V-350 welder on the way!! now what about a supply plug?

admin

Howdy Everyone!  Well, I finally did it, and purchased an Invertec V-350 Advanced Process welder!   YEAH!!! I am soooo stoked!   I have about a week till it arrives, but before I can hook it up, I have to get a plug for the supply cord that will take 85-95 amps.  50 amps are everywhere, 60 amps are affordable but harder to find, and anything over that goes to industrial pin and sleeve style, and is in the multiple hundreds of dollars.  I am finding either a male end, or a female end, but not mating pairs on ebay for around 100$ ea.  These are water tight, industrial grade 100% duty cycle monstrous things.   Is there another way?  a more, reasonably affordable way?  The electrical supply house wants around 300$ each 1 male, 1 female.  Thanks for any and all input!  Brian Lee  Sparkeee24     The wire feeder is next!  WOO HOO! Till then, smaw and DC tig.  I finally get to tig!
Reply:i'll be the first to say congrats on the new toy. as far as the plug goes......i dunno all i use is 50's  i don't have a spunky username just what it is, me!
Reply:I looked and looked and found the same and higher prices, Is it possible for you to wire it directly into the load center?StangnetShop Full Of Stuff. Joey
Reply:I agree with viper.  Bypass the plug and just wire it directly.  Put a nice thick line on a big breaker and run it to a thick plastic or steel junction box where you would put you plug.  I just thougt of somethingWould one of those big 4-connector appleton plugs work?  I see those on ebay occasionally pretty cheap (like $10-$20).  I actually have one that came off an old three phase 440v welder.  I dont have the box it goes into, though.  But, it has 4 big copper tubes as connectors.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:I dont know what amp rating it has.  I will check tonight.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:Yeah, those are expensive...Like gasoline..2002 VW Golf TDi1994 Audi S4
Reply:Howdy howdy!!  Well! I got a bunch of Rods today.  I got 3/32's , 1/8, and 5/32's in both 6011, and 7014.  The "ol goat" at the small welding shop thats expensive but ma and pop, so I love to support em.... suggested I start with these two rods at first.  He sells em bye the pound, at 1.70 / lb.  So it was nice that I could get 3 pounds of each.  just enough, for a while.  I came up with a plan for the supply plug.  it's a lil redneck, but if the shoe fits.  I purchased 4 sets of tweco connectors for the smaller guage wires.  sizes 4,2,1.  These are the camlok style.  So I'll make 4 physical conections, instead of one.  one set (male+female) for ground, one for neutral, two for the hots.  It will be very bulky, and 4 times more time consuming to connect.  But it's affordable, untill I find a matching pair of pin and sleeve connectors of the right voltage/amperage/phasing for a good deal on ebay.  And when I do find the most correct connector, I will have 4 sets of tweco connectors I can always use elsewhere in my welding endevours   I will wrap phase tape around the connectors for color coding neutral and ground as well.  The reason I am not hard wiring, is because I have no "physical outbuilding". no shed or barn or garage anywhere close to power supply.  What I have for a power supply is an overhead feed from power company, down the pole in copper 4/0-4/0-2/0, into 200 amp pole mounted meterbase-panel combo. It has a split buss off the main lugs.  One is dedicated 100amp breaker feeding with copper 2 awg ext subpanel.  The other is 200amp main feeding my house (mobile home)  with 4/0-4/0-2/0 alluminum.  So my welding "post"  where the shop someday will be, with it's 100 amp subpanel is ready to go,(about 60 physical feet away from feed) but no way will I leave my $$$ + nice welder outside in plain sight and in plain WA state weather.  I also didn't want a small 8X8 shed limiting the size of my projects.  The welding post and subpanel are in the open, and would be on the outside/backside of a future shed/shop.  WOW flame huh, sorry.  Can't wait! can you tell I'm so esxcited!!!  Feel free for all comments, and thanx a ton!  Brian Lee  Sparkeee24
Reply:100 amp plugs are cost prohibitive, they make plugs like you have on your welding leads. leviton makes a single pole cam type connector. model number is 15d23-e I priced them at 12.53 at my local wholesaler. you will need a male and female for each leg. so two hots and the ground, plus the wire to hook it up. Maybe an option if you really need to have it plug in, otherwise hard wire is the cheapest.
Reply:I checked the plug I have.  It's only a 60 amp.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:This may sound like a dumb question, but where does one get stranded copper  in that kind of guage?  When I was wiring up my 50a extension the best I could come up with was 8ga at my local home despot. I could have got 6ga, but not stranded.Oh, and WTG on the shiny welder!-David
Reply:Howdy! Most commonly found conductors 8 guage and above are stranded.  I am surprised that all you found was solid, but then again, the big Orange stores aren't allways the most knowledgeable.  8-3, and 6-3 NM-B  (romex) is stranded CU, just not for any kind of wet conditions.  SO, SOOW, SJOW J meaning Junior (300 volts or less)  W meaning for wet conditions.  all these so style cords are stranded for flexibility.  Like industrial extension cord wire.  Very good stuff.  You can have it hang down right out of your power supply box. Provided you have strain relief. It comes in multiple conductors from 14 guage on up.  Some thoguhts   Brian Lee  Sparkeee24