15 amp vs 20 amp

[billmayo]

I replace the 14 or 16 gauge wire from the motors with 12 gauge black and white stranded wire for my personal Shopsmiths and on any motor that I am replacing the bearings since I have the motor disassemblied. I find most of the 3/4 HP motors have the wire insulation breaking down internally so I replace the wires on all 3/4 HP motors. Also, I use insulated terminals for the switch connections.

Bingo. The circuit breaker is there to protect the WIRE. Nothing else. It doesn't care what type of load is connected, inductive (like the Shopsmith) or resistive (like incandescent shop lighting).
Upgrading the wire from the panel to the Shopsmith outlet means nothing unless you also upgrade the 14ga SJ cordset that came with your Shopsmith from the factory as Ed did. The circuit is only as strong as the weakest link.

[bobgroh]

Several steps to running an electrical circuit but one of the fundamentals is to remember that the fuse/breaker is there to protect the wire! Sounds a bit odd but the one of the fundamentals of the electrical codes is to prevent fires and, in this case, the worry is overloaded wires getting hot and causing a fire.

Hence never use more than a 15A breaker on AWG 14 wire and never use more than a 20A breaker on AWG 12 wire.

There are a variety of other rules and suggestions that come into play but the wire size vs breaker/fuse rating is one of the fundamentals.

Bob Groh, Kansas City area

[webzter]

Ed, thanks for the information on your set up. I hadn't thought of changing the cordset on the Mark V but it make sense to have all of the wire be 12 ga. I have made up an 12 ga extension cord with 20 amp plug and recepticle in case I want to move the unit outside of my shop. I will next change the cordset.
Thanks all for your commenst and suggestions.