longer leads, any problems?

[bawjaws]

hey all, ive got a wee buzzbox arc, powercraft 160 amp jobbie, and am peed off with the skimpy little leads on it , i have to have the machine right next to the workpiece which is a nip, so for the question- would i be able to put longer leads on it, just the earth and electrode holder, would it blow the machine up or sumthing? , im probably wanting about 10 metres on it, thanks in advance

 

[madkayaker]

i did it with mine no difference. If going for much longer go for a bigger cable

 

[Richie_asg1]

You have a choice, you can add longer welding cables - with the right 10mm2 connectors, ( which is a lot of copper, but I've used welders with long cables before),
Or you could stick your welder on an airport trolley, and plug it in with a longer supply cable. Whatever you do - don't use a coiled supply wire - it gets hot.

To do things by the book, it should be 110V and 2.5mm2, but if you're by yourself and not a business, you can run it in 240v with an RCD on it.

Screw a big blue 240V hook-up socket to the back and use standard 2.5mm caravan cable hook-up.

 

[Jake SS]

hey all, ive got a wee buzzbox arc, powercraft 160 amp jobbie, and am peed off with the skimpy little leads on it , i have to have the machine right next to the workpiece which is a nip, so for the question- would i be able to put longer leads on it, just the earth and electrode holder, would it blow the machine up or sumthing? , im probably wanting about 10 metres on it, thanks in advance

Would go for 16mm2 minimum flex cable size, If I was doing the leads for someone I would use 25mm2, for 10 mtrs. If you do, keep your eye on the leads and bits for heat.

Cheers

 

[welding is my gift]

its all good put 10 metre leads on the thing if your doing thin stuff because the longer the lead the more power you lose so the reason for the short leeds is because since your welder is just a little amped one they dont wont to lose to much power so thats the reason for the short leads

 

[Jake SS]

its all good put 10 metre leads on the thing if your doing thin stuff because the longer the lead the more power you lose so the reason for the short leeds is because since your welder is just a little amped one they dont wont to lose to much power so thats the reason for the short leads

Not really, mostly to do with cost to manufacture, duty cycles, current and voltage factors, losses, heat, safety, etc etc

Cheers
Jake