Not long ago, we had the pleasure to visit with the one and only Jimmy DiResta. Jimmy is a designer, builder, maker, educator, and all-around inspiration to many.
In the first two videos below, DiResta offers insight into how he got started in his career. In the third video below, he offers up his advice on how to create an effective YouTube channel. And finally, in videos 4 and 5 below, he gives you a tour of his shop and farm.
If you don’t already follow his channel, subscribe here. You won’t regret it.
As the second of our many stops on our trip to Colorado, we visited with Owner and Designer, Peter Olivetti, of the Olivetti Bicycle Company.
Peter operates his business out of his home workshop in the mountains of Boulder where three-phase power is cost-prohibitive to obtain. In addition, he needs to be able to deliver the custom precision and quality his bikes are known for.
Whether you’re a small home workshop or large production, Olivetti Bike Co. is sure to offer some inspiration!
Custom Bike Maker Peter Olivetti
Olivetti Bike Co. Shop Tour
American Rotary phase converters are perfectly suited for precision metalworking equipment such as wire EDM’s, CNC lathes, CNC mills, and other voltage-sensitive applications. General Metal Fabrication equipment such as grinders, welders, shears, brakes, and benders are often run on American Rotary phase converters. Visit our metalworking applications page to learn more today.
Many of you might know him from Vintagemachinery.org but you may know him even better as Keith Rucker – The agricultural scientist/machinist!
Come with us as we head down south to Georgia to meet with Keith and hang out at his shop as well as visit a few of his favorite places along the way.
He gives us the background on how and why he got started in machining, why he needed three-phase power, and why he chose American Rotary to make his shop what it is today.
At American Rotary, we serve a wide range of customers with a variety of rotary phase converters units. One such market segment is food and beverage production.
In this post, we take you to Kentucky where we visit with American Rotary customer, Purple Toad Winery, to learn about their business and how they use a phase converter to get the three-phase power they need to manufacture their product.
Whether you are in winemaking, brewing, or any type of food and beverage production, this video will give you a good idea of both the production ability and the output capacity of using a rotary phase converter to obtain three-phase power at an affordable cost.
Customer Profile – Purple Toad Winery
My American Rotary Setup
To learn more about how you can get high-quality three-phase power at low cost for your industrial food and beverage production needs, visit our Food Service Applications page.
If you work in the food service industry you know a lot of industrial food equipment requires three-phase power to operate…
You might also be familiar with how critical having the right equipment affects the growth of your business as the demand for your product increases.
Here we sit with Matt Tinder of Saboteur to see what inspired him to start his business, what his plans are for the future, and how American Rotary helps his business stay in production.
Customer Profile – Saboteur Bakery
Saboteur Bakery – My American Rotary Setup
To learn more about how American Rotary can help supply high-quality three-phase power to your indstrial food service equipment, visit our Food Service Applications page.
American Rotary does not only service our customers throughout the United States but we are also worldwide. Not long ago, David reached out to American Rotary looking for a solution to bring three phase into his building located in the Caribbean. The only power available was single phase 120/240v. David’s company needed to test UPS (universal power supplies) and did not have the ability to do so.
At first, they could only test and repair the devices at their customers’ facilities, which they felt was not the best practice for their company’s image. They then invested in a generator to provide three phase power during the testing. Although this option did work, it was not the best solution. It was very noisy, inconvenient to operate, and was an annoyance to the neighbors while it was running. David knew there had to be a better solution out there.
When David called American Rotary, he was searching for a solution that was easier to operate, ran quieter, cleaner, and was more cost effective than a generator. Fortunately, that is exactly what we had to offer him. He spoke with one of the Application Engineers and they went over all his current and future needs.
Based on that conversation, it was determined that an ADX60 would be the best solution. We also determined adding a transformer to the three phase side of the phase converter was a good addition as well. This will give David the option to test the equipment at different voltage settings if needed off of the same phase converter.
With the American Rotary ADX60, David is also able to let the phase converter run overnight to supply power to his UPS systems to charge the batteries. If he was not able to do this, they would lose the use of the batteries over time and would not be able to periodically charge them. This is all possible now with the phase converter.
David found the ADX60 a great investment which will pay off in a short amount of time. He is now able to sell more UPS systems and repair them in house. The installation of the converter was easy and worked the first time he turned on. He highly recommends this as a solution for anyone or any company that needs three phase power where only single phase power is available.
Phase Converters are an efficient alternative to three phase power. An American Rotary phase converter can be tailored to fit any of your three phase power needs whether it’s being used domestically or internationally. Please call one of our Application engineers today to discuss how we can help your hobby or business grow.
At a young age, Brian learned how to work on things. His Dad ran a bulldozer and his mom stayed home to raise the kids, cook dinner and so on. They were allotted one pair of shoes, two pairs of jeans, and a couple of new shirts at the beginning of the school year.
In High School, Brian earned money by bucking hay, being a lifeguard at a local pool, and worked for farmers. He could not wait to graduate high school and get a real job. He started working at John Deere for $6.00/ hour.
Through his hard work ethic, he got noticed and was asked to come work for a local auto shop for $5.00/hr, but it was a heated shop this time. This gave him more experience working on cars.
During his own time, he would keep his eyes open for old pickup trucks and threw a cam and carb on them. He would then sell the truck hoping to make a few dollars on it. After working for the auto shop for a while, he started to work for a truck company where he worked as the Operations Manager in the service department.
Now earning a little bit more money, he was able to restore a 1969 Chevy pickup. Learning has he went, he did a body and paint restoration on the truck as well as an engine rebuild. A week after the truck was done, he sold it for a $1,000 profit.
After moving onto another truck company and building a new house with a shop, he started buying a few cars and trucks to tinkering with, then sold them for a profit. Brian also started getting trucks to work on from the truck company that he worked for.
After a few years of this, he was swamped! He was working full-time, taking care of the paint and body work for three truck companies, and doing full restorations on cars. He quickly had a waiting list building! He finally decided it was time to quit his job and focus on the restorations.
With Brian’s eye for perfection and his wife’s patience, they have grown the company to be a full restoration garage. They do everything in house from paint to exhaust and interior. With being a start to finish shop, Brian needs to have various pieces of equipment on hand to help speed along the process but still produce a high quality finished product.
While still having a bottom line to watch, finding the best equipment for the best price can be quite the process. Brian ran into this when looking for an air compressor. He found the perfect air compressor for his needs but there was one problem, it had a three-phase motor but he did not have a three-phase power source at his shop.
This did not stop Brian, he knew there had to be a way. He did a little bit of research and found American Rotary. He liked that fact that American Rotary is American made and had a nice, clean, professional look. He called the support line and had a conversation about what his needs were.
He ended up going with the ADX30 and found this to be a very economical solution. Brian also likes how it takes up little space and is very quiet. Now, Brian is able to grow his business by getting efficient three phase equipment and still watch his bottom line now that he has a three-phase power source!
Having an American Rotary Phase Converter is a great economical solution for a location without three phase or where three phase power is cost prohibitive to bring in. An American Rotary phase converter can be tailored specifically to your needs.
Please give American Rotary a call and speak with one of our Applications Engineers to find out we can help make your dream your reality.
In this Customer Profile, we headed to Appleton, Wisconsin to visit with Kathy Turek of The Knotted Cone Gelato Company.
Inspired by a trip to Europe, Kathy decided Gelato might have a unique place of its own in the dairy state. Before long she headed back to Italy to study the art and production of the tasty treat and since returning has been bringing the high-quality treat and happy taste buds to many from around the area.
While The Knotted Cone may be sold out of a food truck, the gelato is carefully made in Kathy’s lab with specialized industrial food service equipment that requires three-phase power to operate.
Kathy’s lab is located where three-phase power is not so when she needed an affordable solution to make her dream a reality, American Rotary was able to help.
Here are a few takes of our time with The Knotted Cone.
The Knotted Cone Customer Profile:
The Knotted Cone’s American Rotary Phase Converter Setup:
Gelato Food Truck Tour:
The Difference Between Gelato and Ice Cream:
All of American Rotary phase converters have been designed to provide the precision output voltage needed for voltage sensitive applications such as pizza ovens, regular ovens, rotisseries and ice cream machines. This type of quality performance is ideal for Hobart mixers, wine presses, coffee grinders and other types of food processing machines.
To learn more, visit our Food Service product page or download our free three phase power resource guide below.
Not long ago, we headed to Clear Lake, Wisconsin to visit American Rotary customer, Jamie Lien of Next Gen Classics where he restores classic cars.
Originally, Jamie started a pull truck team with Next Gen industries owner Matt Anderson and it eventually led to a new business venture in restoring cars, now in its 7th year. As a true craftsman, he does every facet of the restoration business (body, paint, welding, electrical, machining custom parts, upholstery) as a one-man team.
Growing up in a body shop with his dad he eventually moved onto learning machining as well. His whole family is into cars/motors and also competes in truck pulling. They’re hoping to build the shop into a high-end full restoration business.
They had just moved into the building you see in the videos here and were still getting set up while we were there. However, they did have their American Rotary phase converter hooked up to their lathe and mill as you will see. Enjoy!
Next Gen Classics Customer Profile:
Next Gen’s American Rotary phase converter setup:
Things to Consider When Planning a Car Restoration:
To learn more about how you can get quality three-phase power for your shop at an affordable price, download our three-phase power resource guide:
