hypertherm 380

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I just bought a hypertherm 380 plasma. It says 120v or 220 volts. It came with a 14/3 gauge power cord and a 120 volt 20 amp plug on it. Can i just cut off that plug and install a 50 amp 220volt plug to to use it as 220volt? Or do i have to change the whole power cord? I want to be able to plug it in with my lincoln 175 mig which has a 220 volt 50 amp plug on it. The plasma says input is 27amps. thanks
Reply:Should have all the instructions in the manual.  If it is one of the auto-sensing machines, it will come with an adapter plug so that you can switch back and forth.  Otherwise, you will have to wire to the taps for either 110V or 220V.  Then best to make up a separate cord for each in case you need to use 110V at some point.I have an older Hypertherm 1100 and it is the tap version.
Reply:My thermal dynamics 38 is autosensing and they don't supply any sort of adaptor plug.  Directions said to cut it off and put a 220 plug on it if you wanted.  Felt weird doing that to a brand new machine but it worked fine
Reply:That does seem strange.  I sorta thought that the point of having something that was autosensing was that you could change from one to the other - say if you had 220V in your shop but wanted to take the cutter over to a friend's place where he only had 110V available...By the way, I bought my plasma cutter used.  Previous owner had misplaced the manual.  Contacted Hypertherm and they sent me a new manual free of charge.  Didn't even charge for shipping.  I was quite impressed!
Reply:PAT, just curious, I know you must have your reasons but what are they for wanting to run it off 220.  If I had the choice with the exception of needing the additional power for extra welding or cutting capacity I would prefer to run all my machies off 120.  I know miller has a brand new mig out that you can run off either. Idea being for more heat you need to bump up to 220.  Is this the same situation for your plasma, or withen rated duty you can run 120 or 220?  I guess for me unless you have two 220 plugs, which Ive never had the money for, it would be such bugger to have to unplug one just to plug in the other.  Anyhow not looking to be critical, just curious for perspective.  Shout at ya laterCHRIS
Reply:For my workshop, I have 400amps coming off the pole and split to a 200amp panel at the house and a second 200amp panel out at the shop.I wired everything up myself with some advice from a buddy who is an electrician and some pointers from the electrical engineer I deal with at work.  So I put in several 220V receptacles around the place.  I've got a dedicated circuit for my 5hp compressor, a circuit with several receptacles that I can plug my MIG or plasma into throughout the downstairs, a dedicated circuit for the TIG I plan on getting eventually, and two 220V circuits upstairs for woodworking equipment.  So no problem with unplugging and re-plugging! To answer your question, 220V is more "efficient" to use.  If you look at equipment that can be run 110V or 220V, you'll notice that the amp draw is much lower to run 220V.  So you can actually run smaller wire gage with 220V than with 110V.  Second, the load is automatically balanced since you are pulling off of both legs.  If you only have 110V running out to your shop, you are only pulling off one leg and can actually overload the main service.  Finally, you can run greater capacity off of 220V because of this efficiency.  Look at something like the Miller DVI and you see that you take a cut in both output and duty cycle when you go down to 110V.Hope that helps explain it!
Reply:I sure do friend.  Thats an insight I have never been given.  I have an electrical engineer in the family as a matter of fact.  However, hes my grandfather and hes sometimes a bit difficult to keep up with, if you understand my situaton.  He can take a very simple question and answer it with a very ellaborate and often way over my head explanation.  This was something I can understand and relate to and for that I must say thankyou.  redneck CHRIS
Reply:Glad that my explanation made sense to you.  I could have gone into a lot more detail, but sounds like I did just about right.By the way, my grandfather was the one who first taught me to weld.  I was very fortunate to take advantage of his teaching when I had the chance.