Cobra CA-408 Electrical

[jcbosley@mail.com]

Hello. I am a new owner of a 2012 Cobra CA-408 three phase machine. I have done search after search to see what others have done to use the machine on a single phase and have seen where others have successfully done it but I am needing more specifics (hopefully pictures since I am slow).

I am Active duty Navy with 36 years of service and will be retiring soon so I am looking to start C&C work. Unfortunately my 3000 sf shop is in an area where the power company does not currently have 3 phase. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also looking for any user manuals for the unit as well.

Thanks in advance
James Bosley
Jacksonville FL

[jbowen]

Hi James, thanks for your service fellow Navy guy here myself. Best thing to do for three phase is a static phase converter such as Phase Perfect get a large unit say 15HP. Very simple to wire up 2 hots + ground in the the converter generates the third leg so you have three hots out + ground. In my case a 15HP converter uses a 120 amp main and outputs 60amps, standby power loss is 70watts and you can turn it off whenever you want.

[jcbosley@mail.com]

Thanks for your service as well.

So do you have an exact model number? Looks like lots of options and they cost nearly $5000.

[cluelessmachinist11]

I attached the spec for the converter I used for my Cobra 510 w/ ATC, and it's worked well for going on 2 years now.

• It was $5791 for furnish and install (should be cheaper but this included labor for wiring several other things in my shop)
• If the previous owner used a phase converter, you should be fine and it might be different for the 2012 model, but I had to have my electrician switch (2) wires in the control cabinet to handle "dirty 3-phase". I wish I could give you more information than that, and support should be able to help you out if you mention using a phase converter, but if you install and your servo's still won't turn on, I hope this saves you a few days of head-scratching.
• I'm sure you have more common sense than me, but don't mount it where you're going to have lots of debris - I did and ended up building the attached enclosure.
• Also, I wish I would have wired it from above or even better had a sleeve in the concrete to come in from below (air compressor hose would be nice too) to avoid a trip hazard, which you can also see in the attached.

Enjoy!

[jcbosley@mail.com]

Thanks everyone. I have the parts on order.

[jcbosley@mail.com]

So I got everything up and running. I appreciate the help.