> I have finally (after months of searching) found and rented a garage to start
>rebuilding my '67 Mini Estate, 79 mini, 73 Porsche 914 (oops, not LBC!!). Which
>brings me to my next question about MIG welders. I was all keen on picking up a
>"Pocket Mig" type welder that runs on 110V. The purpose is to basically weld
>body panels and I figured if it welds anything heavier...bonus. The problem is
>that the shop only has one 15 Amp breaker(inside the house..which I don't rent)
>that will be running the lights as well as the welder. Is this at all possible?
> I have seen some MIG welders that require 110V 30amp. Are there any that will
> run on 15 Amps or less (assuming I only use one light when I weld). If the 30A
> versions are typical; can the welding current be turned down low enough to do
> proper sheet metal welding and still be using less than 15 Amps wall current.
Certainly this is possible. I have just completed about 8 hours of MIG welding
(elapsed time, includes waiting for some paint to dry, and cutting sheets to
size). The entire adventure was carried out on a 15A circuit with a drop light
and two lights in the garage going. The thing is that if you are running at
90A welding current, you will vaporize the sheet metal at the same time as you
blow your breaker. I had to do most of the welding at 4-5.5 (out of 10) on the
"current" potentiometer. Not only did the breaker never blow, the welder never
cut out either (20% duty cycle at 90A, which means if you run 90A, you can
weld for 2 min out of 10 or it cuts out).
The previous owner of my house took the former 60A, 220V line that went to the
garage and re-routed it to the new hot tub. Now I have a hot tub that doesn't
blow breakers, but if I run my compressor, I have to plug it in to the outdoor
socket. Putting in a new 30A line to the garage is my next household electrical
project.
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John R. Lupien
lupienj@wal.hp.com
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