Shopsmith Forums

I have a 110 volt 20 amp plug on one shopsmith that I replaced last year.

looking at the male plug the right side the blade is horizontal, and the left side is vertical.

I googled a picture of a 20amp 220 volt male plug. The right blade is vertical and the left blade is horizontal.

So, if you used a 20 amp 125 volt outlet and plug you could plug a 110 volt tool into it. That's why the different blade configuration on 110 & 220volt

A little side note to this. When the brother-in law was farming. He wired the plug on his bale elevator with a regular plug same for the outlet. Except it was hooked up for 220 volt for the motor.

With this setup you could plug anything that was 110 into the outlet.

He had just bought a new electric weed whacker. My sister trimmed by the house and it worked fine. Then she went to trim by the barn and plug into this outlet not knowing it was 220 volt.. She said now, this thing really cuts the weeds................ The weed whacker lasted for about 20 feet before going up in smoke...................

oldc6 wrote:I have a 110 volt 20 amp plug on one shopsmith that I replaced last year.

looking at the male plug the right side the blade is horizontal, and the left side is vertical.

I googled a picture of a 20amp 220 volt male plug. The right blade is vertical and the left blade is horizontal.

So, if you used a 20 amp 125 volt outlet and plug you could plug a 110 volt tool into it. That's why the different blade configuration on 110 & 220volt

A little side note to this. When the brother-in law was farming. He wired the plug on his bale elevator with a regular plug same for the outlet. Except it was hooked up for 220 volt for the motor.

With this setup you could plug anything that was 110 into the outlet.

He had just bought a new electric weed whacker. My sister trimmed by the house and it worked fine. Then she went to trim by the barn and plug into this outlet not knowing it was 220 volt.. She said now, this thing really cuts the weeds................ The weed whacker lasted for about 20 feet before going up in smoke...................

Longer than a half century ago my uncle owned a lumber yard with a delta unisaw that ran on 230v, but had a 115v plug and a 115v receptacle for it. One day I needed to run a hand drill out there where the saw was. Well to obvious happened and the drill ran like gang busters. I realized what was happening and stopped before damage was done.

Being the diligent SA teenager I promptly stomped back to the office and chastised my uncle for having such a thing. Perhaps my words were not chosen well as he told me to buzz off.

To this day know I was right. My method was at fault.

Point being keep control of the pig tail!!!!

I was mulling over how SS could give us a "one cord fits all" solution and found these

[ATTACH]23166[/ATTACH]

They are by Ideal and are designed to use when removing power to replace a ballast
http://www.idealindustries.com/prodDeta ... e_standard

With two of the above,, cut off the plug with some extra so it can be rewired
[ATTACH]23167[/ATTACH]

Wire the cord with the ballast side of one connector and the line side with the plug

Take a second powerplug disconnect and use the line side to wire up
[ATTACH]23168[/ATTACH]

And you have a solution to either power source. 120v or 240v.

Simply plug in the appropriate plug. no muss no fuss and no chance of an incorrect plug. No nasty zaps.

I will presume that the ends will stay connected reasonably well, but if you were worried about someone tripping over the cord, pulling the connection apart, I would think that a wrap or two of electrical tape around the middle should secure it well enough.

I remember a question about using an extension cord so if you wanted to make a dedicated extension cord, you could find one of appropriate gauge and length, cut off the ends and attach the Ideal connector ends. It would only be useful for the PowerPro headstock, but no worries about plugging in a 120 into a 240. Since the site says you need to buy a card of 20 connectors, there should be spares to make LOTS of extension cords.

Hope this gives people some ideas.

Be well,

Ben

If I were to do something like that, I would use a plug and socket designed for in line(line cord) use. You would still have to bridge the 125/250 style devices(break de rules), but that would provide good physical strength while eliminating the plug a standard plug into the wrong voltage socket.


There is no real good way to do this using standard NEMA devices as intended, so IMHO the initial pigtail is good enough, but it's use must be tightly controlled.

A funky plug on the SS and a short(or long) funky socket to 125v plug and a short(or long) funky socket to 250v plug would maybe be better as it eliminates the 'ignorant' misapplication problem(no way to plug a standard 125v plug into a socket with 250v feeding it.

Yes the fluorescent fixture connector qualifies as 'funky', but fails the strain relief requirement.

There are twist plugs that are used in the medical industry to plug in equipment and "lock" the plug in so it won't fall out if the cord is extended to it's maximum length. I possible solution (not cheap) would be to cut the cord put in a twist style female plug. Then get two mating male twist plugs that are then wired up to 120V and 240V plugs on one end an a the twist plug on the other.

This will prevent the un-knowning relative from miss using the adapter plugs.

Here is an example. Please note that the examples shown are for 120V use only. I would recommend purchasing 240V twist lock connectors if you plan to try this.

Your 'twistlock' devices are NEMA L5-15R and L5-15P and are rated for use at 125v, 15A.

They qualify as a 'funky' connector, but again they are rated for use on 125v.

One does not want to make a cord with male plugs on BOTH ends!:eek:

After all the ideas & discussion, I'm going to venture down the following path:

I'm going to use the pigtail that I put together, taking JPG's advice to "tighly control" it's use.

I will leave the existing wiring on the Mark 7. Not changing the plug.

I have installed a 240v outlet on my electrical panel with a double pole 15amp 240v breaker to plug the pigtail into.

And I will use a 12ga 120v extension cord from the pigtail to the Mark 7 if I need to operate the machine away from the 240v outlet or can use it into a 120v outlet.

Unless I hear someone shouting at me, I think this will work. Now if I can just get the new machine I can try it out.

Many many thanks again to all of you for knowledge, help, and insight....

If you never have a "situation" that could result in excessive current being drawn my your Shopsmith, your solution will work just fine.

However, if you have a situation arise that might cause excessive current to be drawn by the Shopsmith, you have INADEQUATE protection.

Your 15amp breakers will allow the circuit to provide nearly twice the current that you expect the Shopsmith to draw. If you would change out the 15a breakers with 10a breakers you would be much better off.

Maintain control of that pigtail.

IMHO money spent on smaller breakers is better spent on 'surge' protection.