I am thinking of going to 220/240 volt equipment. Does anyone have any experience with this. I use my tools a lot (at least as a semi retired woodworker) so I want them to last, and to perform the way I need them.

I was going to try and answer your question, but I need more information. :?

I don't see how 220 volt vs 120 volt makes a difference in how long it will last unless you are thinking that the 220 volt units will be heavier duty. Changiing the motor from 120 Volt to 220 Volt will allow you to possibly run lighter gage wire to it, but that's about all.

Another thing I need to know is; are you talking about 220 volt - 3 Phase or 220 Volt Single phase? If you are going to go to Heavy Duty Industrial Grade equipment, it will probably be 3 Phase. This requires either an expensive Phase converter or having the power company run 3 phase service to your facility and adding 3 phase wiring in your shop to run the equipment.

I guess I would also need to know What "a lot" is, for example are you in your shop 16 hours a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year; running the equipment or 4 hours two days a week, or somewhere in between?

Hope I haven't muddied up the question too much. :roll:

"Just one OLD man tryin' to rememb'r what's what." :wink:

hmmm ... I guess I need to do more homework on the differences beteen 120 and 220. I was under the impression 220 volt driven motors provided a more stable horsepower to the blades ... but, that was only my impression from listening to others. I can see there is more I need to know. Thanks for your info.

The users of motors that can be wired for 110/220 seem to generally report that the motor performs better on 220V...I expect this is due to more torque (not power) that is possible with higher voltage.

As far as the life of the motor goes...a 220V motor will have half as much current running through the windings as a 110V motor of the same power - resulting in less heating of the windings. Some motors _do_ fail due to overheated windings under heavy use...so the theory of longer life is certainly feasible.

Thanks for the info Merrill77 ... so there may or may not be a benefit for a "part time" woodworker to convert ......hmmmmm.
Based on how much money this is adding up to be, I am thinking that even replacing the odd motor here and there over the time period of a decade is probably still more cost effective than the rewiring and re-outfitting all the tools that will need new motors.
I thought that there may also be some better contol of motor speeds, but this may not be the case ... in any event I think I am going to pass on this project for now.

Arnold 240 Volt will use less Amp's than a 120 Volt machine.

And what you are paying for when buying electricity is the Amp's
that your using.