My laundry room is right off the garage. In there I have an unused 220v 30amp plug (we converted from electric dryer to natural gas). Can I use that circuit for a 220v welder? Is 30amps enough?

 

For most 220V welders you will want a 50amp outlet. Some of the smaller ones a 30amp would work for. The problem with it being in your laundry room is you now need a long extension cord to get it to work properly. And those are expensive.

 

I was thinking of converting the plug in the laundry room to a junction box and running a wire to a new outlet in the garage.

 

Some dryrs have a 4 wire 220v outlet. you can wire 220v either way.

3 wire or 4 wire i would us the breaker that is recommended for your machine.

I am not a electrician or a welder but i did rewire my own house. garage and new shop. so do your research

 

Before you can change the breaker for the dryer outlet to anything bigger than 30amp you will have to verify what size wire was used for the dryer outlet. Typical dryer outlets that are 30 amp rated use 10ga wire. A 50 amp breaker needs 6ga wire. I have seen some dryer outlets done with bigger wire so you may be able to just upgrade your breaker.

All that said a welder only used the current it needs so if you don't turn the machine up to hot it won't draw it's full amp load. I have run my 200 amp rated machine off a 30 amp 220v breaker and it worked fine, just couldn't go above 30ish % of the machines power.

 

This is why I chose the Miller 211. I run .030 wire but it will handle .025 or .035 wire with a drive roll change.

 

2x... I too have a 211..... but also have a 140.

 

Buy the best welder you can afford, Buy once, cry once...cheap tools always make you wish you had bought better quality

 

Will do!!! Now that I got a good idea of what to look for... now for the next post while I'm doing the "waitin' fo money" dance
Thanks Everybody!

 

I'm not sure if it's something I would recommend yet as I've only had it a couple weeks but I bought this FREE SHIPPING — Klutch MIG 250S Flux-Core/MIG Welder — 215V, 250 Amp | MIG Flux Core Welders| Northern Tool + Equipment , Klutch® MIG 250S. I have never welded with a wire welder before but following the general guidelines that are on the welder it's like spreading warm butter on toast compared to a stick welder on 18/20ga steel.
What do the knowledgeable welder guys have for an opinion on this welder, would it be something he should look into and I really hope I didn't buy a piece of junk.... I generally go Miller or Hobart but couldn't justify the extra 1000$'s.

 

Well if anybody has seen my other posts I've been keeping myself busy... and seeing that i can't save money for one problem without another problem jumping out from behind the truck and scaring my fragile little mind, my welding buy is going to have to wait until I start saving all over again... But thanks everybody I think I'll be going the cheap but not-so-cheap-its-crap route on this one just due to timeframe of when I want to drive this boy safely down the road, without exploding. Thank you for all the advice and input for this thread, I will keep it all in mind. Until the next project post!!!!
The WhichDoctah

 

Last year Harbor Freight ran a super sale on their cheap 90am flux core MIG, $80! so I bought a welder and one of their self darkening welding helmets, also on sale. Total cost $120.

I also bought some .035 tips.

Next stop was at Home Depot for some better wire.


This is my first weld with it, 3/16" flat plate, the splatter reminds me of an old ARC welder, same as the crust.

The splatter is why I think most people despise the flux core welders, if you were to compare this weld to a standard gas shielded bead, this weld looks aweful. I've been told that if I get some anti-splatter spray, I could make it easier to keep the BB's from sticking.

FWIW, this is a terrible way to prep for butt-splicing.


With the crust knocked off and minimal grinding.


I ground it down a bit more to see what it looked like for penetration.


Welding a piece of 1/8" to 3/16" in an angle.


It got decent penetration


I set up all sorts of things for practicing and trying to find the best settings for heat and wire speed.



Mostly, I found that I wasn't so good with technique..

But I kept trying, I found some 1/4" at work and prepped it with a bevel, the way it should be done..

The heat affected zone (HAZ) on the backside shows that I am getting decent penetration.

So I welded a solid bead, not a straight bead, but still solid.

You can see how much heat I put into this piece.


One of my more recent welds, I needed to make a stand for a project.
I'd like to think my technique has gotten better.


Its not the greatest welder in the world, but I have friends locally with much better, production quality MIG welders that are willing to do work for me, or loan me theirs' for a day if I need.

I've found that this one works well enough for my tasks so far.
I have 2 small kids and I told them that this was my 'metal glue-er'.

That isn't to say it doesn't have problems... I plan on gathering the parts to do a AC/DC rectifier with capacitors, and running the wire feed motor from a separate 12v/regulated power source. Under heavy use/load the wire speed can be a little erratic.

Someday I'll get a better welder, just not any time soon.

 

Anybody out there using HTP welders? They seem to be in the Lincoln and Miller quality range, but without the price premium. Some nice reviews on YouTube, but it would be nice to hear from some real-world consumers that have used the brand.
Thanks!
Jay

 

I bought a Miller 211 dual volt .Easy to change the plug unscrews and you put on the 110 or 220 plug. It also will run on argon or flux wire. ALso has a auto setting for the thickness of mat'l and wire thickness. I also bought a nice auto darkening Lincoln helmet it is super sweet.

 

When I bought my Miller 211,when they first came out,I called Miller and asked about my 30 amp 220 receptacle in garage,they assured me it was acceptable,been a few years now works fine