I recently joined the forum and find my brain hurting from all of the great information that is here. Thank you to everyone who freely shares their knowledge. I'm currently working through some rewiring issues for my stick welder.
OK, I have one 30 Amp/220 Volt circuit that is dedicated to my welding at the moment. I have a Harbor Freight 180 amp Mig unit and recently picked up a Mid-Sates AC Arc Welder Model: Deluxe 200. This is a WWII era unit and easily weighs over 100 Lbs. The HF unit requires 24 amps and has a Nema 6-50 plug for power. The Mid-States unit requires 25 amps @ 40 KW (Which I'm not really sure what that means) and has a Nema 10-50 plug on it. The label of this unit states 25 Amps @ 40 KW then shows secondary amps as 15@40 secondary volts. Is anyone familiar with what this means? Would it still work on a 30 amp/220 circuit?
The 10-50 plug and about 12" of cable were spliced onto the original cord of the Mid-States unit. I'm thinking of removing the splice and converting it to a 6-50 plug so that I can use the same outlet interchangeably with both welders. Does this make sense?
Currently, my wife and I are remodeling the building that I weld in. It's a 1920's masonry corner storefront. The welding area is 27' x 14' x 12' high with an 8' access outside if I ever have to work on something really long.
We recently changed out the panel from 60 to 200 amps. My plan is to upgrade the welding circuit from 30 amps to 50 as I see myself getting heavier equipment as time goes on. Thanks for any thoughts that you might have on the plug as well as the circuit upgrade.