At Home In The Woods

   / At Home In The Woods #5,001  
Obed - congratulations on your thread reaching 5000 posts!
 
   / At Home In The Woods #5,002  
This welder has a "switch" for the voltage regulation. It is either set to High or Low. If its think say 1/4 or thicker its set on High for Me at least, if its a thinner metal i have it set on low.

Then there is a wire feed control. If i set it to like 2 and low power i can weld thin metal like 50 gallon barrel somewhat decent. If i turn it up to like 8-9 i can weld the thicker stuff set on high. When i weld the small mower deck i prolly am set anywhere from 4-7 range on wire speen and power switched to low. It deffinitly is not as fancy as an expensive welder but for what i do, which is repair my broken down stuff so0 i can get back to work, its worth its weight in gold.

Oh and i do get Lincoln wire from Lowes, its seems to weld just a bit cleaner/prettier and seems to just do better all around??
 
   / At Home In The Woods #5,003  
His welder is max 3/16. It does have a high/low, but the change over happens between 14 ga and 1/8. Its a very low amp welder, so thick/thin is relative. And to get full output you need a 20a receptacle/breaker which is fairly unusual in most residential construction, its typically 15 amp outlets.
 
   / At Home In The Woods #5,004  
But it would put out as much as the breaker requires right? if on a 15 breaker would it not trip? Or is it if the welder is "calling" for the power?

I personally have welded metal thicker than 1/8" I think. now I wont argue that its full strength or penetration weld but its fine for joining 2 metals that you need to for light duty work or to hold. Im not welding plow shares or trailer hitches here.
 
   / At Home In The Woods
  • Thread Starter
#5,006  
My breakers are all 20A. I honestly don't know what the outlets are rated but I would hope they are rated for 20A. My welder should be able to pull up to a full 20A if it needs it. I'm not using anything else on the circuit at the same time.

Does putting a 15A outlet on a circuit with a 20A breaker meet the electrical code? It seems like that could cause a fire.
 
   / At Home In The Woods #5,007  
i do have 12 wire and 20A breakers in almost my entire home, I do not have 20 amp recepticles and switches though so technically my switches could melt if to much power was called for to long, but I have tripped the breakers several times over the years I have been here, but its not from pulling 20A from one outlet, more like having 2 15A rated floor sanders on the same breaker and lugging them both at the same time or something till I wised up and used separate circuts for them.
 
   / At Home In The Woods #5,008  
No a 15A on 20A is not to code. A 20A breaker has to have all 12 wire on it and have all 20A rated recepticles and plugs, to be safe. Reason like you said something malfunctioning could melt the receptacle before breaker trips. I was going to change all mine but 20A stuff is kind of pricy. And really there is safety built into them. Also WHAT can you honestly be plugginginto any receptacle other than your welder that actually is rated at 20A... really nothing. So if you want to swap all your plugs that you will weld from to 20A that's as safe as you can get. But once something melts it will prolly connect to ground or bridge the neutral/hot conection before a fire actually starts I would think, and that would trip the breaker.

u can tell if you look at the recepticals and switches (may have to have them out to see it) they will say 15A or 20A stamped somewhere in the metal strap or the back of them I believe.
 
   / At Home In The Woods
  • Thread Starter
#5,009  
jdonovan said:
Exactly. This is one of the major down sides to any flux shielded process... including stick welding. But my flux doesn't blow away when I weld outside like my gas-shielded mig/tig does.

To slow should have lead to too much heat in one spot, and a flatter, wider weld profile. If the bead is tall/narrow it usually means a cold weld, with too much wire feed.
Click to expand...
Congrats jdonovan for creating Post #5000!
Obed
 
   / At Home In The Woods #5,010  
Actually 15a outlets are allowed on 20a circuits in single family residential. It is (or at least was) an allowed code exception in the NEC as they realize it is extremely rare to draw over 15a from one outlet but having a 20A circuit allows you a bit more headroom to avoid nuisance trips. It isn't anything I would call a real hazard, but if you are using a particular outlet for a regular 20a load, it would probably make sense to swap it out for a heavier duty commercial grade 20A one as it will be more durable and up to the rating for heavier use.
 
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