480V welders

S

Smash

Senior Member
Location
Philadelphia suburbs, PA USA
I have two 3phase 460/250V 40amp welders to hook up. One is older and was hooked up at 240V however it can be converted to run on my more available 460V power in this building. my question these both need to be semi mobile there strapped to carts and might need to move about 5 to 10ft max and it’s rare that they move at all. It looks like once I jump to 40amp all that’s available are the large industrial pin and sleeve type plug and receptacle. Are there standard twist locks available at this amperage. There will still be a disconnect on the wall controlling the receptacle.
 
There are no 40 amp receptacles but up to 50 amps there are twist lock plugs and receptacles available. Pin and sleeve usually start at 60 amps.
 
At one place that I worked at they had several Lincoln MG welders on three wheels and all had 30 amp 600 volt twist lock plugs for the 480 volt. They appeared to have no problem welding up to 6" pipe , angle iron & things to I beams. They would weld for hours and never tripped one of the 30 amp circuit breakers or time delay fuses. Only used pin & sleeve a few times due to high cost.
 
norcal said:
Pin & sleeve start at 20A.
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Yes they do come in lower amp versions but for 50 amps and below 99% of the time a standard twist lock is used for a welder. I could have worded my response better. We would only see pin and sleeve starting at 60 amps. The OP was saying that he could only find pin and sleeve over 40 amps while 50 amp twist locks are readily available.
 
I’ve used 30amp 600V twist lock plug and receptacles before this particular welder is 34.7amps at 460V
76.5 amps at 250V
Not comfortable with 30amp like you said would probably be ok but I’d feel better at 40a this lies my problem seems once you jump to 40A it’s only pin and plug industrial water proof borderline explosion proof. Seems over kill but smarter people than me make these decisions. Just running it up the flag pole see what people think. I want it safe but these pin n plugs will put my bid out of line. Joe Shmoe puts in standard twist lock and lands a good customer and everyone has a laugh at my high bid. Oh well I won’t compromise safety, if nothing else is available. Ty.
 
infinity said:
Yes they do come in lower amp versions but for 50 amps and below 99% of the time a standard twist lock is used for a welder. I could have worded my response better. We would only see pin and sleeve starting at 60 amps. The OP was saying that he could only find pin and sleeve over 40 amps while 50 amp twist locks are readily available.
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3 phase 40A 600V twist lock regular receptacles are readily available plz send me that link because it looks like they stop at 30A the next 3Ph 600V is pin and plug 60Amp
Even AI chimes in saying it jumps to industrial style after 30A and we all know how reliable AI is
Anyway I’ll keep looking
 
infinity said:
Yes they do come in lower amp versions but for 50 amps and below 99% of the time a standard twist lock is used for a welder. I could have worded my response better. We would only see pin and sleeve starting at 60 amps. The OP was saying that he could only find pin and sleeve over 40 amps while 50 amp twist locks are readily available.
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You’re absolutely right I found them Hubbell plug CS8164-C and a Cooper receptacle CS8169 had to search 50Amp like you said and I thank u very much.
 
Smash said:
You’re absolutely right I found them Hubbell plug CS8164-C and a Cooper receptacle CS8169 had to search 50Amp like you said and I thank u very much.
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There are no standard 40 amp twist locks which is why you were having trouble finding them. For 40 amp branch circuits (welders or otherwise) a 50 amp single receptacle can be used.
 
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