Oxford bantam 180 arc

[Adam Marshall]

Hi I have an Oxford bantam 180 arc welder oil cooled I would like to get this set up and running but am not sure what supply blue plug to have wired up on the wall 16a or 32a? Also what size cable flex should I have from the welder to the male blue plug? All single phase. Thank you

 

[taxi ray]

I have the same welder, but rebadged. I just have a 16amp plug on mine and that seems ok.

 

[Adam Marshall]

Thank you for your reply can you reach full 180 amps on a 16a socket? I've not yet used mine are they an ok welder?

 

[brightspark]

there the best. your shoving it a bit on a 16 amp supply but the majority of time it will be running on 2.5 rods no more than 120 amp unless your in to large welding jobs then its supposed to be 30 amp mine runs on 13 amp plug 2.5mm will be ok

 

[Adam Marshall]

I have put a standard 3 pin socket onto my welder to see if it works and it blows at the consumer unit almost every time I have a rcd protected unit I think it's the sudden surge in power causing this does anyone else have this problem and what can be done to stop this? It's so annoying All wiring looks fine. Thanks again

 

[daleyd]

I've an old oil cooled Oxford 140 amp that usually trips the circuit breaker (not the rcd) on first power up, reset it and generally it's then ok. I think it's the large surge when the transformer isn't magnetised, once it has been powered up it retains some of this magnetism and the surge next time isn't so great (until the next time it's powered down for a long period)

 

[brightspark]

mine takes a 30 amp mcb out just turning it on one of these days il change it but just reset it

 

[Adam Marshall]

Would having a 32amp supply plug help not knock power off or will the same still happen do you think? I just want to get welding with it lol

 

[windingroads]

Hi
We have a pick hill bantam 180 amp, one of the original old ones,
I put an amp meter on it one time and it was puling 35 amps,
Multiply 35 amps by 240 volts and you get 8.4Kw, you need at least
a 32 amp fuse and 6 Square twin and earth, and for that matter it all depends
on the length of the able, I use about 8 meters or a little less, the idea is to keep
all welding cables as short as possible, but obviously long enough to do your work.
I use a 5 metre earth and a 7 metre to the electrode.
If you use too light an input cable, it will heat, you won't get the full power out,
and the cable could melt, you won't do your transformer any harm, you will simple
only get out what you put in.
Also, hook up your electrode cable to the 50 volt output for heavy welding, and if
you are doing all light welding use the other terminal, think its 70 volts, but I have never
seen anyone use the 70 volt side.

Regarding trips pooping out when you switch on the welder, transformers like in a welder
cause this, because of an inrush of current when you switch them on, you stand a better chance with a bigger trip, ie, 42 amp, and in any event the trip should re set once you are switched on and the initial surge will be no more, if not, try a type C circuit breaker, most peoples houses are all type b, as in B20, of B32.
If your welder keeps tripping there may be insulation damage due to old age, over heating etc, this will not go away and in real terms is dangerous to work with, and you will obviously see a not so well formed weld in the worst of cases.
Moisture in the cooling oil can cause tripping too.

Regards, john