hi everybody, i'm mike mccrory and this iswood u make it. i know that most table saw motors can be convertedfrom 120v to 240v and that has a few advantages. as many of you have probably experienced atleast once in the past, you may have tripped a circuit breaker orblown a fuse when cutting into something that's heavy or if the wood binds into the tablesaw blade
king woodworking tools canada, so, i want to avoid that, especially becausemy table saw is plugged into the same circuit as the overhead lights. so, when i blow a fuse, the lights go out,the garage doors are closed -- that's kind of scary!
to convert a motor, it's relatively simple.i've already got the garage wired for 240v because of my band saw. so, all i need is a plug and some wire. so, let's get started! [theme music playing] so, before i start doing any re-wiring, let'sjust run a little test. i'm going to mark a line on this shim andi've got it wedged into the table saw blade and i'm going to turn it on. [sound of the motor trying to start]
you can see that it wouldn't start. and also the lights dimmed. i don't know if you could see that or not. so, hopefully by upgrading to 240v, i'll havemore power at startup. the blade will start spinning faster. even though i won't have more power overall,at startup i can have some advantage. so, let's go around to the back, open up the little wiring compartment on themotor, and we'll get out the manual and follow the instructions. so, before you get started, you'll have tomake sure you have all the right tools and
pieces you'll need. the most important thing to consider is the240v plug. there are different types of these, and they'redesigned for different amperages. so the one that i have is a 20a twist-on plug. they have some that just have straight plugs;you just push them in. they have 30a plugs and they're not interchangeable. so, what's really important is that you startwith your outlet if you already have one. make sure that the plug you purchase is goingto fit into that outlet. a 30a plug will not fit into a 20a outlet,and vice versa.
so, i've got these matched up -- this is a20a plug, 250v. that's the other thing to be careful of whenyou're buying these in the store. these are right next to the 20a twist on 120v or 125vplugs. they're not the same. they have differenttwist-on connectors. so you want 20a 250v or 30a 250v dependingon what type of plug you have. so the other things i have are my manual withthe instructions. here's the 120v circuit and the 240v circuit. i've got my wire that i'll use to make mynew cable to go from the saw to the outlet. i've got a box of marrettes. i'm not surethat i'll need these. these are marrette connectors
or wire nuts. i'm not sure that i need these but i've gotthem handy just in case. i've got some black electrical tape that i'llneed and a screwdriver to open up the compartment. so here's my motor at the back and i'm justgoing to unscrew this screw right here. one thing to keep in mind -- and this is reallyimportant -- what i'm about to show you is only for thistable saw -- this model of table saw. this is a ridgid ts3650 that i have. the instructions for your motor may be somewhatdifferent. doable, but different. so be absolutely sure that you follow theinstructions in your manual.
let's start by opening this electrical compartment. i'm going to make sure the table saw is unplugged, which it wasn't. now it is, so we're safe. i'll unscrew this. open it up. and, surprisingly because this is an enclosedcompartment. surprisingly it's full of dust. so, the first thing i'll do is i'll cleanit out with my air compressor. ok, just a couple of quick blows. [blasts of air]
so, we've got four different connections,but a whole bunch of different colors of wires here. so, it's pretty simple to just follow theinstructions. so, right now, because i'm on 120v, i've gotwhite, white, and black connected. when i move that to 240v, i want to havejust white and white connected and i want to move the black one over tothe orange wire. so, let's take off the tape. i've got white and white. so right now it'swhite, white and black. that needs to change to be just white andwhite. i'm going to remove the black one and reconnectthe white and white.
now the black one has to be connected to theyellow wire. the yellow is currently connected to brown. the brown is going to end up being just terminatedand not connected to anything so black and yellow. and, i'll connect that up. and red and orange are going to stay the same. so, i'll will need one additional marretteconnector. i mean, it's not absolutely necessary, buti think it's safe to just put a connector on the end of the brown wire.
and now, i will tape them all up. everything is taped up, it's clean. let'sgo ahead and close the compartment back up. put the screw back in. alright. now we're half way there. the next step is to come around to the frontof the table saw where we have the switch, and that's where the cord that plugs intothe wall is connected. so, i need to remove this plug and wire inthe new wire that i have (the new cable), put a plug on the end of it, and then we'regoing to plug it into the wall, and test it out.
i've taken the switch off the fence guide. that'll make it easier to work on. i'm just going to open it up with the screwhere. here's the wire that comes in. it's got two wires: black and white, and greenfor ground. because i don't have any of these types ofconnectors -- actually i'll check my tool box to see if i do -- but if i don't, what i'll do is i'll snipthe wires here and then i'll use the marrette connectorsto twist on the new cable.
that should be fine. so, i checked my tool box and i do, in fact,have some of these connectors, but they're only sized for up to 14-gaugewire, and i've purchased 12-gauge wire for this cord. so, i won't be able to use these. it's notworth going to the store for just that, so i'm going to proceed with the marrettemethod that i talked about -- connecting the two wires together -- the existing wire that was already there withthe connector to the new cable with the marrettes. this little plastic compression fitting wasnot that easy to get back in because the fact that i'm using 12-gauge wire
but with the assistance of my water pump wrenchto compress it and to squeeze it through, i was able to get it in successfully. so, now i'll strip the wire and do the connections,and... then we'll plug it in. so, the switch is reconnected and reinstalledon the fence track so, now we're going to connect the plug tothe other end. a little piece of advice based on me makingthe same mistake many, many times over the years... make sure you put the back piece -- the cover--for the switch onto the wire first otherwise, it's hard to get it on after you'veconnected it.
don't forget to put this piece on too. ok, so, ready to go. i'm going to go and plugit in. first, we'll give it a test run just to see ifit works. [sound of the saw running] [sound of saw slowing down] it came on fine and the overhead lights didn'tdim for the first time ever. so let's put this piece in and give it a try. you can see the difference. so, that piece was wedged in exactly the sameas before.
and even though i don't have any more overallpower while the motor is running, it definitely starts up a lot faster and alot more powerful. so, that's going to be a real benefit now. i've read on the internet that anybody who'sgone to 240v never wants to go back. so, i'm really happy that i've done this.i've used 240v saws before, but i've never converted one. so.....pretty easy. would you do it?