Hypertherm 380

[Steve W]

I need to cut off the plug that came with my Hyperterm 380 cutter and put a 220 volt plug on. Should I use a standard welding machine plug or will the smaller 20 amp 220 plug be suffiecient, or should I use it set up 120volt and not worring about setting it up for 220 volt. If I go 120 volt all I need is a 20 amp breaker, but the manuel says if I go 220 volt I need a 10 amp double pole breaker wich I can't seem to find one. Can anyone ( like say Dan) tell me how they wired thiers up to the outlet. Thanks for the help.

[Scott V]

Steve,Is there a switch to change the voltage from120/240?My thermal 38 xl has one,so I left the plug alone.Then just made a adapter to plug it in to 240 volt.The way I did it was to use a 240 50 amp plug on one side,like what comes on 240 volt welders.Then on the other side I used a 120 volt isolated neutral hospital plug from home depot.It works great,and I didn't need to cut the plug so I can still use 120 volt if needed.

[Steve W]

Thanks Scott. It does have a switch so you can use it on a 120 or 220 outlet. The funny thing is that the 120 plug that came on it will not fit a 120 outlet. One leg is vertical the other is horizontal with the ground prong below the two. Went lowes and thaught I had found some outlets the plug would fit but they were oppisite of each other so no luck their. The manuel says it needs a circuit capable of 20A,115V or 10A, 230V is required for proper operation, but doesn't say what size breakers to use. I would like to hook it up 220V. Thanks

[Arbo]

The plug you describe is a 110V plug rated for 20A. You may have to go to an electrical supply house to find such an animal. They are used in industrial environments. I see no reason that you could not change it to 220V if it is made for that. Check the owners manual, it should have directions to do the switch over. I recently purchased a Hypertherm 1000 at work, and it has automatic voltage sensing built into the machine. It came with the power cable, but no plug. We set it up with a heavy duty aluminum plug and receptacle. This machine is minimum 208V however. Good Luck!

[Steve W]

Thanks Arbo. I called Hypertherm tech support and he told me to use 220volt on 20amp breakers. I cut the end off and put a regular welding machine 220 plug on it and welding machine receptacle out of the box to plug it into. He said they just use that plug and most of the time it has to be cut off and modified to work in differrent areas. Thanks for the help

[Steve W]

Thanks Russell. That thaught did cross my mind. If works thats all it matters.

[Roger]

With the plug cut off it's easy to take it to store a get right receptical.

[Charlie in TX]

New member here. I have been lurcking around and disided it was time to join. Plus I thought I could give Steve a hand.

First, the breaker. It is not there to protect your plasma cutter, welder, your wifes blow drier or what ever else may be pluged in. It is there to protect the wires from the breaker to the plug. So if your wires in the wall are 14ga, you need a 15amp breaker, 12ga-20amp, 10ga-30amp, ect.

Next, the breaker/wire comdo must at least be rated to hold the current required. So if you have 6ga wire and a 50amp breaker, you may plug in a 20 amp device. However, you may not plug your 20 amp plasma cutter into a 14ga circuit with a 15amp breaker. (at least not and be safe).

So restated, the breaker is sized for and protects the wires. And a circuit should only pull the number of amps it is rated for or less.

[Steve W]

Thanks Roger and Charlie. I did try to match the plug and went to several places to find a receptical but the ones I found were oppisite to the plug. I called Hypertherm tech support and he suggested to just cut it off and put one on that will work. Even the maneul shows how to cut off the plug and put a 220 plug on.
Charlie, thanks for the information, I used 10 ga. and 20 amp breakers and mounted the receptical 5 feet from the box. The reason I used the 10 ga. is I have a 30 foot 220 extension cord with welding machine plug and receptical already fixed to it so if I need to I can use the machine futher away from the box. Charlie do you think I should change out the breakers and go to 30 amp instead?

[Roger]

Now that you have solved your plug problem you can start making and collecting adapters as you needed to plug it into different 220 or 110 V sockets. While I know reason for different plugs for each amp outlet it makes life difficult for traveling welder.

I once had a GE 110V plug with slots for male spade flats both parallel and 90 degree so it was easy to pull the spade and insert it as needed. Wish I could find more that easy to adapt to needs.

[Charlie in TX]

If the 20 is not tripping there is no need to change. If you do trip the 20 you can safely go to a 30, but you don't have to.

[Steve W]

Thanks to everyone for the help. Good to know that I can count on everyone here for help. I'll probally have more as I learn to use this thing. Hope everyone has a great and safe New Years.
Steve

[Jim Smith]

Ya just can't go wrong by consulting a professional electrician! The alternative may require the use of professional fire fighters (if your lucky) of rescue squad (not so lucky) Jim

[John Stuckey]

Jim:
Your comments are dead-on (no pun intended). We spend a lot of time encouraging safe welding practices and rightly so. I have found that electricians and electrical inspectors require some "funny" things only to discover that they know more about my families safety than I do! They also anticipate someone else using my setups for things that I never intended them to be used for. Most wiring and electrical devices outlive their original owners.
Thanks again,
John

PS If you ever wondered why the electical code states that window a/c units have dedicated circuits (don't plug them into the nearest wall socket) ask around for stories of fires in walls in other rooms. I learned about this one the hard way and the house is only 10 years old.

[Junk]

Hey

Wait a minute please. Are you telling me that the $1k+ machine I just ordered today (the 380) - that I'll have to cut the darn cord off and get a new one? They charge enough money for these things as it is , but now I gotta worry about the darn plug? Please tell me I'm reading this wrong.
Thanks