you're gonna love this one.
i have a piece of equipment i will be shipping to china that i want to test
before i ship it over. it has a <gasp!> electric motor! so i need some
kind of transformer/inverter setup that plugs into red blooded american
115v/60hz and can handle
Power requirement: 1.5 kW
Voltage requirement: 220 V
Frequency: 50/60 Hz
Current requirement: 10 A
Current protection by user: 16 A (slow blow)
Protection type: IP 54
Processor: C167, 20 MHz
Spindle motor power: AC 380 Watts
Brake: Electro-dynamic & mechanical
any clues? thanks.
randy
a step-up-down transformer should work fine, if slightly less elegantly
than a switching rectifier...
you just need one sized to the load, that's probably about 30 pounds of
pig-iron...
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=790700&item=TC-2000&type=store
http://www.allelectronics.com/pdf/transformers.pdf
Randy,
Your desktop computer (and most others) have electric motors. No need
to be surprised or <gasp!> fearful. 
If you have an electric dryer, stove, or AC unit, then you more than
likely have the necessary components already. What?, you are at the
office! Even better, Workmans Comp will cover your upcoming hospital
visit. What you *will* need is a good buddy w/ a baseball bat to stand
nearby and knock you off the current should you get electrocuted, but
don't worry about that, it rarely happens. <evil smirk>
Take said motor out of box, I presume that it has some attached wires,
if not find an old power cord and improvise. Next, plug said wires
into the 220v stove/dryer/AC outlet and let the sparks fly.
<hypothetically, of course>
Remember, rubber gloves (not the dish washing or condom type) are
fashionable for exercises like this.
Alternatively (if you are a wus, *cough*, *cough*) you could just call
a local electrician.
-Jim P.
Randy,
Depending on your local power company, and your power feed, you may very
well have 208VAC 60Hz phase-to-phase. It's pretty easy to check.
here in toronto we have a place called "House of 220", where you can rent
such a gizmo.
i'm sure there are similar places in other larger urban centers in north
america.
speaking of power conversions, here's a couple pics from my travels:
power bar and northamerican plug adapter provided by a 4 star hotel in
Karachi, Pakistan:
http://www.reptiles.org/~jim/pics/2001-02-11/Image21.html
(in order to use this, i was instructed to insert the bare wires into the
socket holes in the wall. i did so, and it did work, sorta, it crackled
once in a while, i was clued enough to unplug it when i wasn't using it).
power bar, in production, Tehran, Iran
http://www.reptiles.org/~jim/iran/work/Image22.jpg
now, all that aside, these places do have "quality" products, such as
this rackmount power strip i found in Dubai, UAE:
http://www.reptiles.org/~jim/pics/2001-07-04/Image02.html
and at the hardware store they had "normal" power strips, although i still
find the non-north-american power plugs to be quite large and potentially
dangerous.
there's at least 4 ways to do it:
[1] its easy enough in Australia to get '240V/50Hz -> 110V/60Hz' transformers.
i would imagine you could probably find the same thing in USA without too much
difficulty.
[2] on this side of the planet, its pretty easy to get hold of small portable diesel
generators that can output 1500W @ 240V.
[3] there's certainly inverters that'll convert -48DC to 240V/50Hz. a couple of
car batteries or your favourite telco DC rail would do nicely.
[4] besides USA and Japan, just about everywhere else in the world uses
240V AC. sounds like an excuse for a European or Australian holiday to me ...
cheers,
lincoln.