would suggest not attaching it to the Motor Pan which in several operations will not be as accessible as other locations can be.

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from a 1955 Accessory Catalog

Key Switch and Outlet Box.jpg (128.52 KiB) Viewed 30867 times

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Ed,

You said,

I want to add a duplex outlet and an additional switched outlet wired to the power switch.

If I understand that correctly you are considering adding an outlet switched by the Headstock Power Switch. I would caution against that. You could add enough power consumption to overload the Headstock Power Switch.

[edma194]

Thanks Russ. The most use I'll find for the outlets is plugging in LED spot lights. They'll require no noticeable power. The switch is a concern though. For other uses the point of switched outlet is not to have anything drawing power at startup. I could just add two switched outlets instead of a duplex and another one with a switch. But total load will be a consideration.

The location is the big bugaboo for typical machines. It will be fine mounted on the side of the motor pan on my drill press (left side when facing the headstock), for regular machines in horizontal mode I'll have to stick a box on to see it and feel how it works out in different configurations. The cooling fan is primarily to maintain positive airflow into the headstock and keep dust out. The bottom of the motor pan provides plenty of space for a filter underneath but a muffin fan on the back side of the motor pan might work. The small ones don't put out much air volume but also don't use much current. I'll be doing the drill press first and might get better ideas from doing that.

[chapmanruss]

Ed,

Keep us updated.

[dylanbar]

An idea would be to power the cooling fan by tapping into the motor switch output, but not sure if it will work.

[dusty]

An idea would be to power the cooling fan by tapping into the motor switch output, but not sure if it will work.

There might be a problem brought by the fact that the start currents for both the heasdstock and the fan motor are simultaneous. Two sources of power (separate feed lines) even if switched on at the same time would likely avoid that issue.

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[JPG]

I do not think the startup current of a fan motor would be significant compared to the humongous induction motor startup current.

[DLB]

Also keep in mind that the OP is talking about a PowerPro, which exhibits little current demand under most conditions including startup. There is also a significant delay between turning on the main power switch and motor start up. The biggest issue I see with the OP's approach is that I utilize the dual voltage capability of the headstock and would not want to have 115V outlets that may or may not be powered by 115V. Someone using the machine exclusively on 115V may not see this as a concern, but it is for me as I usually, but not always, operate on 230V.

- David

[edma194]

Also keep in mind that the OP is talking about a PowerPro, which exhibits little current demand under most conditions including startup. There is also a significant delay between turning on the main power switch and motor start up. The biggest issue I see with the OP's approach is that I utilize the dual voltage capability of the headstock and would not want to have 115V outlets that may or may not be powered by 115V. Someone using the machine exclusively on 115V may not see this as a concern, but it is for me as I usually, but not always, operate on 230V.

- David

Yes, the PowerPro relieves any start-up problems for a small fan. It could possibly be a problem for a conventional headstock. A small fan doesn't draw that much current while running but I have no idea what the startup load might be. I think a 20amp outlet would handle that extra load but I remember blowing breakers when I only had 15amp wiring. Probably a larger problem back then, a lot of tools would easily overload even when they shouldn't have.

Currently I don't use 240V on my PowerPros but did consider splitting the 240V into a 120V supply for the fan and another 120V for a switched outlet. I haven't looked further into that because I'm not likely to use 240V for power, and I don't want to worry about running something with greater current demands on the switched outlet at the same time the PowerPro is running. Maybe that's not an issue but I don't need to find out right now.

I haven't done much this year because of some physical problems, hope to get back to work on this and other projects eventually, but probably not going to do as much as I used to, and in recent years my productivity has been dropping anyway. Since I have all the parts for this and have upgrades for both PowerPros to install I'll give it a shot when the time comes.

[JPG]

Having a 240v headstock and adding a 120v receptacle would require adding an additional conductor for the 120v load neutral to the power cord and require use of a 4 prong plug to keep within NEC electrical code. As for switching IFF both sides of the 240v is switched, the 120v load could be paralled with one side of the switch/supply.