Our milling machine and the band saw both require 380v, 3 phase power. This is very common in industry but rare in residential buildings.

Our electrician left a wire hanging from the wall so I could complete the connections. Today I did that…almost.

First I determined where everything would go. The circuit breaker enclosure is placed at a convenient level for operation and centered over where the conduit (tube for wire) comes out of the lower enclosure.

I used a construction laser to get everything straight. The laser is the cube with the lights in the bottom center of the picture.

A closer look at the laser helping to place things.

Drill mounting holes for the outlets and don’t forget to touch up the paint to remove the pencil marks.

Start the wiring… Three phase power has 5 wires, not the two or three normal household items have.

I found one of the outlets is defective, so I taped the bare ends of the wires and will have to purchase a new outlet. Until then, I turned on the power for the good outlet and tested it. Everything is good. You can see the cord for the saw is plugged in.