Question for you welders!

[Supergeek]

Sorry for the off topic question. My girlfriend just got me a Lincoln Electric 175 Mig welder as an early Christmas gift to help me get a jump start on my 02. The problem is that it runs off a 208/230 volt outlet with the large 3 prong connecter, which my house does not have. We are both new to welding and didnt notice this. We got it to learn how to weld. Is there a step up voltage converter that can be used to power the welder? Or do we have to return it and get a 110 volt powered one. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

http://content.lincolnelectric.com/pdfs/products/literature/e735.pdf

[MOESPEED2002]

No Electric Dryer/Oven hookup? If your in a home you should have 220V somewhere.

MOE

[Guest Anonymous]

slide your dryer out and it will have this connect. Since most pannel boxes are in the garage.. getting a 220v socket installed out there is very simple. Mine charged $250 for this service. If you're cheap. Some 12 gauge romax from HD and two plugs on it will make a simple extension cable from the dryer to the garage.

[02again]

You will need larger then #12 wire. #12 is good for 20 amps and even though the welder max is 19.5 would be better to use #10 which is more than likely what the dryer would be wired with.

[Mike Self]

no 220 in the garage. However, one garage wall backed up to the kitchen and the stove, so an electrician bored a hole in the wall and installed a 220 outlet in the garage opposite the stove wiring. Plenty of amps to run the stove (at least two burners) and compressor at the same time.

Perhaps you have the same setup either with your stove or dryer...but you can't get a step-up converter; gotta use 220 on your welder.

mike

[osbourne]

David,

I'm glad to hear your girlfriend bought you a GOOD welder, instead of one of the cheapies. You should get many years of good service from that machine.

You mentioned that you were "new to welding". As someone who learned to weld about 40+ years ago, and who's profession frequently involves laying out repairs and passing judgement on welding repairs on U.S. Coast Guard inspected vessels; my advice to you is to enroll in a welding class at your local vocational/technical school. You'll consume far more welding wire & gas, and sheet metal than the cost of your tuition, and you'll learn stuff that will allow you to avoid a host of potential welding mistakes on your 02 project. In short, it'll provide you with an excellent foundation upon which to build your welding skills. Also, it'll teach you the safe way to go about welding.

Good luck, and HAVE FUN!

[TobyB]

As everyone else has said,

if you're in a house, you should be able to

get 220v power from somewhere...

hell, I hijacked the water heater on my apartment

years ago, put a plug in, and dropped an extention cord out

the window to the carpark below....

I'm not sure I'd use Romex for an extention cord,

and do be careful- 220v at 40a can do a lot more

damage than a 110 circuit can.

It's really worth the effort- but if you're only doing light

gauge (less than about 1/8") the 110 units do work.

I've had one (Century 110) for ages, and it's a good little machine-

if you keep in mind that it's little.

And an evening welding class is worth it. I wouldn't get a degree

just to point a mig- the class will get you started, then you'll

turn the 'learned' part into 'known' habits only by doing.

A mig's not that much harder to use than a glue gun...

t

[osbourne]

If you want to weld the RIGHT way, don't ever get to thinking of a MIG welder in terms of a "glue gun". Sure, it's very easy to use it like a glue gun, but, your welds will likely be weak, porous, and you'll spend a lot of time grinding away weld, to get a flat surface.......of course, you'll also be dealing with a lot more sheet metal distortion because you'll think that, by turning the voltage down and the wire speed up (to make it work like a glue gun), you can run continuous "beads", and "weld that panel on in no time flat".

Sure, a MIG welder is much easier to master than oxy-acetelyne, "stick", or TIG welding. But, if you want to lay down a good weld, you have to learn to get full penetration, how to prevent weld "pinholes", and how to avoid warping panels. Practice is the only way you're going to learn, but, you need to learn the "basics" before you really practice, in order to be able to know whether or not you are actually welding, or just sort of "soldering", like I've seen so many hobby welders do.

[TobyB]

"a mig is not much harder to use than a glue gun."

doesn't mean it IS one. For one thing, you don't listen

to your glue gun to see how it's welding...

Thus, the evening classes...

t

[osbourne]

Sorry, Toby, but if you tell a neophite welder that a MIG is not much harder to use than a glue gun, you're pointing him in the wrong direction. He's going to think he CAN use it like a glue gun......and there is where he's headed for some frustration.

My point is that it's not as easy as many are led to believe, and one needs to go about it in the "right" way (take some classes, first, and learn how to go about it, properly). I'm sure you can agree with me on that.

[Guest Anonymous]

It's not hard to run a new 220v circuit. You just use a dual-pole breaker instead of a single, and your black and white wires both serve as hot leads and the ground more or less replaces the neutral/common (in a 3-wire set up, 4 wire is different). Make sure you get the right style of outlet to match the welders plug as there are different outlets for different amperage ratings. Plugs for 220/240 AC units are different than those for ranges, dryers etc...

220v (really 240v) is really no more dangerous to work with than 110/120v. You just have 2 leads each bringing 120v to the outlet rather than one. Though you really shouldn't run more than one outlet/appliance off of the same circuit, and there is really no need to unless your breaker box is completely full.

[Jack]

I have a Miller Synchrowave 180. I have 20 amp three prong plugs to run my table saw, band saw etc. For my 180...50 AMP plug. You will need 8 or 10 awg wire for this depending upon the length of run. Don't screw around with this. Get it done correctly. If you are drawing to much current you will just make a bunch of heat and trip your braker.

Also, understand your duty cycle rating. If it is a 60% duty cycle you can weld .6 X 60 min= 36 min/hr.

That is a nice machine. You can do good work with it. Get an auto dimming helmet. I am sure Lincoln has them too, but get the DVD's from Lincoln and a bunch of scrap metal. Practice is the key. You may be able to borrow the DVD's from your machines vendor. I rent my large cylinder and bought the little one for my Miller 135 110v mig. Have a ball!