This is not an electrical detail. It decides whether the machine suits you, what conversion costs and whether to buy it at all.
This is the conversation that should happen on the first call and almost always happens too late: once the machine is bought, or worse, once it is standing in the plant. Europe runs at 50 Hz. Much of Latin America runs at 60 Hz. And that difference is not fixed with an adapter.
The good news is that in many cases there is a solution, and a cheap one. The bad news is that in others there is not, and it is worth knowing which of the two you are in before signing.
The running speed of an asynchronous motor depends directly on mains frequency. Connected to 60 Hz, a motor designed for 50 Hz turns roughly 20 % faster. Everything that motor drives — a spindle, a pump, a conveyor, a fan — speeds up in the same proportion.
That has three consequences. The first is about process: if speed matters to what the machine makes, the output changes. The second is mechanical: bearings, drives and rotating parts work beyond what was designed for. The third, the least obvious, affects pumps and fans, whose absorbed power rises far faster than their speed: a 20 % increase in revolutions can push the draw well past what the motor can take.
Keep them apart, because they are solved differently. Voltage is adjusted with a transformer: a known, available and relatively cheap solution. Frequency is not: a transformer does not change it.
Actually changing frequency requires a converter, and above a certain power that stops being trivial. Which is why the question “how much does conversion cost?” only has an answer once you know what is inside the machine.
One: the machine already has variable frequency drives on every motor. The best case, and increasingly common on modern equipment. The drive takes the mains and generates the frequency the motor needs itself, so the incoming frequency stops mattering. Usually it is enough to match the supply voltage and check the parameters.
Two: motors connected direct on line, but speed is not critical. A coolant pump, an extractor, a discharge conveyor. Here running faster may be acceptable, provided you verify that the motor is not overloaded and that cooling is still sufficient. Sometimes changing pulleys or gearboxes settles it.
Three: speed is critical to the process. A filler dosing by time, a synchronised line, equipment with a calibrated recipe. Here you have to intervene: drives on the motors involved, or reprogramming the control, or both. It is doable, but it stops being an adjustment and becomes a project with a budget.
Four: the machine depends on frequency in its electronics or its timing. Older equipment with synchronous relays, counters or time bases taken from the mains. The least common case and the most awkward, because touching the motors is not enough.
That last point is worth a lot. If the manufacturer sells the same model into 60 Hz markets, their service department usually knows exactly what has to change and what it costs.
When the machine is old, has no drives, has many motors and its process is tied to speed. In that case conversion can approach the price of the equipment, and it adds a technical risk nobody will guarantee you in writing.
Also when the initial saving is small. If buying in Europe saves you 20 % and the conversion eats 25 %, the deal stopped making sense before it started. Better to find that out on a phone call than with a container unloaded.
Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia run at 50 Hz, the same as Europe. There this problem simply does not exist: the frequency matches, and industrial voltage, 380 V against Europe's 400 V, falls inside the usual tolerance of most equipment.
For a buyer in those countries, European used machinery is technically as close as it gets to buying on the local market, with far more choice. It is a real advantage and not many people use it.
The electrical data you need is on the nameplate. For the rest of the deal, see buying European machinery from Latin America, shipping to your port and what your country requires on import. If you want someone to see the machine running before you decide, we arrange the inspection.
This guide explains general principles and does not replace an electrical engineer's assessment of a specific machine and installation. Before buying a machine that needs conversion, get a technical quotation in writing.