After my latest move from Las Vegas to Ohio I was going through some
boxes and came across something I made up about eight years ago that
I thought might be useful to some Orchidian someday.
I was renting a house which had a room I wanted to use for some
jewelry work but the only electricity outlet was the 240V dryer
receptacle. One day I realized I could split the power wires for the
dryer and have two separate 120V circuits with some pretty hefty
amps.
The first thing I did was convert the existing female receptacle
from an ungrounded 3-prong to a grounded 4-prong. I then built a
device that, in order, consisted of a male 4 prong dryer plug, cable,
a circuit box with two breakers (perhaps this was extravagant, but it
looks really good), then two separate 120V leads coming from the
circuit box. I mounted all this on a board. The cable was 10/3
waterproof cable. I had a hell of a time getting the male/female
plugs onto it, but chose it for the amp capacity and flexibility. I
also mounted a dryer receptacle on the board, with a lead from the
circuit box, so I could also plug in a dryer if necessary
I then found some boxes that would hold four duplex receptacles and
to them I attached some cable and mating plugs to match the leads
coming from the breaker box in the first assembly. (I could use these
as extension cords/plug multipliers, but I have to be careful since
it would be easy to exceed the amps of the house wiring).
It worked great! I haven’t needed it since, but keep it handy for
those “just in case” times.
If anyone desires some pics, feel free to send a message.
Mike DeBurgh, GJG
Alliance, OH