Plug a 70w Helix 24 into my 'welding outlet' (220 on 50amp breaker)

[Glen Monaghan]

At the risk of being picky, "There is certainly no safety risk involved if a breaker is tripped" is not true in all cases. For example, I know of an instance where a bit of twisted and gnarly grained hard wood stalled a table saw while being cut without a splitter. The kerf closed tight and squeezed the blade, plus possibly the wood pulled at a bit of angle and bound up between the saw and guide, and the breaker tripped. The guy extracted the wood, set it back down on the table (apparently in contact with the blade) and, forgetting to turn off the saw (which had a mechanical rather than electromagnetic switch), went and reset the breaker. So, the saw started up again when the breaker reset and shot the wood several feet across the room into a wall. Fortunately, the only injuries were a chewed up board and hole in the wall.

[Ronald Erickson]

The breaker didn't cause a safety risk... the guy's absent mindedness did. The breaker did its job... it protected the wire inside the wall from overheating due to the massive current draw of a stalled motor. It's fortunate that the only damage was material and easily fixable.

However, using tools in a dangerous state (prime example of a situation where he very likely could have had a bad kickback) and leaving tools in a dangerous state (plugged in, powered on, blade raised) is no fault of a circuit breaker.

Terry: Glad you're calling in your electrician. You should think about having a few 20 amp circuits added off the 50 amp sub-panel so you aren't tripping the single 20 amp circuit you have in the garage (if I understood your setup correctly). Make sure they are GFCI protected since they are in a garage.

[Art Mann]

. . . The outlet is located 18" below my main breaker box, so no big deal if he has to pull new wire.

Thanks to each of you for your input. All was highly appreciated. Glad my first post to sawmill got some activity

Now that is a really fortunate situation. Good for you!