# Rube Goldberg wiring question



## JoeWest (Feb 15, 2015)

Hello everyone, I'm new here and happy to have found this forum.  I have a question as to whether or not I can wire something like I envision.

In this drawing, I am attempting to wire a variable speed rheostat to a drill which is used to power a home made lathe, and use a momentary on / off foot pedal switch for safety.

The plug ends on both the rheostat and the momentary on / off foot pedal switch rather than hard wiring it will allow me to disassemble the setup until the lathe is needed (which isn't very often)  so wires are not all over.

The objective is to only submit the momentary foot pedal switch to full power from the circuit breaker box rather than expose it to power AFTER the rheostat so it will not overheat from excess resistance. This is why I want the order of the power flow from the circuit breaker, to the momentary switch and THEN ... to the rheostat and finally to the drill.

The main question is my use of the duplex outlet box. It certainly isn't orthodox and for all I know, there may be a specialized plug end configuration to do what I have in mind.  This is why I ask.

Rather than normal wiring of white to one side on top and black to the other, I want to wire the Hot (black) wire to the silver (white terminal) on the top plug.  Then allow the metal lug to carry the hot voltage to the gold (black side) of the bottom plug.

The white wire will go directly to the bottom silver screw on the bottom plug.

The momentary switch has three wires ... Common, Normally Open, and Normally Closed.  I will not be using the normally closed wire.

I want to wire the Common and the Normally Open wires to a Male Plug which I can plug into the top of the Duplex outlet.  This will feed current into the common of the momentary foot pedal switch.  

When the foot pedal is depressed the circuit will complete and run through the normally open wire back up to the right top side of the Duplex outlet.  The steel lug will carry the power down to the hot side of the bottom Duplex plug allowing the Rheostat to be powered.

Can I do this in this manner?

thanks in advance,

joe


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## slownsteady (Feb 15, 2015)

I don't know why you would want to bastardize the duplex outlet. it seems to me that the wiring can be done downstream of the box. Then you would still have a working outlet for other uses. And just in case you forget how it is wired and try to use it like a normal outlet....well, that won't be fun.


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## JoeWest (Feb 15, 2015)

slownsteady said:


> I don't know why you would want to bastardize the duplex outlet. it seems to me that the wiring can be done downstream of the box. Then you would still have a working outlet for other uses. And just in case you forget how it is wired and try to use it like a normal outlet....well, that won't be fun.



I understand, but doing it downstream of the duplex would also place it downstream of the resistor and subject the foot pedal to higher resistance if I plug the rheostat  into that duplex.

I'm not an electrician, so I am hoping there may be some specialized plugs used on duplex type boxes that wouldn't allow that mistake to be made.  I did consider that and I am troubled by it, but .. unless I'm wrong there are no short circuits in that duplex box.  It simply wouldn't work if someone tried to use it.

Also, as I mentioned I would like to have standard male plugs on the foot pedal as well as the rheostat which already has a plug system.  Here's a picture of it.


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## slownsteady (Feb 15, 2015)

So the foot pedal has no outlet/output? But it has a plug? What was it meant to control? I think what ever you rig, it should be a downstream output of the foot pedal.
I haven't run into this before, just trying to think it through.


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## CallMeVilla (Feb 15, 2015)

First, as drawn, assuming we are looking at the face of the receptacle, you have it wired BACKWARDS.  The Black (hot) should be on the right lugs, not the left AND the right.  Similarly, the white (neutral) should be on the left, not the right.

Your setup is a formula for disaster.  DO NOT use it as drawn.


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## bud16415 (Feb 16, 2015)

Rube

It&#8217;s fine you want to use plugs to adapt things just don&#8217;t rewire an outlet that&#8217;s mounted in your house. Get another 2x4 box and outlet and some line cord with a male plug on the end. Mount that box to your homemade lathe someplace and wire away. 

I&#8217;m not sure what your device is you are calling a rheostat what you need is an auto transformer like this.
http://www.newark.com/tenma/72-110/...7pLAQEqv|pcrid|57087227061|plid|&CMP=KNC-GPLA


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## JoeD (Feb 16, 2015)

I understand exactly what you are attempting but I would take a different approach. Instead of modifying the receptacle I would use something like a sump pump switch. It has a stacked plug that is split like you want and switched. You plug it into the wall and the pump into it and the switch turns it on and off. You cut the switch off and add your speed control and the foot switch. You could then use it in any normally wired receptacle.
You could probably find a used one at a garage sale.


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## bud16415 (Feb 16, 2015)

JoeD said:


> I understand exactly what you are attempting but I would take a different approach. Instead of modifying the receptacle I would use something like a sump pump switch. It has a stacked plug that is split like you want and switched. You plug it into the wall and the pump into it and the switch turns it on and off. You cut the switch off and add your speed control and the foot switch. You could then use it in any normally wired receptacle.
> You could probably find a used one at a garage sale.




 I had two used ones from my grinder pump that didnt sell to well at the yard sale. :hide:


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## JoeWest (Feb 16, 2015)

Thanks for the replies, I'll check into that sump pump plug.  I actually have something similar for draining my pool, but without seeing what you are talking about I can't see how the foot pedal would work as a shut off.  I'll understand when I look at it.


The foot pedal has three connectors inside .. it didn't come with any wire.   I want to connect it with a plug so I can disassemble it and put it away.  This homemade lathe is only used occasionally to install pool cue tips so I don't want to hard wire any of this stuff.


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## JoeD (Feb 16, 2015)

What that sump switch is, is one wire is connected to to the pin. It goes through the switch and comes back to the hot slot. So it switches the hot. You could connect your foot peddle to be the switch. The neutral pin is wired straight through.


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## slownsteady (Feb 16, 2015)

Not sure what the foot pedal gains for you in this setup. You already have an on/off switch on your dial thingie. But if you hang a female plug off the foot pedal, you will get the same result. Someone can give you a definite wiring plan for this.


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## nealtw (Feb 16, 2015)

I'm not even going to try to fiure it out but if you are going to do some special wiring, use a set of twist lock plugs so they won't be confused with anything else.


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## JoeWest (Feb 17, 2015)

slownsteady said:


> Not sure what the foot pedal gains for you in this setup. You already have an on/off switch on your dial thingie. But if you hang a female plug off the foot pedal, you will get the same result. Someone can give you a definite wiring plan for this.




Well, the need for an on / off foot pedal is for 2 reasons.  First, if I should screw up and get my hand caught in the lathe I don't have to go hunting to flip an off switch.  That's obvious.

Secondly this is a lathe I use for installing and shaping pool cue leather tips.  turning the lathe on and off happens every 5 or 10 seconds as the tip diameter is about to meet the diameter of the pool cue ferrule.  It makes life a lot easier just stepping off the switch, back on for a second, off to recheck .. .back on .. and so forth.


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## JoeWest (Feb 17, 2015)

nealtw said:


> I'm not even going to try to fiure it out but if you are going to do some special wiring, use a set of twist lock plugs so they won't be confused with anything else.




good idea with the twist locks plugs .. if you did take the time to look over the wiring, you would see, that should someone try to plug an appliance in this outlet, there is no short ... it simply is open and wont work.


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## slownsteady (Feb 18, 2015)

JoeWest said:


> Well, the need for an on / off foot pedal is for 2 reasons.  First, if I should screw up and get my hand caught in the lathe I don't have to go hunting to flip an off switch.  That's obvious.
> 
> Secondly this is a lathe I use for installing and shaping pool cue leather tips.  turning the lathe on and off happens every 5 or 10 seconds as the tip diameter is about to meet the diameter of the pool cue ferrule.  It makes life a lot easier just stepping off the switch, back on for a second, off to recheck .. .back on .. and so forth.



Fair enough. As long as you have a good reason, you may procede


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## nealtw (Feb 18, 2015)

why not just use a gear reducer and maintain torgue
http://www.hougen.com/downloads/misc_pdf/Speed_Reducer.pdf


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