Welding Tips and Tricks

Louie1961 wrote:Trying to do a solid for a fellow nutmegger. Hate to see a young guy in school spend more than he needs to.

I will look into those links tomorrow if I do end up buying a welder for practice it will most likely be used unless I win the lottery

Louis, You forgot to add and the power to run it. . 100 amps for most transformers.

Sent from mobile. Not responsible for Typos

soutthpaw wrote:Louis, You forgot to add and the power to run it. . 100 amps for most transformers.

Sent from mobile. Not responsible for Typos

True but only for large output. I run my Airco on a 60 amp circuit up to 230 amps AC tig.

My Dialarc 250 usually runs on a 50 amp breaker - for 1/8" and 5/32" electrodes I've had no problems.

MinnesotaDave wrote:

soutthpaw wrote:Louis, You forgot to add and the power to run it. . 100 amps for most transformers.

Sent from mobile. Not responsible for Typos

True but only for large output. I run my Airco on a 60 amp circuit up to 230 amps AC tig.

My Dialarc 250 usually runs on a 50 amp breaker - for 1/8" and 5/32" electrodes I've had no problems.

Yeah they seem to do okay to 5/32. The 330ABP/Airco is power factor corrected so it needs a lot less juice than say a Dialarc unless it's the HFP version. You get about 165 more amps over a Dialarc for about the same power draw.

Sent from mobile. Not responsible for Typos

Louis, You forgot to add and the power to run it. . 100 amps for most transformers.

Sent from mobile. Not responsible for Typos

So what? I just checked the Lincoln and Miller web sites for the owner's manuals. The Idealarc and the Dialarc both draw a max of 73 amps...not a huge difference. Lincoln recommends wiring with 8 gauge conductor and Miller recommends wiring with 6 gauge conductor. Breakers are cheap, it is the wire that makes a 240 volt circuit expensive. In either case, 8 gauge or 6 gauge will not break the bank. Most dryer circuits are wired with 10 gauge, and most range circuits are wired with 8 gauge. Either would get him by, he just couldn't crank it up to 250 amps, which he probably doesn't need to do for his intended purpose.

Everyone seems to think you have to use 1 gauge or 2 gauge wire for a 100 amp circuit, but that isn't the case for a dedicated welder circuit. The electric code allows for overrating the breaker size relative to the conductor size depending on the duty cycle of the welder. Plus, if you don't max out the welder, its probably not an issue anyway. I ran my Syncrowave on a 50 amp breaker, up to ~200 amps for a long time with no issues.

soutthpaw wrote:Louis, You forgot to add and the power to run it. . 100 amps for most transformers.

Sent from mobile. Not responsible for Typos

Not for stick welding.
I ran my 2 Idealarc 250s and SW250 on a 50amp 230 line and was able to weld 250-300amps just fine.

Stick_Welder_Steve: Here's another good one...good price http://albany.craigslist.org/tls/5381153761.html

A bit of a drive, see if he will knock off $100 for gas money

AKweldshop wrote:Merry Christmas to you.

What kind of welder are you looking for?
What stuff are you gonna weld?

To answer your question.. I will be welding up a steel Sailboat about 40 feet in length. I was leaning toward the Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC

Any advice from you old salts out there is welcome.

Many thanks from a Rookie