Can I connect a foot and hand amptrol at the same time?

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Is it possible to install a Y in your amptrol connection so that you could have both a hand amptrol, and foot amptrol connected at the same time, so that you could make easily switch between the two? BTW, I use a six pin connector and am running a Lincoln.
Reply:from a purely i have never tried this before standpoint, if you can figure out the range of the potentiometer then that will help determine how to go about doing it..if it's 0 ohms at lowest and 10k ohms at highest, then if you wire them in series, there should be no problem at all... on top of that, if you had a dial type for the hand control, you could use that and tap the foot pedal for extra amps. probably useless but it would be possible.i suppose you could just get a 6 pole double throw switch and use that for your "y" convertor. that would allow you to just select between foot and hand with the push of a button, or the flick of a switch. like this
Reply:This is probably what I would use if I were trying to do that.http://search.digikey.com/scripts/Dk...ame=CKN9666-NDI don't think it's a momentary switch, but I would check into it more. If you got a momentary pushbutton that would be a real drag!
Reply:I've been considering the same, or at least similar on my tig setup. weather the foot control or the hand control, the one control is really 2 different parts... one is the actual on/off switching & the other is the control of the amperage... what I'd like to do is be able to use the foot pedal as the on/off control & then have the hand control be the one that determines the amperage output.... what this will do for me is make it that the hand control will give me a steady output in the range while holding it there indefinitely... unlike the pedal which can waver & vary & wonder with less than perfect user control input... now the amperage will only vary when I intensionally input a change... also allowing me to maintain the exact amperage while starting & stopping, because now I will not have to drag the hand control all the way down to stop & restart...I intend on wiring this through a switch box that will have 3 selections, for example A may be just full hand control as normal, B will be just foot control as normal, & C will be the combination of the 2 that I spoke about... I have not had the time to actually sketch out a diagram but this really shouldn't be all that hard to do as long as you have the pinouts & know what each wire is for... sorry I can't be of more help but eventually when I get around to doing this I'll show what I have done & see if it works the way I picture it... don't see any reason why it won't...if your looking for using the 2 at full capacity for on/off & control at the same time than that's not anywhere near as practical... one will overide the other... I suppose that could be done but then you have to consider that if you happened to turn both up at the same time what would happen... don't think it would hurt anything but can't say for sure...miller 330a bp TIGmiller dynasty 200DX TIGmillermatic 185 MIGthermal dynamics cutmaster 101 plasma cuttersnap-on YA5550 plasma cutterhypertherm powermax 30 plasma cutterbaileigh CS225 cold sawetc....
Reply:turbocad, you could do two switchesone for foot vs hand on/off... a double pole double throw would do thatand another for heat control... a four pole double throw would workthat's assuming you have the 6 pin setup.. 2 pins for on/off, 4 pins for resistance
Reply:yeah, it shouldn't be more than a few switches really.. the only thing is I'd like to switch the whole thing with just one switch so I may use a few relays or depending on the load maybe just a few transistors & diodes...miller 330a bp TIGmiller dynasty 200DX TIGmillermatic 185 MIGthermal dynamics cutmaster 101 plasma cuttersnap-on YA5550 plasma cutterhypertherm powermax 30 plasma cutterbaileigh CS225 cold sawetc....
Reply:Only would need to switch the wiper most likely. Or the wiper and the +hot side of the pots. if the pots are 10ks and 5k is permissible then you really wouldn't  need to switch the hot side as 2 10 k resistors in parallel would be 5k so a single pole or at most a double pole for power level. similarly you could leave one side of the power connector tied to common and only switch one side (I'm assuming that they only use 2 wires, I don't have one in front of me to look at.-- fredLincoln 180C MIG
Reply:You really don't need to switch anything to use it how you have described, foot pedal for contactor control and hand control for amp control.  Wire both controls into the same 6-pin plug, but connect only the 2 contactor wires from the foot pedal and only the 3 amptrol wires from the hand control.  Leave the other wires disconnected and you have now fooled the machine into seeing both controls as one unit, with each performing  a separate task.In all actuality though, I don't see what is the benefit of using both controls together this way.  You still have to fool around with a foot pedal and you still have to be able to operate the hand control.  Seems like you're just making the whole process more complicated than less.  Either develop the finger dexterity to operate the hand control as a stand-alone unit, or develop the foot steadiness to operate the foot pedal as a stand-alone unit.  I personally prefer the foot pedal and can operate it just fine.  I hate the hand control because my fingers just don't operate that way.  I have both, but use the foot pedal exclusively.  For those times I want to fool around with the hand control, i just un-plug the foot pedal and plug in the hand control, as the hand control is built-in to the the torch and both plugs are right there next to the machine all the time anyways.Last edited by DesertRider33; 11-27-2010 at 02:58 PM.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op