3phase versus 1phase voltage supply?

[eph]

Hi guys,
There are some nice mig welders machines up on ebay these days.
Im just wondering will any of these run off a standard 240v home supply 1 phase?

For example a Lincoln Powertec 300c? Its supposed to be a good machine, but would a hobbyist be able to run it from just a standard home garage power supply?

Is there any way of buying a generator to output 3 phase?

Thanks!
John

 

[madkayaker]

some 3ph machines work on 1ph but the current is usually high 3ph generators are available but for machines with electronics they can be problematic with voltage spikes etc

 

[eph]

Thanks...

From looking at the spec it seems the 300c is 3phase. It doesnt say if it can use 1phase aswell
http://www.lincolnbrasil.com.br/media/noticias/files/8638945348173103a41fc.pdf
Any comments on this machine?

Any idea's what would be the cheapest way of getting a 3phase source from a home supply?

John

 

[madkayaker]

its going to be expensive to get a 3ph supply for that as an inverter would be no good and i doubt a rotary converter would be smooth enought

 

[eph]

Thanks again.
I've been looking at some of the options in this post
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=3588&page=2

How would you know if a rotary converter would be 'smooth enough'?
I work with a lot of electronics engineers, maybe one of the guys could figure out a converter that would get it to work. I should really know this stuff too, but its been ages since college

I think it would be great to have 3 phase at home as the equipment would be a lot cheaper...

As an aside the Portamig welders / Miller etc. Are they single phase or three phase? How do single phase welders give decent performance?

 

[madkayaker]

ask lincoln they would know how sensitive there gear is. There kit is designed for industrial use so should have some protection from transients from motors lighting etc Portamig do a 400amp is that's single phase Wozz has one PM weldequip he sells they!

 

[Omniata]

I think it would be great to have 3 phase at home as the equipment would be a lot cheaper...

I had a look into this for the same reason, although the equipment may be cheaper the cost of getting 3ph installed may be very costly.
That is if they're even willing to install it to a home address for you

 

[astro_al]

Ask your leccy supplier for a quote - the worst that can happen is that it costs too much so you don't do it.

I've done it twice now and while its expensive, you can save massively on used tools (plus they're generally higher capacity and quality).

Al.

 

[zardoz]

We had this discussion here last year. Someone said that if you know any elctricians who do council work they might be the best ones to contact. As they know how to go about getting 3 phase ordered and fitted for the best price and the quickest timeframe. Or somesuch, does anyone else remember that or did i halucinate it ?

 

[madkayaker]

its not hard getting it ordered the form is on most regional electrical company websites. As for cost and time they think of a number and times it by number of working days in that week! I have seen quotes for £80k +