Thanks Matt, I have an electrician friend I should probably ask about this stuff, he lives too far away to do the work for me but since he's a foreman for a company who does commercial only I know he knows all about 220.

And I don't think my entire lot is 80' across, so that should help with the prices.

 

While there are some traps a DIYer can run into, It is really not as hard as you make it out to be. It only becomes complicated when you are trying to run at the ragged edge of equipment ratings to keep costs low.

For example, the welder nameplate should tell you the ampacity you need to supply it with. Your conductor can be any size larger than this and you are ok. The calculations in the NEC for welders deal with how you can reduce the size of conductor needed based on your duty cycle.

How much current does your welder draw? I suspect you grossly overbuilt your service to your garage if your brought over 100 amps for a welder, a few lights and a garage door opener.



While I am not familiar with costs, I imagine it is cheaper to run wet rated cable in conduit than armored cable that shlammed ran. After a quick glance at the NEC, #2 THHW will fit in 1.5" conduit and will carry 115 amps (without derating for distance). You could even save on the conduit by running direct burial UF cable.

 

Reporting back, the gas lens is pretty awesome. Having good gas coverage makes welding aluminum much easier.

 

So. Because we were on the topic of hook ups...

Finally completed my box.




Willing to bet no one knows what that is.
Or even where i got my hands on it.

I'd like to see what an inspector would say about it, if he even had a clue what it is.

I didn't really want to go into the wall, to many holes, and the wall is insulated so it would have just been a huge pain.

 

I'm curious, At first glance I thought it was just liquid tight based on how it was flexible and the fitting on the box, but it looks more like a nylon sheathed armored cable of some kind. looks like Class 1 Div 1 stuff based on the compression fitting.

Is it Okonite CLX?

 

Yup. Blast proof. It's actually 4 wire, but only 3 were used obviously.
Same with the connector. Gas, liquid, rodent, chemichal and blast proof. It even came with the JB weld two part epoxy stuff to pack in the ends. Appearantly it's like a $120 connector. I wouldn't know. I don't even want to know how much the romex stuff costs per foot, we ran quite a bit of it too.

 

That's pretty much the definition of overkill lol.

Class 1 Div 1 is UL tested to not be an ignition source in an area saturated with volatile chemical fumes. I assume someone hooked you up with that stuff for free. It is a bit silly to go through the expense of installing it and then terminate it in a non class 1 div 1 box and receptacle. looks like a decent installation though, What size wire?

 

Looks like I have to do some repair work in the core support rails of my 2000. Everything is in front of the subframe mounting points. From the cost estimates I'm getting it looks like I may take the plunge and buy my own MIG welder. It's been a while but I used to do a bit of welding (stick) so with a bit of practice maybe I can do it.

Any suggestions on a unit keeping in mind other than my car I won't use it much. Renting is also a consideration.

I'm prepared to run the electric feed (neighbor is an electrician).

Also, I think 1/4" would be the max (this repair likely would be 1/16" plate)

Thanks for your input.

 

You should get a multi voltage unit. Miller, hobart, essab, and i'm sure your favorite Chinese manufacture makes one. I love my miller 211. I'm able to wheel it anywhere in the yard, down the street, or even over other peoples houses/garages if i need to.

Marathon. I know a few people that work for them. I'd like to work there someday myself.

6 gauge wire.

 

Thanks. I'm not sure if I trust that Chinese brand not to burn my house down.

 

Then be sure to unplug almost every appliance in your house.

 

That's funny....

 

My new toy... Precision Tig 185
Other than the known encoder problem (more like the blade falling off), it should be a pretty fine unit. Paid a fair $1500 price for everything seen plus a bunch of arc rods. Time to drop in a 70A circuit

 

So, I'm still just getting in to tig welding. During my most recent trip for a haircut, my barber (who is a retired welder) was asking how my progress was going. Among his list of suggestions was that for anything but aluminum, I get "A gas lens. The biggest mother ****** they got."

So uh, As I've started looking, they seem to get rather large. Best suggestion I've found so far is a 1" lens with a #12 cup. Any objections/suggestions? The majority of what I'm working with right now is Aluminum, but I'd like to practice around with some mild/stainless as well.

 

TEK wire. I used it to service my garage.

Liquid tight inner, shielding and then another liquid tight casing.


It was good in my case because you can direct bury it with no need for a conduit.








in your case, being internal to the garage, you really didn't need to use the liquid tight connector, but it does look pretty nice.

 

This is the TIG I started with, you will only need a 40a circuit. The unit will duty out before you can trip a 40a.

I was doing welding (albeit short duty) all the way up to 185a on a 20a 220v circuit and it didn't pop... but I wouldn't suggest it will work all the time... longer duty will likely put a 20a into fault... 40a will be fine unless you plan to upgrade to an old transformer unit into the 300a range to do process welding.


My 185 had an issue with the **** for choosing voltage... would have to keep turning it until it eventually got to the voltage you needed.... but it worked great.

 

large gas lens with a #12 is what I use on my #20 torch.

 

Its grossly over-serviced. I just took the recommendation of garage journal for amp size and told a local electrician what I thought I needed. then he gave me a bill of materials.


I have enough service to run everything in my garage at full duty cycle at the same time.

 

For a wp17 torch this kit is the **** TigDepot.net:: Product Details

 

Could you explain to me what a #12 is and what is a #20, would really like it if you had links to pictures and where I could buy them.