John Brown
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I would imagine that would end up being more expensive than buying a US version in the first place.
If I run a 100V japanese tool on 120V US electricity
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I think these are one speed machines and I can't think of a reason they would have any PCB in them at all, but one never knows.
I was asleep at the wheel earlier (wee hours) this morning and missed one that ended at $77.
I haven't seen a used US version, but the variac (even if going to 30 amp, it's $100) plus foreign origin machine ($150 with shipping max for one in primo condition and listed as tested - japan yahoo tends to be more honest than ebay in the US, which is probably a cultural thing. They tend to be overly conservative by our standards in listing condition).
the US marketed machine is $715 plus tax and shipping new at the cheapest, up to $8xx other places.
It's kind of a tool that I "half want" for the once a year or two that i'd use it, maybe less. The odd time I've bought a large slab and used the planer that I have (cheap import $70 planer that just isn't accurate for a wide surface) to do initial truing and then wait and observe movement - it's been a regrettable experience, but also the amount of time it would've taken to plane by hand instead isn't enough to really warrant either one.
The only time I ever installed doors in my house (all of them upstairs), I ended up using a modified panel gauge to saw the bottoms cleanly in combination with a pull saw and a block plane. When I was a kid, there would've been an electric motor shop and a machine shop in each town, staffed by someone probably born near the end of the depression and charging like they were worried about losing customers. So, you could maybe find someone who would rework a planer for a reasonable cost and then give it a second shot if the first wasn't quite right. The machine/engine shops near where I grew up are gone as the owners aged out. Most of the small service type shops like that are gone.
10% overvoltage wouldn't bother me. European electrical appliances are required to tolarate the variation between 220v and 240v found in different countries. You will have 20% overvoltage which feels a little high and may compromise the life.
It is a brushed motor. To reduce the effective voltage into the motor all you need is a cheap power tool speed controller. A heavier duty (2 or 3kW rated) version of a lighting dimmer and based on the same type of "scr" or "triac" circuit.
You'll surely find one of those for 20 or 30 bucks.
Is Radio Shack still in business in the US ?
Just turn it down a quarter turn below max. If you have a multimeter, measure the AC voltage at the tool when it's running and tweak the knob to get 100v.
This type of controller clips a bit off the AC sine wave which has the effect of reducing the average voltage. The motor won't really care. The benefit is the controller doesn't have to dissipate the extra power so it can be small and doesn't get hot. Just a little warm.
Inrush currents aren't such a big deal with brush motors as they are with the induction motors on machinery. A variac should work. A speed controller is much smaller and cheaper. I have a 10 amp variac, it's a beast. A 20A variac is not really portable.
It is a brushed motor. To reduce the effective voltage into the motor all you need is a cheap power tool speed controller. A heavier duty (2 or 3kW rated) version of a lighting dimmer and based on the same type of "scr" or "triac" circuit.
You'll surely find one of those for 20 or 30 bucks.
Is Radio Shack still in business in the US ?
Just turn it down a quarter turn below max. If you have a multimeter, measure the AC voltage at the tool when it's running and tweak the knob to get 100v.
This type of controller clips a bit off the AC sine wave which has the effect of reducing the average voltage. The motor won't really care. The benefit is the controller doesn't have to dissipate the extra power so it can be small and doesn't get hot. Just a little warm.
Inrush currents aren't such a big deal with brush motors as they are with the induction motors on machinery. A variac should work. A speed controller is much smaller and cheaper. I have a 10 amp variac, it's a beast. A 20A variac is not really portable.
I'd guess a 30 amp variac would weigh substantially more than the tool. It's essentially a semi-stationary fixture with two handles on it.
Will look for speed controllers. Radio Shack is mostly dead - but that's probably due to the fact that a lot of leaner and more robust electrical and electronic supply businesses are online here that used to be available only to businesses and by phone and catalogue or sales rep to help a customer navigate.
Will look for speed controllers. Radio Shack is mostly dead - but that's probably due to the fact that a lot of leaner and more robust electrical and electronic supply businesses are online here that used to be available only to businesses and by phone and catalogue or sales rep to help a customer navigate.
color me shocked, about 1 in 20 original radio shack locations are apparently still around. Not sure how many are actual stores vs. kiosks or businesses who are authorized retailers carrying a line of R.S. stuff.
A 20 amp on/off dimmer switch on amazon is about $18. If I'm not missing something, this would be a good first shot and it wouldn't take much effort to make a box for one with an outlet after the dimmer.
A 20 amp on/off dimmer switch on amazon is about $18. If I'm not missing something, this would be a good first shot and it wouldn't take much effort to make a box for one with an outlet after the dimmer.
raffo
Established Member
Have you looked at step-down transformers?
The triac devices are a little crude in the way they work but they are cheap and they do work.
Brushed motors are also called universal motors. They don't care if they are fed with AC or DC. Chopping part of the AC waveform out reduces the Root Mean Square (RMS) average voltage. With a lower average voltage pushing, the average current is also reduced and the average power likewise.
Q. How do variable speed corded power tools work ?
A. They all have exactly this same triac or SCR controller circuit built into the trigger module. There are millions of them in use day in and day out.
Not endorsing Amazon but do searches for power tool speed controller, router speed controller and fan speed controller and you find many generic boxes recurring under these titles that have a power lead in, a socket for out, a knob and a switch. $30 and you're sorted.
Brushed motors are also called universal motors. They don't care if they are fed with AC or DC. Chopping part of the AC waveform out reduces the Root Mean Square (RMS) average voltage. With a lower average voltage pushing, the average current is also reduced and the average power likewise.
Q. How do variable speed corded power tools work ?
A. They all have exactly this same triac or SCR controller circuit built into the trigger module. There are millions of them in use day in and day out.
Not endorsing Amazon but do searches for power tool speed controller, router speed controller and fan speed controller and you find many generic boxes recurring under these titles that have a power lead in, a socket for out, a knob and a switch. $30 and you're sorted.
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So if I'm translating this correctly, it's an academic argument that in a non-electronic device like these planers, cutting out part of the AC wave will "give the motor a break" just the same as a continuous load at a lower voltage. Or if not just the same, in a way that will be protective enough of the motor?
Rather than imagining, perhaps pick a tool and see what parts are not shared between its different versions. In and of themselves, in the UK at least, Makita spare parts are very reasonably priced so that is the reason I suggested it.
As an example, please see the grinder here: Makita 9554nb 115mm (4.5'')angle Grinder 110v & 240v Spare Parts SPARE_9554NB from Spare Parts World Best I can tell is it would be £22.98 to convert from 230v to 110v or the other way (rotor and stator). That is about 50% of new price.
The OP is in a slightly different situation where his home market has a premium price for a complete machine but a grey import is very affordable. For the little time it takes to do the exercise, it is worth so doing as it gives a baseline against which other options can be assessed (e.g. if doing it is $25 more than the cost of the variac, to me it is worth doing as then the machine will be plug and play anywhere in the US forever).
The markup of various things is interesting. The giant planer that makita makes is called KP312
It's basically an upside down wide jointer that you hold on to for planing really wide beams, I guess - which is probably also why the 6-7" planers are common there and then liked by some contractors in the US to plane foundation sills.
That's all I can see of anyone using them.
At any rate, the KP312 with consumption tax added is $1330 in japan.
In the US, it's $2500-$3000.
No new 1806s are listed (170mm), so I can't see if that's the case there, too - about half as much as here.
I also wouldn't be surprised to find out that Makita is owned by an american conglomerate and just upcharging based on what they can get. Marshall amplifiers are now a US owned brand. And in some cases, cost twice here vs. what they cost in England or continental Europe.
It's basically an upside down wide jointer that you hold on to for planing really wide beams, I guess - which is probably also why the 6-7" planers are common there and then liked by some contractors in the US to plane foundation sills.
That's all I can see of anyone using them.
At any rate, the KP312 with consumption tax added is $1330 in japan.
In the US, it's $2500-$3000.
No new 1806s are listed (170mm), so I can't see if that's the case there, too - about half as much as here.
I also wouldn't be surprised to find out that Makita is owned by an american conglomerate and just upcharging based on what they can get. Marshall amplifiers are now a US owned brand. And in some cases, cost twice here vs. what they cost in England or continental Europe.
raffo
Established Member
I guess the question then is whether or not the intermittent nature of the wave form would achieve the same result in a non-electronic tool. Presumably, heat would be the problem with too much voltage, so is the heat output the same with higher voltage with intermittent periods, or perhaps the effect is to get the same power, being intermittent, would require some effective average voltage and current decrease.
I looked up a blown-out drawing of the parts from a parts supplier and I don't see anything in the machine that is even on a PCB, let alone resistors and such.
https://www.ereplacementparts.com/makita-1806b-planer-parts-c-97_156_419.html
it's all academic until I manage to pay attention in the last 6 minutes of a japanese auction - which is when all of the bidding occurs. If you're not looking at that point, you get outbid by 100 yen like I did earlier this morning - over and over and over.
DW. Yes, you got it.
The wiki article here is worth a read.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unive...sal motors can be and,can go over 20,000 RPM.It actually mentions thyristor speed control part way down. The triac speed controls we have been talking about are equivalent devices. They are used to switch AC power on an off rather than DC.
Small universal motors spin fast and are geared down in many tools. One of the fastest applications is a router or a dremel type tool where the motor speed is the spindle speed - 18,000 maybe 22,000 rpm.
A brushed motor will typically make at least one full revolution, often 2 or even 3 revs in just one half cycle of the mains. Ie the voltage going from zero to peak and back to zero.
Speed control by switching off part of the half cycle just means there is no "push" for part of a revolution or a part of every 2nd or 3rd rev.
Inertia keeps the motor spinning during this break but the current is interrupted, the heat in the motor coils is reduced and the overall result IS equivalent to turning down the voltage over the whole AC waveform.
Raffo is right that the motor will still see a 120V max at the peak of the cycle but that won't hurt it. It's the heating effect of having too high an RMS average current pushed through it that has to be reduced.
It won't be in the next few days but if you want and you remind me, i'll connect a 'scope and a volt meter to one of these speed controls and take some photos with a power tool plugged in. I have one kicking about. I'll plug my ELU MFF80 plane into it and you can see what happens. Only 850 Watts but it's one of the most kick ass powertools I have.
The wiki article here is worth a read.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unive...sal motors can be and,can go over 20,000 RPM.It actually mentions thyristor speed control part way down. The triac speed controls we have been talking about are equivalent devices. They are used to switch AC power on an off rather than DC.
Small universal motors spin fast and are geared down in many tools. One of the fastest applications is a router or a dremel type tool where the motor speed is the spindle speed - 18,000 maybe 22,000 rpm.
A brushed motor will typically make at least one full revolution, often 2 or even 3 revs in just one half cycle of the mains. Ie the voltage going from zero to peak and back to zero.
Speed control by switching off part of the half cycle just means there is no "push" for part of a revolution or a part of every 2nd or 3rd rev.
Inertia keeps the motor spinning during this break but the current is interrupted, the heat in the motor coils is reduced and the overall result IS equivalent to turning down the voltage over the whole AC waveform.
Raffo is right that the motor will still see a 120V max at the peak of the cycle but that won't hurt it. It's the heating effect of having too high an RMS average current pushed through it that has to be reduced.
It won't be in the next few days but if you want and you remind me, i'll connect a 'scope and a volt meter to one of these speed controls and take some photos with a power tool plugged in. I have one kicking about. I'll plug my ELU MFF80 plane into it and you can see what happens. Only 850 Watts but it's one of the most kick ass powertools I have.
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raffo
Established Member
You could get one of these or similar: https://www.amazon.com/SM-1000J-Transformer-countries-protected-continuous/dp/B005GHGPZQ
The controlling shareholders of Makita Corporation (listed on the Tokyo stock exchange) as at 2021 are listed part way down this document.
https://www.makita.biz/ir/upload_file/tdnrelease/6586_20210625456348_P01_.pdf
https://www.makita.biz/ir/upload_file/tdnrelease/6586_20210625456348_P01_.pdf
I should've been considerate enough to post what I looked up after asking that - the summary snip that google presents as the most accurate response to "who owns makita" is that they are one of the few maintsream tool brands that remains independent.
Which is a good thing.
SBD and others here would just dilute their offerings and try to figure out where to plug them in. The available brands here are just about becoming unintelligible. Porter Cable has mostly been denutted, and the only thing you can say for sure (different tool group) is that Milwaukee's tools are the only mainline brand that people seem to really like across the board and that threaten the tool truck drivers who used to be able to get people to spend 3x as much for a rebadged battery tool with "snap on" on it.
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