I use electronic inverters on my lathe and milling machine. I picked them up quite cheaply on eBay. I have had no problems with either of them and the extra controlability of the motors is a boon - to me. One possible disadvantage is that really you need a separate inverter for each motor. Theoretically you can hook up more than one motor to an inverter, but you can only have one running at a time. A single inverter is cheaper to buy than a converter - from my experience. The savings on multiple motor setups is less clear. The larger the converter the more expensive it will be, but will it be double the price of two inverters? You will need to dig deep in the pocket to buy a rotary converters off the shelf - i.e. not modify a static inverter yourself. The traditional converter using a bank of capacitors and transformers has the ability to run a number of motors up to the rated power of the converter but the motor is either on or off. A static converter can be converted to a rotary converter by the addition of a jockey motor. The rotary type of converter is definitely preferable to the static type,giving a truer 3 phase output. The info about the converters is from what I have read in various sources, no actual exerience. Hope this helps Dave In Ireland --- Sehwuk@xxxxxxx wrote: > Chaps > > My first post and it's a question for any and all to answer :- Has > anybody out there got, or used, phase converters ?. I'm just on the verge of > building the new workshop for an attempt at a 41/2" Burrell but will need > bigger > machinery than I have at the moment, which really means going to 3 phase. I > have heard good and bad things abut these bits of kit but would rather hear > from people in the know (as it were). I have definately been told that a > rotary > will be better than a solid state. ALL replies, good or bad, will be most > welcome. > > Steve > Bodgers Retreat, Burwell > > MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. > > To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, > modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject > line. > ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.