Welding Newby

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Hey everyone. I just purchased a Lincoln Pro 175 wire welder. I haven't touched a welder in 40 years (you know, back when we rubbed two nails together). I have a few questions I hope someone can help me with.First....The instructions say to use 8 ga wire on a 220 vac circuit for this machine. I want to make/buy a 50' extension cord. Think I can use 8 ga for this cord, or should I go down to 6 ga?Second....The instructions say to wire the circuit for this machine using two 110 vac wires and one ground wire. Is the common not used?Third.....These machines are supposedly ok to weld up to 1/2" material using .045 wire. Has anyone welded anything this thick with one of these machines?Thank you in advance, Jim.
Reply:Jim, if you are going to go with a 50ft extension cord then I would go with 6ga or maybe even 4ga.  As far as the wiring goes in a 220 the common is the ground.  you have two 110 volt wires from different circuits, and a ground. if you have a panel with breakers in it all you need is a good 50-60 amp breaker which will have two spots for hot wires, and then the neutral will hook to the ground bar in the panel.  A good electrician could do it in less than an hour depending on how far you need to go from the box.  That would be alot cheaper than burning up something if you are unsure on the wiring.               As far as 1/2 inch material you should not have a problem.  I probably wouldn't go with a wire quite as big as .045 on a 175, but for the record I have rebuilt subsoiler shanks which required butt welding 6" welds of 1" plate together with a lincoln 175.  Preparation is the trick.  With multiple passes you can weld as thick as you want, but you may have to grind, or gouge the joint to bevel it where you can get 100% penetration.   Good luck  ~Jackson
Reply:Jackson. Thanks for your reply.You've welded steel up to 1" with this little machine? That's unreal. You used .035 wire? Did you use gas? I don't intend to use gas as that's just something else to buy and haul around.Regarding the hot/ground/neutral wiring thing. There is a difference between ground and neutral, right? Yes, I know there's two hot wires (one from each side of the buss), but the confusion comes in regarding the "ground" wire. As you know, a ground wire is just that. A wire that goes into the ground. A neutral, as I understand it, is what completes an ac circuit. If the third wire goes to "ground" and not to neutral, how do we get a complete circuit? Am I missing something here?I agree with you about the extension cord. I believe in overkill on everything I do. Saves problems later. But using 50' of 3 cond 4 ga wire? Between weight and stiffness, I'll need a burro to haul it around! Have you ever used welding cable for ac? With the very fine copper wires, at least 50' of this will be somewhat flexable. Do you know if welding cable will work for ac? If it will, I think I'll try it.Well, I've bent you ear long enough. Again, thanks for your reply. Have a good evening, Jim.
Reply:Jim in single phase 220 you will have two hot wires, the third "usually green" will hook to where your neutral wires connect.  The reason I was saying ground/neutral is because if you will look in your breaker panel you will see that the bars that neutral and the ground wires are hooked to are connected. As far as the welding one inch plate,  yes I have done it with a 175 when my big machine was down and I was in a tight.  It requires multiple passes, and the material has to be ground or cut to a "v" to get full penetration.  I don't do it on a regular basis because I have other machines that can handle the job better, but it can be done as long as you take your time and don't over heat the machine.  but with good prep work and multiple passes you can weld as thick as you want.   Me personally I run .030 in the 175 lincoln I have and I do use shielding gas.   I would try the gas and the flux core and see what you like.  On a 175 I think you would really prefer the gas but that is just my opinion.As far as the welding cable with AC yes it will work but you should be able to get a fairly flexible 3 conductor cable for your extension cord if you check around with the electrical suppliers.  I have a couple made up but not sure what type of cable they are made of.  one of my good friends is an electrician for a papermill and he gets stuff from left over jobs and older stuff for me when I need something.  let me talk to him and I will find out what you call it. Good luck  ~Jackson