220-221 whatever it takes!

[USparky]

....that's a line from Mr. Mom if anybody was wondering...

I'm talking to a guy who got a bunch of junk through the DRMO(military surplus). He has some welders but they are 460v single phase. Does anyone know if an older 460v(non-inverter?) welder can use 220v input voltage without being modified or be re-wired to use 220v without spending a boatload of cash?

[Mike W]

You might try looking for a surplus step up transformer.

[tooldude56]

In the days when every thing was stick welded,We had many old 440V single phase welders in the shop.such as Lincoln Idealarc 300 and TM400 transformer type welders.They were all convertable between 220V and 440V,via. an access panel on the side.We used the 440V. taps because it cut down on the wire size requiredThe reason we used these single phase machines in a shop that had plentiful 480V. 3-phase power,was because we needed AC-DC stick capabilitys and it is extremely rare to see a 3 phase transformer machine with AC welding output.Those were the days when the shop would burn up over a pallet of 1/4" 7024 AC jet rod in less than a week,not to mention a lot of 7018 DC rod.We did try 7028 low hydrogen DC jet and were not real happy with it ,but nowdays everything that was done with stick is now done with wire and jet rod was replaced by dual shield wire.Dont underestimate these old machines that you call junk.Most of our machines performed well for over 30 years with 3-shifts of use and when the shop retired them,employees took them home to use.One thing to check out on these old 1-phase machines is the power requirements.Most of these will require at least a 100 amp. breaker.The only machines that I remember to be non-convertable were the old round Lincoln generator machines.We had some of them that were straight 440 volt.

tooldude56

[USparky]

Dont underestimate these old machines that you call junk..

tooldude56

Nope......I agree. Some of the best welders that I've used looked like they were pulled from the bottom of a swamp!
On the contrary, I was just saying that this guy has a bunch of surplus junk and that maybe there's some good welders in the pile. I just want to make sure I'm not buying something "sight unseen" and end up with a welder that requires the same power source used to light a small town!

Thanks for the help....