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Dude you seem to be good at scrounging stuff. Do what I did and go out and find a big used 3 phase motor, mine is about ten hp, I think. Lots of those around here due to the lack of 3Ø power. Hook one side to your 1Ø in parallel with your 3Ø and away you go. There are two ways to make this work. One buy a little electronic starter box for about $150 or two, get it started using a leather strap ala starting your lawn mower. Presto, your own 3Ø generator. This does not run as smoothly or efficiently as regular three phase but with a large 3Ø motor you won't have trouble due to the fly wheel effect. Check this out on line. The sites for old farts with wood working shops are a good place to start.

Phase convertors work, and work well, but you do have another choice. Variable Frequency Drives have come way down in price, and in fact might be cheaper than the rotary phase convertor you're looking at....

For example: http://www.driveswarehouse.com/p-2136-x200-007nfu.aspx This is a Hitachi drive, 230 volt single phase input, 230V 3phase output, variable frequency between 0 & 60 hz. That's a 1hp (step pulley motor). The last pic you posted, looks like it shows a variable speed machine, which use higher hp motors (1.5hp or 2hp depending upon vintage), so you'd need a higher hp drive if that pic is your machine.

You'd probably want an enclosure for that drive (keep chips and such out), but I'd consider it optional (they're pretty well "touch safe").

I've got the 2hp version on my 1.5hp variable speed mill, cost me $200 plus shipping. Works perfect. I spent a few extra bucks installing it in an enclosure, and adding a box w/ some switches to control Fwd / Rev and On / Off. For me it was easier and cheaper than a RotoPhase, since it's the only piece of 3ph hardware I needed to run (currently, that could change).


As far as tooling, I'd suggest a few things:
1.) Vise. A good 6" vice (bigger is sometimes useful) will do alot of useful things. If you're looking at used, pay particular attention to what the jaws look like and whether they're easily replaced or resurfaced (most are). "Kurt" is the industry standard, but there are lots of import knockoffs that are still decent. The original BPort vises aren't terrible, but they do tend to have issues with parts lifting off the parallels
2.) A decent test indicator and a 1/4" drill blank. Use the test indicator and the associated bits to get the head perpendicular to the table, and then install the vise and use it to verify that the vice is square to the table.
3.) Cheap end mill set, with 2fl and 4fl end mills. Double end usually are more cost effective. Oh, and know that there are center-cutting and non center-cutting end mills (You can't plunge cut a non center-cutting end mill.)

Things to consider later:
Quick Adjusting nut for depth stop on quill (spinning the stock nuts up and down will get old real quick, can't tell if you've got one from the picture).
Parallel sets (both thick and thin are useful)
Drawbar hammer (wrench for the drawbar and brass hammer for tapping the collet loose combined, very useful)
Hold down clamp set (for mounting stuff to the table that doesn't fit in a vise).

Just a few thoughts....


All extremely helpful!

Thanks!

JustDreamin

Yes, but at least it's not a HONEYDO project.....

Although those often have some side benefits.

JustDreamin