Ed. I¡¯m a bit surprised you didn¡¯t get stellar sales support when you called PP. ?Every encounter I¡¯ve had with them has been superb. ?
When I moved my shop from SFO to Portland, my PP took a 10-foot dive off the top of my forklift and landed upside down on my ShopCart panel cart. ?It bashed the crap out of the PP (the ShopCart did fine). ? ?I called PP and they asked me to send them some
photos, which I did, and then said ¡°send it to us, we¡¯ll fix it.¡± ? Looking inside, the main large printed circuit board was bent and cracked in the middle ?and the case was completely trashed. ? Photos:
The repaired unit came back within a week and cost all of $512 plus shipping ($240). ? Great service. ?That was in 2011, and it¡¯s been working fine since. ?PP has certainly grown a lot since then, and I¡¯m guessing the new sales guy doesn¡¯t have the same
customer dedication as the original founders. ? FYI, I do not have the noise issue others complain about. ?
Sorry if I confused you with the different wire specs on my drawing. ?I¡¯ve wired up so many shops now that keeping all the variations straight is taxing my small brain. ?Here¡¯s a photo of my wiring cart when I did the current shop.
<Electrical Cart - 1.jpeg>
In my current shop I have 1¡± EMT but I¡¯m running the 3-phase and two single-phase circuits in the same pipe. ?It¡¯s significantly more difficult to work with than 3/4¡± EMT - bending-wise that is. ?In other shops I have used 3/4¡± EMT which is sufficient
for four #6 THHN conductors. ?The wire size on my previously posted diagram is correct with respect to my current shop: ?#4 from sub panel to the PP, #6 throughout the shop, and #8 from the distribution blocks to the individual sockets for each machine. ?It¡¯s
overkill. ?I¡¯ve always considered disconnects at the machine only important if the machine is hard wired to the J-box - if the machine has a cord with a plug/socket at the mains connection, and disconnect is superfluous. Here is a photo of the enclosure containing
one of the distribution blocks mounted to the ceiling:
It would be difficult to access this to take photos of the inside, but it¡¯s nothing complex. ?Here¡¯s a video about the distribution blocks: ?.
? During installation, I pull all the wiring first, daisy-chaining from box to box leaving about 12¡± pigtails hanging loose, then attach the incoming #6 and outgoing #8 THHN wires to the distribution block first, then install the block to the back of the enclosure
with self-drilling sheet metal screws, then add the cover panel. ? It¡¯s much easier to make the #6 wire connections to the distribution blocks before the blocks are screwed to the back of the relatively tiny enclosure. ?
This photo is my current basement shop showing the main 200 Amp breaker panel on the left, and the 100 Amp sub-panel I added to the right of it, and the PP below. ?The black and orange Romex cables are a later 30 Amp 220VAC additions to support my welder
and mill/lathe, otherwise all the shop circuits are in EMT.
David Best
DBestWorkshop@...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidpbest/collections/
https://www.youtube.com/@David_Best
David, thanks for the detailed specs on the components you used. Seeing that you didn¡¯t use a breaker anywhere on the output side makes me wonder if our local code would approve it as well. Do you have any photos to share of the mounted PP and possibly
one of the distribution boxes? Sometimes seeing the finished job fills in the nuances that I may miss while planning. FYI, your diagram shows #4-6 wire, but your description says #6-8. I¡¯m thinking 6-8 is correct?
The PT series only has a 10 and 20HP version now. So I¡¯m going to have to think hard about what I realistically might add in the future. I have no doubts the 10HP would run the 45z shaper with ease.
