cheap TIG AC/DC welder any good?

Eliot · Post by **Eliot** » Thu May 10, 2012 7:51 am

unstable load wrote:It's a Miller 330A/BP TIG machine and needs a 400V, 45 Amp feed, so currently it's sitting in a corner under a layer of dust because my house's wiring is single phase, 220V.

This is my very old Miller Welder - it's an old-school transformed based one. It was also 3-phase, but you can also run it on single phase.

I've never had it higher than mid range (200A) - as that pulls 60A A/C - which is very close to what the entire house will take

. But 200A is enough for welding pretty thick ally, steel welding uses less power.

unstable load · Post by **unstable load** » Thu May 10, 2012 1:59 pm

Eliot, that looks like a shorter, deeper version of mine. I can do stick and TIG, but like you say, the current draw is hectic.

Dave, Agreed, the only holdup at present is trying to find out why the utility lot want to charge me to run a cable 75 meters from the distribution box down the road to my house for the 3 phase feed when the transformer that feeds the distribution is literally at my gate.......
As of yet, no coherent answer is forthcoming....

SuperV8 · Post by **SuperV8** » Fri May 18, 2012 1:33 pm

Cheers guys,
I'll keep my eyes peeled for a bargin!

Tom.

DaveEFI · Post by **DaveEFI** » Fri May 18, 2012 3:24 pm

unstable load wrote:
Dave, Agreed, the only holdup at present is trying to find out why the utility lot want to charge me to run a cable 75 meters from the distribution box down the road to my house for the 3 phase feed when the transformer that feeds the distribution is literally at my gate.......
As of yet, no coherent answer is forthcoming....

Because that's what the distribution box is for. Rather like the 'Fusebox' in your house. All the house circuits are wired to that - not from where the main cable comes into the house.

unstable load · Post by **unstable load** » Sat May 19, 2012 5:21 am

I left a bit out of the story I gave you. Back when I made the initial enquiries I was told it HAD to come from the distribution box as there was no space in the current transformer to wire me into that as it was the best way of doing it, but that they were planning on replacing the transformer with a bigger unit and then it would be easy.
Well, the transformer has been replaced, but now, they still want to run it from the distribution box despite there now being about 5 free connection points on the bus-bar.
It's just New South African bureaucracy at work, is all. I will get there eventually....