I am sooo glad I'm not going to wire more than a light switch or outlet, I was lost when I saw all the different color spools of wire. I hire pros for  electrical.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Because I have 3phase the wiring is a little different.  

 

Nice thing is there will be 2 completely different systems and won't be wired together.

1ph and 3ph.

 

Steve brought up an excellent point though as I have a 575V step up transformer.  

That will jump up the voltage anywhere between 240v and 575V AC 3PH. 

Typical in 3phase systems? Not in europe that system. (The post from jlp that is) about the delta high leg.

Completly different colorcoding as well. Except the PE, that is also green/yellow at least one thing we can all agree on. 

Good luck with the wires.

what ground wires I have dealt with up here where always bare copper

I see in the posted chart that is still accepted.

The only bare wires that I still see are pantograf cables on trains,trams and old cranes.

Or on just unsafe installations (mostly the wires in not the only thing unsafe, there are plenty things that makes you go nono)

from my experience, Ground conductors here are bare,  or green for most 1phase installations..  Where I see the green yellow is on 3phase stuff or if the items origins was EU.   I prefer covered ground wires vs bare.. 

My Esseti Macro 501c 500amp mig uses red, blue, black and green and yellow ground.   Funny thing is the welder only uses 50amps max at 240V 3ph..   the wires in the factory cord are like 12awg. 

The wires on the new-to-me Hypertherm 1650 G3 are size 1awg and it too uses 50amps at 240V 3ph. 

I have never gotten over 3 turns on the amperage dial on the Esseti machine.. It has a 10 turn dial. 

With 0.045 wire on 3 turns it will blow a hole thru 1/2" thick metal plate.  Anything over 2.5turns of the dial and spray transfer is possible on Argon. 

 

So I always wanted a hypertherm plasma cutter and since I'm a buy one cry once AKA go big or go home. 

I found a used hypertherm 1650 G3 and decided to roll the dice since it was not connected and working at time of purchase.

 

The unit when removed from service a few years ago was told it was working. 

I figured untested I could afford X $$$ as a loss. So took the leap. 

Loaded it into the car safe drive back and then noticed it has a 50amp 3ph plug. 

I scrounge thru my 3ph stuff and found a new receptacle matching the plug so had to do some wiring and run conduit and boxes for the outlet.

I run my welder on a 50amp 3ph breaker but have it hardwired. 

So ran the wires from this breaker to the outlet and installed a new plug on the welder. 

Fired up the phase converter and Shazam, the power lights came on.

Since then I've gone and downloaded the owners manual and talked with people in the know. 

Was able to get the trough put together and on the wall. 

I'm not sure I like the way it looks.

That's what paint's for. 

Frosty The Lucky. 

Also flat surface's come in handy.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus

Just a little for the future maintenance.  Place a breaker number at each switch/outlet, this is in addition to the panel schedule,  You wont remember after a very short time and it really makes it faster when you need to find it

Ok, I didn't express it well enough..   The bottom box is way cool and looks blingy.  The electric panels.. Well retro right.. 

But that top box is rather plain and I thought that with the diamond plate, it would give it some zhoohzz. 

but I was wrong.. 

I have the other box and will get it welded up with the correct mounting points and remove the door since it has to be screwed shut.   My electrician friend Bence mentioned the lid/door will get in the way of installing wire and such. 

I also added a new to me Plasma cutter..    a Hypertherm 1650 G3.  100amp plasma  (50amps draw at 240V)

5 hours ago, Steve Sells said:

Just a little for the future maintenance.  Place a breaker number at each switch/outlet, this is in addition to the panel schedule,  You wont remember after a very short time and it really makes it faster when you need to find it

Yes, yes for sure..  I log the conduit numbers from the wireway/trough as well..  I'll put it in an envelope and tape it to the top of the box.  

I'm hopeful I won't have to spider the conduit over itself in cross runs.  6 or 7 runs on the left side 2 runs over from left to right.  and since I have the 4/0 alum XHHW-2 I was thinking of sub panel on the right hand wall and pull some of the wires from there. 

ZHOOHZZ!!  That is WAY TOO MANY Zs  for an electrical panel! Perfect for an electric fence charger maybe but not the panel!

Frosty The Lucky. 

LOL.. So true, so true.. 

Well after being disgusted by the way it looked I decided to spend the time zhuzhing it up.

Well a whole new one with the added benefit of seeing how the original was made. 

 

I cut 4.5 " off and added 1/4" diamond plate as the main support plates. 

This box was 1/16" diamond plate and the factory trough was 1/8".  

I doubled the 1/16" for the sides and welded it all back together. 

Little more woek to do but it's coming out decent.

 

Aluminum or I should say used aluminum can be tough to get welded up right. 

zhuzh zhuzh zhuzzing! 

Yeah, it's hard to get old weathered aluminum clean enough to weld easily, I used a stainless cup brush to make it behave. . . well-ish.

Frosty The lucky.

Stainless steel brush for sure.  That and acetone.. clean, clean, clean..  I ended up getting some commercial alum cleaner and it works a treat. 

Nearly done with it. 

Few more hours.  

I have alum polish coming too..   It's going to looks cool. 

You can see its just a tad longer and with the 1/4" diamond plate for the mounting tabs and over 50% of the back it's pretty rugged. Weighs a little more than when I started..   

See that is what I'm talking about.. Dang that looks good.. Plenty of zhuzzzz.. 

Very shiny, shiny is good I like shiny. 

Frosty The lucky.

Much better than.. 

Oh I don't know, I still think a little paint would've prettied it up nicely. Say a large open eye with a slightly arched eyebrow on the right door and a closed one with the brow squinted down a little on the left. Eye, flesh and hair color of your choice of course.

The breaker boxes would make good nostrils and the bottom box an impressive full mustache. Of course sneering red lips would brighten up a Snidely Whiplash mustache.

This is what we call, "Thinking on to the box."

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, your welcome to come down and paint them..   

The non blingy box will get mounted on the far side for the branch run. 

Okey Dokey. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, I'm not a painter.. I only paint because I have to..   

Some people really enjoy it and have that ability and precision.   

My favorite method for applying paint is a spray gun without taping anything off.  LOL..  

In 54years of life I know the things that I'm not especially good at.  Tight spaces like under a dash board in a car or any tight space that I have to move around in.. Like on the floor under a dash or inside an engine compartment where that hose fitting is tough to get at.

I do it,  because it has to be done so I manage. 

 I did paint the new wedge together flat bed. 
 

I paint with a sprayer or rollers if possible about as artistic as I get is pin striping or highlighting things like letters. I use stencils to make sign. 

So, you don't have to worry about me showing up with a selection of colors and brushes. Heck, I can't think of a way to paint the boxes to represent a face let alone pull it off.

I don't like cramped spaces either and since I started shrinking I can hardly reach the dip sticks in the pickup let alone work on it. Nothing in there makes sense to me and I used to twist wrenches for a living. Of course I complained about mid 70s vehicles electronics being too complicated. 

There's a reason I built a house with a full basement.

Frosty The Lucky.