Hi Jerry,
A while back you mentioned that you'd done some experiments to investigate how idler size affects the power delivering capacity of a rotary phase convertor. Did you write up the results? If so I'd be very interested to see them.
Some people say that you need an idler with twice the load power rating, some say equal, and I know of a commercial company who use idlers of half the load power rating. So I'd be interested to know what you discovered - it would shed some light on the mystery.
Best wishes,
Chris