New to welding

[KubotainNH]

Bman, looking forward to seeing you burn some rods. Nothing like joining two pieces of metal, if you screw up grind it out and start over. Do take Mark up on his offer, good to have someone right there to tell you what you are doing wrong. I got the iMig 140 from Mark, nice little machine that does what I need.

 

[BMan2005]

When we built the Pioneer Square Station of the Metro bus tunnel down town Seattle. We lowered the beams down with a crawler crane setting on 3rd avenue. Track loader drug the beams to there locations, and an excavator set them in place. Before setting the beams in place we had to cut them to length, and weld plates on the ends. We used self shielded wire. Majority of the beams we didn't clean as well as we should have.
We placed over a million tons of falsework iron in that station!

Is that you in the second picture? Pretty cool pictures btw, thanks for sharing them.

 

[BMan2005]

Bman, looking forward to seeing you burn some rods. Nothing like joining two pieces of metal, if you screw up grind it out and start over. Do take Mark up on his offer, good to have someone right there to tell you what you are doing wrong. I got the iMig 140 from Mark, nice little machine that does what I need.

Thanks man, and me too!

Just got an updated email from ups my package was delayed to arrive Friday now. :thumbdown:. Was hoping to get a day to test it out but I'll be leaving Friday for the weekend. Oh well, the following week

 

[woodlandfarms]

California brought up a good point. With those #'s wouldn't I be just fine running 110v since I don't plan to step over 1/8" rod no time soon?

Me personally I would get enough wire to pull 50 amp 220. Today you say 1/8 Tomorrow you say a bridge a cross your property.

 

[Shield Arc]

Is that you in the second picture? Pretty cool pictures btw, thanks for sharing them.

No, that is Harvey. I forget why, but Harvey died not to long after that project.
This is me in the blue T-shirt. Working on the Seattle water front.

 

[Birdhunter1]

BMan2005 here are the settings I use with my PowerArc 200ST. Now remember everyone welds a little differently, but these settings should get you close.

1/8-inch 6010
Flat, 70-AMPS
Vertical up hill, 65-AMPS

5/32-inch 6010
Flat, 100-AMPS
Vertical up hill, 90-AMPS.

3/32-inch 7018
Flat, 50 to 60-AMPS
Vertical up hill, 50 to 55-AMPS

1/8-inch 7018
Flat, 105-AMPS
Vertical up hill, 80-AMPS

5/32-inch 7018
Flat, 125-AMPS
Vertical up hill, 120-AMPS

^^^^This is gold^^^^
I don't run 5/32 rods but on the 1/8" rods I find I'm running about the same numbers on my 200ST. On the talk of 7014 it runs like butter.

 

[Birdhunter1]

California brought up a good point. With those #'s wouldn't I be just fine running 110v since I don't plan to step over 1/8" rod no time soon?

I ran my 200ST on 110V once. I had a hinge to weld back together on a piece of equipment and my weren't long enough to reach from my 220 welder plug. On a 20 amp 110V circuit I could not run a 3/32 7018 without blowing a breaker, and it was not a wiring problem anywhere in the circuit. Up until the breaker blew each time the arc was rather weak and I gave up and tacked it together enough to move it to where I could run it hotter on 220. I've sin ce got longer leads and built a cord to power it further away.

 

[BMan2005]

No, that is Harvey. I forget why, but Harvey died not to long after that project.
This is me in the blue T-shirt. Working on the Seattle water front.

Sorry to hear that SA.

That's pretty cool man, much respect to you guys who build the huge structures. Very interesting stuff to me.

 

[yomax4]

I ran my 200ST on 110V once. I had a hinge to weld back together on a piece of equipment and my weren't long enough to reach from my 220 welder plug. On a 20 amp 110V circuit I could not run a 3/32 7018 without blowing a breaker, and it was not a wiring problem anywhere in the circuit. Up until the breaker blew each time the arc was rather weak and I gave up and tacked it together enough to move it to where I could run it hotter on 220. I've sin ce got longer leads and built a cord to power it further away.

Must have been a 15 amp breaker? You should be able to roast 3/32 with ease on 115v 20A.

 

[BMan2005]

Question guys, what is a good convenient height to have the top of your work bench table for welding? Compared to your body?

 

[MinnesotaDaveChalmers]

Must have been a 15 amp breaker? You should be able to roast 3/32 with ease on 115v 20A.

Same experience for me - 3/32" 7018 at 90amps easily on 120v/20a breaker with dual voltage welders.

 

[dragoneggs]

No, that is Harvey. I forget why, but Harvey died not to long after that project.
This is me in the blue T-shirt. Working on the Seattle water front.

Great pic SA! Back in the day! It might be time for another lesson this xmas time. I want to learn TIG but I don't have the machine yet.

 

[BMan2005]

Since I would have to run a wire out of my meter box to make an outlet for the 220v I've decided to just run power to a dedicated outlet under the shed. Going to go ahead and install a 50amp breaker in the box, distance is 48' to the pole. So will 8/2 Romex be good? I won't run anything other than the welder on the line.

 

[BukitCase]

1 run, 50' of #8 solid, 240 volts, at 30 amps you'd drop just under 1% or 2.29 volts. Shouldn't be even noticeable... Steve

 

[California]

... distance is 48' to the pole. So will 8/2 Romex be good? I won't run anything other than the welder on the line.

Surely you'll want to operate a 110v tool out there too. At least a grinder. You need to clean up surfaces before welding. And - in the words of the immortal Thingy (pipeline welder, an epic poster here long ago): "The first thing you learn about welding is how to grind out your bad welds."

Also likely you will use a drill or some other basic shop tool.

I wouldn't run wiring that will forever be limited to 220 volts. So that sounds like 3 conductors plus the Ground.

 

[BMan2005]

Surely you'll want to operate a 110v tool out there too. At least a grinder to clean up surfaces before welding. And - in the words of the immortal Thingy (pipeline welder, an epic poster here long ago): "The first thing you learn about welding is how to grind out your bad welds."

Also likely you will use a drill or some other basic shop tool.

I wouldn't run wiring that will forever be limited to 220 volts. So that sounds like 3 conductors plus the Ground.

I already have drop cords ran under the shelter for 110 so I'm good on 110. I'm more less doing the least possible that I can live with because we are building and moving to our new property we bought within the next two years or the wife will strangle me.... Lol

She gets a house, I get a 48x40 pole barn/work shop was the deal

All is priced and decided on, but we have a kid coming in a few months and want to pay off some debt before the move. Especially with my new little buddy about to join the family.

 

[California]

...I'm more less doing the least possible because we are building and moving to our new property in the next two years...
... want to pay off some debt before the move.

...talked with Mark at Everlast a bit and decided to order the Everlast PA 200ST.

For that welder I see:

Max Inrush ( I1MAX ) Amps:

@110V: 42.8A
@220V: 40A

Maximum Rated (I1EFF ) Input Amps:

@110V: 25.7A
@220V: 23.7A

Asking a couple of novice questions to the pros, applicable here and for my own use:

Is 8 gauge needed for this 50 ft run?

And a related question: Clearly low voltage is harmful to electric motors. But is it harmful to welders to run on (properly fused) minimal wiring where the welder will see a few volts drop of input if run at maximum output? Do people often run welders at flat-out maximum spec? (I learned what little I know by starting with an indestructible buzzbox. Now I added two welders with modern electronics and specs similar to the above Everlast. I presume these are more delicate than an old-school buzzbox that has inside it nothing more than a huge transformer and a fan.)

 

[BukitCase]

Actually no; for this particular situation, if #8 is appreciably more than #10 wherever you get it, the 10/2+g is good for 30 amps, and a 50 foot run you'd still have 236 volts of the 240 available at 30 amp draw... Steve

 

[BMan2005]

Bought the material to run my line today. A buddy of mine is coming down to stay a few days over the Thanksgiving holidays and told me to just pay the little extra for 8/3 and he'll hook up 110v for me while he's down, he does electrical work. Slowly all coming together, just need my welder now so y'all can tell me what I'm doing wrong. Haha

 

[Birdhunter1]

Must have been a 15 amp breaker? You should be able to roast 3/32 with ease on 115v 20A.

The only 15 amp breaker in my shop is for the lights, 20 amp on every outlet, no wire in my shop is smaller than 12 gauge.