Fish, welder circuits are 2 conductor with ground and although 6 wire is good it is way overkill for most homeowner machines unless you want to use it for other uses than welder circuits. None of these guys will need number 4 wire unless they get into 300A class machines with high duty cycles. Even at distances of 100 ft number 8 is plenty for a buzz box stick machine and 250A class feeders, in fact most of them allow down to number 10 on a 50A breaker,,, but,, that is for welder circuits and not for something like a kiln that would run continious.

 

My shop construction project is active again, after a pause for family medical emergencies. I talked with the local electrical inspector about 220v welder wiring and for a 50 amp welder receptacle #6 copper wire is REQUIRED to meet our local code(s). All of the wire runs in my installation are under 50 feet from the breaker box. (200 amp, single phase service) I hope this helps..

 

There is no technical reason you couldn't daisy chain them. After all, the breaker is in place to stop you from overloading the circuit. You probably have a half dozen 110v outlets or more, each capable of drawing the full load on a single 20amp breaker.

There is a NEC rule about 220 outlets being dedicated to one device though, not sure if there is a welder exception in the code for that. There is a welder exception for wire size as previously mentioned.

Otherwise if you want to add circuits, you could add a subpanel or upgrade the panel you got. Most subpanels I have seen have 4 or 6 slots. Those double circuit 110v breakers do work also if you have a box that supports them... however when you already have a full box adding more circuits can be a nightmare to wire and you may be out of neutral/ground bus connections.

If it was me I would just daisy chain them.

 

Correct, NEC doesnt allow daisy chaining these circuits. There is an allowance for 2 recepts on the same circuit for welding machines but it is a convenience outlet, such as one by the bench and one by the door for use with the same machine. Most of these machines are allowed to plug into 50A welder circuits as long as it has a minimum number 12 cord on them. I see some numbers posed here as to gauge and distances, almost any machine you would find in a home shop will run fine on a number 8 to 100 ft. They will run on 10 to 50 no problem. As was stated when using cables in walls its often preferable to wire these with number 6 so that it could be converted to something other than a welding circuit in the future. Welding is intermitant and the wire for inputs can be rated for the duty cycle of the machines. On some of them I do not use the minimum, I go one size up. Some of the small stick machines such as the Lincoln AC225 allow number 12 wire on a 50A breaker provided it is single circuit in pipe. (The breaker isnt protecting against overloads, the load that can be applied by the machine and the time its able to run continiously is the limiting factor. The breaker is providing short circuit and ground fault interuption.) Thats a good case to upsize if there ever was one. Running cables in walls is another for a couple of reasons, one being its hard to change and the other is later someone sees this 50A breaker and assumes its a true 50A circuit without verifying the wire size. For guys on this forum needing 50A welding circuits number 8 is plenty all the way to 100 ft, some short runs in pipe could be 10 no problem, no saftey issue. As for local codes not allowing this,, I doubt it, you might be right and I could be wrong but show me where that is written. If you are consulting or hiring a sparky he may say that just to avoid explaining all the details and as some insurance that it wont be used as something other than a welding circuit in the future and the cost of 2 conductors of 6 vs 8 would be rather insignificant to him. As for cords with these machines, 10 works fine for short cords and is cheaper and a lot easier to handle. Not very likely. Most places of this type dont have 3 phase available.

 

What do you plug the extension cord into?
One late night in the garage with the Blue brothers I thought of making an extension cord with #6, putting a dryer plug on one end and the female plug I need for my welder on the other. I then could use the dryer circut for the 3-4 times a year I would use the welder. The dryer is on a 60amp. Maybe this is one of those things you should just forget about.

 

That dryer shouldnt be on a 60, it should be on a 30, this is a common household dryer? Way too large of breaker, very dangerous. The componants inside the unit are rated to be protected with 30.

 

as an electrican i'd say run the # 8 unless you are over 250 feet in length if longer go with 6.personally no matter what the code says i'd never install #10 at my home or a customers on a 50 amp breaker.
one thing to remember is the code IS THE BARE MINNIMUM REQUIRED BY THE INSPECTER
that dosent mean it is what is right or that the application will even work.
i personally have a millermatic 251 and i used # 8 and installed three 240v recepticles in my shop in the same breaker. no problems with the inspector.
pete