How hard / expensive is it to set up three phase power ? Lot of these old lathes I'm looking and keep getting reccomended at run off of it.
Edit. I'm not an electrician by any stretch and next to mechanic work it's one of the things I really really dislike doing. So yes I'll just be paying an electrician if I go though with this....still need to figure out how I'd get the lathe where I want it in the first place though

I believe if I remember right there is a way to fake three phase with a gadget. Otherwise you have to be near a three phase line and get the utility to plumb you three phase power.

Phase converters

Are there three power lines on top of the power pole in front your place? If so, adk your power company what it would cost to hook you up.

You can change single phrase to 3 phrase power with a phrase converter or a VFD (variable freq. drive) - both of these will cost a fair amount of money. Sometimes that is your only option if the power company doesn't have 3 phrase close by. The advantage of 3 phrase power is that the same HP motor can be bought at a much lower cost than a single phrase motor due to not requiring a starting circuit to turn the motor to get it running. A single phrase motor can be used if your current service can withstand the required amperage. In rush current required to start a single phrase is 5 times the LRA (load rated amperage) and will cause "brown outs" under certain conditions.

You can convert it, it’s not going to have as much power. I had a meat grinder from a grocery store that was 3 phase, converted over to 220. It never stopped but I was a little careful of what I threw ar it. It would eat somewhere between baseball and softball pieces as long as you like. I did grind a red angus bull once that was well over a ton, once I shot him I was in trouble, the tractor wouldn’t hardly budge him. About like butchering a buffalo by myself. Pulled the tenders out and ground the rest.

wws

I built a 3 phase converter using a huge 10HP three phase motor, a 1/2 HP 120v single phase motor and some capacitors I bought off of Amazon. It was pretty cheap to build. You can buy big old 3 phase motors pretty reasonably.

Lots of stuff on Youtube.

I use mine to run a 7HP 3 phase motor.

You end up using two 120 legs off of one of your houses 240 circuits. I just temporarily pull out my clothes dryer breaker and replace it with a 100 amp breaker with my hot, two heavy gauge wires coming out of it that go to my converter.

Slue- foot is correct. You can buy a phase converter that will allow you to run a three phase device on single phase. We looked into this awhile back as my brother in law had a chance to buy a 3 phase metal lathe at a good price. We found the cost of the converter made it cost prohibitive. That was awhile ago. Be sure to check it out before you buy something.

They make a converter but it sucks. 3 phase is expensive and last was $ 500 a month just to have it.

Thanks everyone seems like it would just be better to buy a newer machine that run off of 120-220

Here's what I was referring to earlier, It's quite a "Rube Goldberg" and it looks a little scary, but it works.
[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jEdZqtXBVXQ[/video]

The small 120v motor only runs until the whole thing gets going, then you unplug it.

That's definitely impressive but I'll be 100% with you when I say I'm low-key terrified of electrical work, Lord forbid something like that lol ! All. Seeing is 101 ways to zappy zap

Here’s some options first is rotary second is static and the third link is to some info.

https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-rotary-phase-converter-5-hp/g5844

https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-static-phase-converter-6-to-10-hp/h3473

https://www.phoenixphaseconverters.com/blogs/news/phase-converters-vs-variable-frequency-drives-vfd

Probably not cheap to get 3 phase. Look into a phase converter like mentioned above or better yet a VFD. I do it at many locations. Get the HP of the motor then double the HP of the VFD.

Locked Rotor Amperage
Locked Rotor Amperage (LRA) refers to the maximum current drawn by an electric motor at the instant of startup, when the rotor is stationary and the motor is stalled. This high current flow is necessary to overcome the initial resistance and inertia of the motor and its load.

Motor start up is 3 to 5 times Rated Watts divided by Rated Voltage. It is important because some power tools give LRA.

Lots of good single phase units available. Depending on what you want to do. The added expense of 3phase could be used for tooling. Most expensive part of a lathe is all the tooling and attachments you gotta buy

Go with a vfd -- lots of other benefits to them -- full power and as easy or as hard as you want to make it. Lots of good brands out there -- some expensive some not so much. I have ran a 40hp 3 phase pump on a single 200amp 230 single phase service -- it took the entire 200 amp service but worked well.

Cheapest option is probably to swap the motor for a single phase motor. Startup will draw a lot more current as others have said and you might not get the machine up to speed before you trip a breaker. Once it's rotating, you should be fine. If you haven't purchased anything yet, looking for single phase lathe will be much cheaper - if you can find one in the size you want.

I have 3hp 3phase motor running on a 220 to 3phase VFD.
I think unless you are running a big motor a VFD is the way to go.
It'll be cheaper than a phase converter and take up less space.
I've had mine for 6-8 years and back then the VFD cost me about 400 bucks
I have no idea were the prices are now though.

Or see about replacing the 3 phase motor with a single phase motor

If you run a single to 3ph converter, we will eventually track you down and force you to remove it, upgrade your service or cut you off grid…..lol. It takes a bit of fooling around but we’ll narrow down to one service that’s causing everybody’s voltage issues in the area…..lol. I don’t know about little ones, but the latest one that I know of in our district was a 30A one. Guy had a small wood working shop.
It's impossible to come up with an estimate without seeing kind of line is near your place, but isn’t it free to apply with your utility?
There’s a campground near by where the guy wanted 3ph before I did some estimating/planning. $300000 I told him just off the top of my head. A couple years later he ended up paying just over $250000 to convert about 1.5 miles of 1ph HV line to 3ph. We ate the rest. But he’ll get $ back every time any new services are utilizing the line he got extended.