Quasi-Arc Welder, please help!

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Good Afternoon,I am entirely new to welding and have just bought a Quasi-Arc oil-cooled welder which is around 80 years old; I now need to find a generator to power it as I think otherwise I'll have fried electrics in the workshop.The welder has continuous rating to BSS638 of 12Kva, Primary Volts 175/550, single phase, frequency 50; secondary, 80 amps, 250 continuous, 300 maximum; my main concern is how large a generator I need to run this.Any help would be gratefully received.Yours,Ed G
Reply:.-I do not want to sound negitive,the cost of a generator to run this old beast would be very high.A very good set in its time
Reply:Hello, thanks; thought this might be the case. I've seen a 20Kva PTO generator that I think might work for this and as the welder only cost me £65 I don't mind spending a bit on a generator. Or am I barking mad?
Reply:If you are starting out as a hobby welder, you will probably not have reason to draw the full rated power of the welder for a long time, if ever.  Just because a tool is capable of very high power levels does not mean that you will ever need full power unless you plan to repair tractors.I know nothing at all about power policies in the UK, but in the US you can derate the wire size to a welder based upon its rated duty cycle.  This can only be done for a circuit dedicated to the welder - not a general purpose branch circuit.  The electrical code has tables showing the permissible derating.Are you in a situation in which you can add a branch circuit dedicated to your welder and is the supply to your building adequate for the welder?  If so, and if you don't require operation remote from a power source, I think a little rewiring is your best approach.  I rewired my 80 year old house from 240 volt 60 amp fused service entrance to 240 volts 200 amps with a modern breaker panel a decade ago.  Cost about US$2000 (my best recollection) with me doing a lot of the grunt work for my electrician - drilling holes in concrete for conduit, mounting conduit, and pulling wires.  I let him worry about the code and do the connections.  But that was for a complete new service entrance and new subpanels in my basement, garage, and kitchen.  I now have a 90 amp branch dedicated to my welder, but I'm sure I have never used anything near that since the heaviest projects I have ever undertaken have been utility trailer mods, steel stair repair, and fence fabrication - mostly 3/8" thick angle max or 5/8" square bar.  If you have adequate supply to the building, adding a branch circuit dedicated to your welder should be easy and not too expensive.Enjoy your new toy.awrightLast edited by awright; 04-22-2008 at 02:18 PM.
Reply:Many thanks for the reply, I'm a total novice at this and I bought the machine on the advice of an experienced welder whom told me I wanted as many amps as possible and an oil-cooled welder.The machine weighs in at, I imagine, 300kg and had to be loaded with a fork lift, it will run up to 400 amp and that, apart form the other data in my first post is all I know about it.Primarily I bought the welder to use in restoring antique and vintage stoves so some welding of cast iron and fabrication of parts is required.Unfortunately, as far as power goes, I am in rural France and I believe the maximum incoming amperage on single phase here is 45; we've only just got a power supply that lets us use more than a few appliances together without the lights flickering.So, are my only options to get a big generator (I'm not sure about the safety aspects of this, particularly if I were to use a PTO generator) or scrap this welder and buy something else; if so, what?Apologies for my lack of knowledge.
Reply:I dont know what sorts of items in welders and gen sets are availible in france. From looking at prices for a backup generator for the house it looks like I could buy a engine driven welder/generator for the same or almost the same price, assuming 10KW max. This may be a more cost effective route for you vs just a large generator.
Reply:Your combination of factors is way outside of my experience base, so I'm afraid I can't offer much advice - but I'll give some anyway.  If we were down at the bistro having a beer and you described your goals, I would say try to get some welding lessons.  This is especially appropriate if you will be welding on antique parts that are not easily replaced of you screw them up.  Do they have the equivalent of our community colleges offering welding courses at low cost?You are planning on starting out with fairly difficult conditions.  Welding cast iron typically requires preheat with a torch or furnace, experience and special rods to minimize the liklihood of cracking.  The one time I tried it (as a hobbyist welder) was a complete bust even though I can run a fairly good bead on mild steel.I also don't have much experience with cast iron stoves subsequent to my folks selling our mountain cabin in 1956, but how thick is the heaviest piece you might have to weld?  Even though they look massive and are heavy, aren't most of the pieces of a stove about 1/4" to 3/8" thick?  Perhaps with a little reflection and more informed advice than mine you will find that you will never require the full capacity of your Quasi-Arc welder and that you could get by with a welder or with the Quasi-arc at whatever current it can supply with your present power lines.Good luck.awright
Reply:Many thanks for the replies, I'm thinking now of a generator welder; I think the person that first advised me was under the impression I'd be building ocean liners!As regards welding cast-iron, I've got equipped to pre- and after-heat the cast and another stove restorer has given my some apparently excellent rods; I've got quite a few scrap stoves that I'm going to practice on if I ever get a welder going.Apart from the cast iron welding, I shall have ashcans and fire boxes to fabricate from fairly light steel sheet and was going to get a spot welder attachment for the arc welder.I'm obviously now going to re-think from start to finish and, apologies, would welcome any advice on what the best set-up for my needs would be. The amount of cast iton welding is going to be limited to a couple of split repairs per month but I shall probably need to make ten replacement fireboxes and thirty ashcans per year.
Reply:Some information from you as to what sorts of brands are available where you are would be helpful. See if you can find a local welding supplier and ask what they stock or whats available on the net where you are.Here in the US we have several major brands, Primarily Lincoln and Miller, and there are some others that are new and a few older defunct companies that you can get used. It really makes no sense for us to suggest a machine that is not available to you or is extreemly expensive if you have another brand that might be more local.The idea to get as large a machine as you can makes a certain bit of sense as long as you stay within reason. Usually you can always turn down a welder but if its not big enough there is little you can do about it with out a lot of skill. That said your battleship welder isn't any good for sheetmetal work if that makes sense.
Reply:Thanks, I'm looking at second hand as I don't think I can afford anything new (hence the Quasi-Arc; now for sale if anyone in France or England is reading this!).There's what seems to be a perfect welder generator on eBay UK at the moment, a Lincoln Ranger 10,000 Plus that looks like it does everything I want except pour drinks and a couple of other things. I think this might just go outside my price range...Otherwise I'm looking at a lot of figures that I don't understand. My adviser said I needed as many amps as I could get and an oil-cooled machine but I've reached the conclusion that up to 400 amps is a couple of hundred more than I need and I don't really need oil-cooled but I'm totally without a clue as to how many Kva, amps and all the other figures I need in one machine that will do all I need to do, which isn't very much in the scheme of things.Essentially, I need to know whether 5Kva, 200 amp (Marksman 5) would be appropriate or their 4.6 Kva, 200 amp. I'm also looking at an ex-army 250 amp, 4KW diesel, Oxford 180 amp machines and more other machines than I can remember the names of! I think the Oxfords would be a non-starter in any case as I'd be back to the power supply problems...
Reply:I agree 100% with the point made about classes. I don't weld cast iron myself so I really can not give you any info there either. I have done some research on engine welders so I'll put forth what little I know.I would be pretty sure the Lincoln ranger would do what you want. The others well, I just don't know enough about them to make an educated guess. The 250 amp diesel sonds like one I would look at, but I'll bet that you wont get any auxillary power from it. I don't know if any of those machines are ac, Dc or ac/dc. It may not matter depending onthe rod that you use or it may make a great deal of difference. My personal choice for myself would be an Ac/dc capable machine to give me the most options on running rods. Max power, 200 amp min, 250 would be better. Available aux power so I can run grinders and so on. Personally I would also look at future options for wire feeders and tig but this may mean nothing to you. That would mean a Miller Bobcat 250 or bertter yet a Miller trailblazer 302 for me.
Reply:Thanks, that's a great help; I've now got a much better idea of what I'm looking for. Had a look at the Miller machines and I see what you're saying, now all I need is to find one with shipping at the right price
Reply:Glad I could help. The bobcat 225 might be a little cheaper than the others, but I know I tend to quickly out grow tools the more I use them, so thats why I would personally look at the bigger machines. When you get started post some picts.
Reply:I'm continuing to search; just found item number 120249282906 on eBay but I think this is low on output amps and would it be suitable for spot and cast iron welding?!
Reply:hi there,  i have a quasi arc welding machine in my container that we have inherited.  it has been there for about 10 years.  are these expensive or worth any money as we do not want it.any advise would be great
Reply:FYI the thread is from April of 2008Dynasty 200DXPassport plus w/ spoolmate 100victor 315c oxy/(act and prop)Miller digital elitemilwaukee power tools