What power supply for a small stick welder?

[Doyle Alley]

I haven't done any stick welding since high school (many, many years ago) but a recent attempt to repair my neighbor's 3 wheeler got me thinking about possibly adding a small stick welder to my arsenal. What are the input power requirements for a small (less than 200amp output) stick welder?

[tod evans]

doyle, although not a stick i have a 135amp hobart wirefeed that does pretty well and hasn`t given me a lick of trouble in 4 years...02 tod

[Paul Canaris]

Doyle, try these guys...they have been helpfull to me in the past....this site is the metalworking equivalent of Sawmill Creek.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

for TIG look for output in the area of: 150A at 15 VDC, at 20 % Duty Cycle

for Stick: 130A at 25 VDC, at 20% Duty Cycle

for DC welding Stick : 20 - 165 A (AC), 25 - 130 A (DC)
for DC TIG: 20 - 165 A (AC), 30 - 160 A

That's about as much as you're going to get on single phase power with 230 VAC.

It'll likely cost you about $1500.00 new.

It'll let you TIG weld steel & SST up to 3/16" thick - maybe more if you are willing to fudge. Thicker if you switch to Stick.
That power level will let you weld aluminum but not one welder I know would approve. Welders with those power levels tend not to have the headroom for alum.

If all you want is a stick welder get a Lincoln.

[Steve Clardy]

I use a 50 amp dryer three prong plug and outlet for my lincoln cracker box welder.
40 amp breaker. Long continuos welds will trip a 30 amp breaker on mine.

[Doyle Alley]

I use a 50 amp dryer three prong plug and outlet for my lincoln cracker box welder.
40 amp breaker. Long continuos welds will trip a 30 amp breaker on mine.

I think I'm going to be limited to 30amps of available input power. It looks like that will support a small DC stick unit as long as I don't try to stretch its capacity too much.