Building a 220v extention cord for a welder.
 

What size wire would you use and what type? I've looked online and found a few people using 8/3 and 10/3. I want it to be about 50ft and it's powering a ching chong meow tig :P

Re: Building a 220v extention cord for a welder.
 

Built mine with standard 220V home wire, it is quite stiff.

I rolled it up in loop so that i unfold it, it looks like a big telephone wire. :8

It is far from best, but it works. I dont unroll it often, if you're going to move often dont use this, lining on this wire is quite thin, it might puncture and short.

Good luck.

Re: Building a 220v extention cord for a welder.
 

Yeah, I want to get stranded stuff so I'll probably have to take a trip down to an electric supply place so i dont pay twice as much per foot :8

Re: Building a 220v extention cord for a welder.
 

Had a buddy that did this except we were greasy and wired it into the live breaker box.

Re: Building a 220v extention cord for a welder.
 

The chinese TIG inverters don't draw ----. Look at the cord coming out of it. Its like 14ga. I use a 50 ft 12ga extension on mine but its just to do exhaust on the cars so I am only in the 60-75 amp range. Whats that draw? 10amps?

Re: Building a 220v extention cord for a welder.
 

Yeah, I think it's 10 amps 15 max. Hopefully I can buy a decent box, but for now the ching chong meow will do.

Re: Building a 220v extention cord for a welder.
 

I'd go with a #10 SO cord if you plan on using the cord for a bigger welder. 25A max depending on who makes it and certain conditions so there's room to grow. SO cord is that tacky rubber ---- you usually find outdoor cords are made from, like those Frogskin 110V extension cords.

Re: Building a 220v extention cord for a welder.
 

side note, is 316-er filler rod cool to use on 304? I got like 70 rods of it for 16 dollars.

Re: Building a 220v extention cord for a welder.
 

my 220 welder got a 30 foot extension of some 8ga. I wanted to be safe, so might have gotten away with 10, but the 8 was 'free' from work.

Re: Building a 220v extention cord for a welder.
 

if i have to have one i use my 40' 4/4/4/4 cable i made up for my big honda generator that plugs into the house circuit breaker. Way overkill for the 160amp welder but u know...
honestly copper is so expencive id say make do without one for now lol! #10 is perfect for what you need, but if you're going to be upgrading the box later on and don't want to hack up wires later, use #8.


if you use your meow meow on 110 every now and then like i do, the lower voltage drop on the #8 can be the differance between tripping breakers! when im plasma cutting on 110 i can throw about any 15amp breaker ive seen on a 25' #12 extension cable, but it normally won't on a 25' #10.