Dynasty 280 DX what plug? 6-50 on 50 amp Circuit Breaker? Standarized shop plug?

[mickllogon]

I am a hobby welder, learning. I follow the various forums and it seems the 6-50 r/p is somewhat standard for the home shop on a 50 amp circuit breaker? I know nothing about electrical. I know my home has 200 amp service panel and there is an "idle" 50 amp circuit seldom being used for a few minutes of lighting.

I am planning on purchasing a Miller Dynasty 280 DX but am confused about the wiring. I was considering a Dynasty 350 so I would not have to make another future purchase and have read excellent reviews about it. It is too large for me now and I don't know if my 50 amp circuit would let me utilize the full potential the 350 has.

I would need approximately 20' extension cord from the 6-50 outlet to the 280.

My forum reading has lead me to believe that the 6-50 plug/receptable is somewhat the defacto standard for numerous welding machines.

I also have a Thermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52 which I would like to put a 6-50 plug on. Is this acceptable? Also a MillerMatic 210 which has a 6-50 plug.

I am trying to run everything I have off the 6-50 plug or pigtail in an adaptor which runs off the 6-50 plug. If the 6-50 plug is not acceptalbe for the cutmaster 52 which plug should I use.

I only have single phase. Is a phase converter a consideration for home use? I believe you get much more economical power by converting from single phase to three phase. I don't know if that is possible or offered by power companies to residents in residential housing.

My concerns from what I have read is that the 6-50 may not let some of the machines realize their full potential. A second concern is that if I am restricting the full potential it seems to me that I am unintentionally restricting the duty capacity or downsizine the stated duty capacity of the machine(s) since they are not able to utilize its full power potential.

Thank you,

Mick

[Cgotto6]

6-50 is fine for all of those machines. Converting your single phase to three phase will actually waste a small amount of energy, thus nullifying power savings. You need three phase pole power to get the most out of it economically. I would say to get the 350 now and run it in your 50 amp breaker, possibly with a limitation of how high you can turn up the amps, but gives you the flexibility to have your panel re-worked down the road if you decide you want more top end.

[Broccoli1]

Cgotto, I think he means getting 3 phase from PoCo when said "converting" to 3 phase and better economical savings since he mentions PoCo and residential.

Anyhoo- you are not going to see any real savings in $ running on true 3-phase. The duty cycle increases so the machine can run a wee bit longer at higher amps. But as Cgotto mentioned running a Phase Converter at home actually costs you more $ electrically. But but the machine can still put out full power on Single phase so no need to run a Phase Converter.

Some PoCo's don't even offer it to residential and if they do it is usually cost prohibitive as it is very expensive to do it.

[ryanjones2150]

Dynasty 280 DX what plug? 6-50 on 50 amp Circuit Breaker? Standarized shop plug?

I asked to my electrical utility company to run three phase to my shop behind my house, the engineer just laughed at me. The total distance for an additional line would've been about 1.5 blocks range, plus the transformer...$15k.

Cost prohibitive is an understatement.

[Meltedmetal]

3 phase

We ran 3 phase into out shop in 1984 from about a mile away. The power company said the line was in need of an upgrade so we didn't have to pay the whole shot. 54k was the total and our part was 19k. The deal was that as long as we used 19k of power within 5 years they would consider it paid. If anyone new signed on for 3 phase in that stretch of line within the 5 years, they could for free but their consumption would reduce our liability. No one did until after the 5 years but it didn't matter because I think we passed that mark in about 3 years.---Meltedmetal

[Cgotto6]

Meltedmetal, that's how it works up here in the Seattle area, if there's 3 phase near where you would like it run.

[WillieB]

The 280 DX does not need three phase. Some power companies charge one rate for residential power, and a much higher rate for commercial power. They sample to find your peak load and charge more if your peak is higher. Best stay residential.

Over simplifying, Miller suggests a minimum of #10 conductor at 230 V single phase. In reality, few installations should use this small, as length from utility transformer would allow excessive voltage loss with #10. Each section of conductor from transformer should be calculated, The Dynasty is very tolerant of bad voltage, but it should be still considered. In most cases I would use at least #8, Long runs, #6. If I were plugging other machines I haven't yet bought, I'd use #6, it'll be big enough in all probability.

[H80N]

I am planning on purchasing a Miller Dynasty 280 DX but am confused about the wiring. I was considering a Dynasty 350 so I would not have to make another future purchase and have read excellent reviews about it. It is too large for me now and I don't know if my 50 amp circuit would let me utilize the full potential the 350 has.

The Dynasty 350 will run fine on a 50amp 230vac 1ph circuit... it only needs 39 amps

Have had mine for several years and love it...
not to worry about "too much machine".... it goes down to 5amps TIG on the bottom end..

BTW.. mine is on a 6-50 as is my Hypertherm Powermax 1000...plasma

[mickllogon]

thank you for the responses

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Thank you for the responses