Afternoon all,
my son and I are new to welding and have a 200A Stahlwerk 200A AC/DC pulse welder that we have started to learn with; TIG results so far are tidy and promising, but have been only on light gauge plate/sheet.
The workshop has its own dedicated 100A single phase supply, as I run some small high temperature ovens for composite work, modest lathes, 3D printers etc.
So far, we've only connected to a ring main socket with a 13A plug, but would like to shift to trying thicker plate and upping the ante - past what a 13A fuse will take...
The machine is rated as drawing up to 28A max when putting out 200A AC, and 44A / DC on MMA stick setting.
It occurred to me to put a dedicated 50A spur in off the main ECB board, but my local sparky has quoted £900 (the cable run from the ECB to where I want the socket is 25m, and he proposed 10mm^2 armoured, which seems high to me).
So, to the question - is there any reason not to take a shorter spur off one of the existing ring main and put a round socket on it? I think this is already rated at 36A, so would be fine for everything but heaviest MMA load. Presumably for insurance purposes, this also needs to be done by a qualified sparky...
Any and all guidance very welcome.
my son and I are new to welding and have a 200A Stahlwerk 200A AC/DC pulse welder that we have started to learn with; TIG results so far are tidy and promising, but have been only on light gauge plate/sheet.
The workshop has its own dedicated 100A single phase supply, as I run some small high temperature ovens for composite work, modest lathes, 3D printers etc.
So far, we've only connected to a ring main socket with a 13A plug, but would like to shift to trying thicker plate and upping the ante - past what a 13A fuse will take...
The machine is rated as drawing up to 28A max when putting out 200A AC, and 44A / DC on MMA stick setting.
It occurred to me to put a dedicated 50A spur in off the main ECB board, but my local sparky has quoted £900 (the cable run from the ECB to where I want the socket is 25m, and he proposed 10mm^2 armoured, which seems high to me).
So, to the question - is there any reason not to take a shorter spur off one of the existing ring main and put a round socket on it? I think this is already rated at 36A, so would be fine for everything but heaviest MMA load. Presumably for insurance purposes, this also needs to be done by a qualified sparky...
Any and all guidance very welcome.