My K&T 2K needs a motor starter.

[Andypullen]

Good afternoon All,
I'm the proud owner of a prewar (barely...March 1941) K&T #2K plain horizontal mill. It came from a shop near Hazelton, PA 2 years ago. I have her wired up and have run her a few times. But, the issue is, the previous owner had disconnected the starter and just hard wired her up. I'm not exactly comfortable powering her up using the breaker in the panel. I have a 15hp rotary phase converter to run the 7.5hp motor. I called the previous owner and they told me that the man that had disconnected the starter had died. So, I'm out of luck there.
The switch is still on the starting lever. I thought that the switch was bad originally. I actually found an identical switch on ebay (new in the box even!) and put it in.
I'm assuming that the original starter was tossed when it got difficult. Can somebody help me, or an I worried about nothing?
Thank you!
Andy Pullen

 

[rabler]

I have a K&T 3K vertical and went through similar, mine had a contactor but no overload originally, and sketchy wiring (lots of splices). Using a breaker as a switch is not ideal long term as it is not rated for a lot of cycles, although for casual use it may not be a problem. But you really want a motor overload to match the motor. I replaced the old contactor with a new contactor plus overload and new wiring, using the original start/stop switch in a "magnetic switch" configuration, which worked fine on mine. The magnetic switch configuration, using one pole of the contactor to latch the contactor on based on momentary contact switches is especially helpful with an RPC as it guarantees that the machine is not powered up when first turning your RPC on automationdirect.com or wolfautomation.com are some typical sources for motor contactors and overloads. To start you'll need to find the dataplate on the motor, and find the full load amperate rating (FLA), probably just noted as "amps" on the older motor.

 

[johnoder]

7 1/2HP on 240V will need at least a size 1(mag starters come in sizes) Some later 2K came with 10HP and would need a size 2
Coil needs to run on whatever it says on the coil. This starter (in photo) was pitched simply because it had a 440 coil I did not feel like providing the required volts via transformer or whatever

 

[Andypullen]

Thank you for the information Rabler! That's what I thought...I'll look at the motor data plate.
Just for information purposes....I have the breaker for the mill turned off when I power up the RPC. I never start the RPC with a load on it.
AP

 

[Andypullen]

7 1/2HP on 240V will need at least a size 1(mag starters come in sizes) Some later 2K came with 10HP and would need a size 2
Coil needs to run on whatever it says on the coil. This starter (in photo) was pitched simply because it had a 440 coil I did not feel like providing the required volts via transformer or whatever

Thank you John,
My machine was built in March of 1941 according to the serial number. But, I will look at the data plate on the motor to verify the 7.5hp.
AP

 

[ramsay1]

Be sure to obtain the proper size starter for your motor in accordance with the voltage on which you intend to operate... You will need the overload relays sized to your motor for protection. Be sure to observe the voltage and full load amps your motor is to run on and size overloads accordingly... You will also need the starter coil for the voltage in which it is to operate.. As for me, I like Square D or Allen Bradley starters.......When I got my 2hl from gov't surplus, it was running on 440 and I was running a homebrew rpc so the motor leads had to be changed over, the overload relays had to be changed and the 440 starter coil had to be changed in the square d starter.. I still run on the same voltage but have three phase from the power company now.Cheers from Louisiana; Ramsay 1