moving home

bdaly

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum. I have been living in the US for the last 7 years and my family and I are about to make the move back home to Ireland this summer. I have gotten fairly heavily into the hobby woodworking scene here in the US which is very popular by the way.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone out there has moved back from the US and specifically I am wondering about bringing my tools back with me. I think the 220V to 110V conversion can be done failry easily for universal motors (i.e. small power tools) with those yellow transformers but I believe that running my existing 220V 60Hz induction motors (table saw etc) at 50Hz could be problematic and may not work at all.
I am a little aprehensive about getting rid of all my tools and starting from scratch when I get to Ireland.
Also, what is the availability of larger tools like in Ireland? I am talking about table saws,planers,thicknessers and band saws etc.
Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

Barry

kadman

Hi Barry,

I dont think you will be disappointed with the range of machines on offer here, you will get the full range from diy up to professional woodworking machinery.

As you know we are 220 volts here, and no doubt more knowledgeable folks here will guide you on the electrics issues. prices here for machinery are far more expensive than in the US, so do your homework and bring as much of your useable machinery with you. It would be a good idea to stock up with hand tools as well before you come, so check out the prices here first.

Toolsuppliers thread will show you our best places for tools.

welcome

kadman

Stanirish

There is a good selection of Woodwork machinery in ireland, from the Diy to the industrial end like SCM (Italy) etc. Depending on where you moving to in Ireland, there is always a retailer near that will offer you machinery. Bring back plenty of blades and even dado blades as they are quite expensive over here compared to states, also route bits and hand tools. Mc quillans in Dublin and cork have a good selction, Joe Mc kenna serves the south west well, tripart and caulfields are in Galway, and guess what, i cover the North west, so pleanty of dealer in machinery for you to pick from. If you have any trouble, email me on whraitt@indigo.ie and can forward you contact no's

galwaydude18

Almost my complete collection of tools I have bought from ebay and imported them from America. I have no problem with them at all using a site transformer which convert 220V to 110V.

Now the thing is all my tools are dewalt so I dont no about any other brand and how they will be effected.

bdaly

Hi galwaydude,

I assume you are talking about small machines like routers and drills which usually use universal motors. They should be o.k. with a transformer. But what I am more concerned about is larger stationary machines which tend to use induction motors. Induction motors have a centrifugal switch to disenguage a startup winding when the speed reaches approximately 75% of rated speed. The problem is that 60hz to 50hz reduces the max speed to 80% of rated speed and this is very close to the cut off point of the centrifugal switch. I have read that if this startup winding fails to disenguage then the motor will burn out almost immediately.
There is one other problem. An induction motor running at rated frequency will run at rated speed. At rated speed the motor generates a reverse voltage (Counter Electro-Motive Force or CEMF) that opposes the applied voltage to limit motor current. As the motor slows down, the CEMF goes down, the motor draws more current, this is what allows the motor to draw only the amount of current to run at any given load.
As can be seen, if the motor speed is low, the CEMF is low and the motor will draw excessive current (remember it's speed is frequency dependent).

So did anyone ever try a 220V 60Hz machine at 50Hz?

mossym

slightly off topic, butyou wouldn't have lived in san jose and move to carolina by any chance now would you?

Do-more

Barry I'd imagine that your cheapest solution is to change the motors in your equipment to 220v 50Hz. It should be simple enough to check with the electric motor manufacturer for a suitable alternative to that presently installed. Probably a much cheaper solution than buying new equipment here.

I had an American Boss a few years back who brought all his new kitchen appliances with him, they were normal American brands but manufactured with European spec motors. I think the supplier he used was based around Detroit and sold mainly to American Forces being posted overseas, that might be worth checking as they were considerably cheaper than appliances here and now with the weak dollar, prices here will probably appear crazy to you!

lob2004

hello there

a friend of mine moved over the usa and brought wood work tools with him. all he did was got a 110 transformer and got a american lead and changed the lead. he had some nice tools. some u cant get here.