Hey everybody, when I moved to New Zealand a few months ago I brought my Clark planer and Harbor Freight sander along hoping to make some boards down here. Since the NZ household current is 220V and both tools are designed to run on 115V US household current, I need to get a step-down transformer to use either of them. The only thing is that transformers are rated by wattage, and I have a pretty limited understanding of how amps, volts, and watts all relate to one another. There are transformers available that will handle from 100 to 1000 watts, so I need some advice on what will be enough to handle the loads generated by both tools. I would guess that the sander would generate more wattage, since there is more load on the motor when sanding, but I’m not sure. Would a 1000 watt transformer be enough to handle both tools? I can’t find anything in the manufacturer’s instructions about the watt loading, just voltage. Thanks for any advice you guys can give!
[indent]Careful!!! You can’t use wattage information alone. You could blow your planer if the transformer doesn’t step down to the correct voltage. Find the right step down transformer, 220V in 110V out so a 2:1 step down transformer is what you need.
If you do find the right step down xformer the Harborfreight Sander seems to be rated at about 1200 Watts (90820-1VGA). Don’t know about the Clark.
~ Ghost
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Hey acolyte_of_trim,
in basic electrical terms:
P=I*V or Watts=Amps times Volts.
P, power of the tool will be about the same (line losses are slightly different) in both countries so with the tools you’ve got, you will need a pretty robust transformer. The 1000 watt unit won’t cut it. Tool supply shops should have a legitimate transformer to take on the spike at start-up…
Welcome to Kiwiland from another ex-pat. Don’t take my advice on anything electrical. After wiring lights in my shop I left my wife to expain to the Northpower guy how “we” blew the circut at the power pole (not just at the panel) meanwhile I went down for a surf. But… I have heaps of 110/120 tools that I run off a transformer. It is very heavy 75#or so and difficult to find here. My brother set this up for me and it is inside a box so I can’t see the specs without some major dismantling. He brought it over from the US. The readily available transformers I’ve seen are much smaller. You may have to delve into the industrial system to find what you need and this kind of stuff can be pricey. Just check the price of tools. No Home Depot here in the deep south. Also don’t know how significant it is but the current here is 240v not 220v. 1000 watts at 110v is somethig like 11 amps isn’t it? How big is your planer? My model 77 Skilsaw is 13 amps and is way bigger than my planer. PM me if I can help. Might have some small insight on materials for boards.
Voltage and watt rating are all you need to know.
From the maker’s plate on the planer - see the voltage it’s rated at ( usually 115) and the amperage ( amps ) or if you’re real lucky, you’ll have a rating in watts right there.
Now, if you don’t have a power rating marked in watts, multiply the volts by the amps to get watts -
easy example; a 115 volt tool that uses 10 amps is a 1,150 watt tool.
I would then go to the next size up in a transformer -
okay, and… the little maker’s sticker is worn to illegibility? Well, ol Uncle Doc did a search for ya -
see http://www.hitachikoki.com.sg/product_details.jsp?pid=406 for the specs on the P20SB planer that the Clark is based on. Power Input: 570W
The Harbor Freight sander/polisher? Rated at 11 amps and 120VAC 60Hz ( see http://www.harborfreight.com/manuals/46000-46999/46507.pdf ) , so
11amps*120volts =1320Watts
By the way - another thing you want to watch fairly careful. What is the output in not only voltage but cycles/sec? That is, is it rated at 60 Hz ( cycles/sec) or some other? Won’t afffect your tools much, but it’ll mess with some gizmos that use that to time motor speed and such. Notoriously turntables, tape decks and etc.
Hope that’s of use
doc…
Good point Doc,
they run 50 Hz there. Our clocks run a little slower!!!
Yeah, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing - just think of all the times you needed that extra ten minutes… that and the plug type varies, which can make life very interesting.
For a very complete chart of voltages, country by country, click here…
…i plug my clark hitachi in a 220V 600W transformer…no problems
Good call on the cycles, Doc!
Interestingly enough… 50 Hz and 60 Hz is the frequency at which the energy required to stop a heart is lowest!
ghostcout: Interestingly enough… 50 Hz and 60 Hz is the frequency at which the energy required to stop a heart is lowest!
So much for homemade electric chairs… 
Oh, I dunno- I can think of a few who it’d be fun to light up a little, just to see how well it’d work.
Now…where did I leave that rheostat…
rheostat…?
Sadist-
→ :o → :0 → 
→ 
Hey everyone, thanks for the advice. Of course they run 240V here, I don’t know why I typed 220. Sounds like I’ll have to get a pretty heavy-duty unit for the sander, I’m surprised the planer doesn’t run a higher wattage. In the long run it may even be cheaper to buy some tools here and sell them when I leave vs. buying a xformer! Fortunately, a local shaper has offered to let me use his shaping and glassing rooms. (Friendly Kiwis!) He has the best setup for shaping I’ve ever seen, a room he built out in a cow pasture that’s a 200yd walk to a quality reefbreak! Thanks again to everybody for the help and I’ll do some more research to try to find the cheapest way.
Check your machinery, most have a rotating dial, (very tiny) that you can turn from 115 to 220, 110 to 240.
You can see the numbers through a tiny window…
Worth a look…