Welder wired to single phase 480v

[Twoskinsoneman]

Is it unusual to wire up a welder for single phase 480v?

Customer asked for it to be wired up 480v with plug & recep.

 

[Smart $]

Is it unusual to wire up a welder for single phase 480v?

You may get varied answers on whether it is unusual. It may be commonplace to some.

Nevertheless, 480V 1? supply welders do exist.

 

[hillbilly1]

Very common, the output on all of them is single phase AC or rectifed DC anyway.

 

[yanici]

Yeah, we used to have to hook up welders at various buildings to do repair work. There are taps inside that allow you to select the voltage you need. Sometimes it was 208 and sometimes 480. I usually tagged it with the tap setting that was currently in place so the next guy would be aware.

 

[K2500]

Depends on the welder. There are some welders that are happy to run on 110, 480 or anything in between. Without having to change any taps.

 

[RETRAINDAILY]

It seems to depend on the facility

if subs weld or in house.

 

[stew]

If you do a little research you will find that virtually all TIG welders are single phase. It is the nature of the beast in TIG welding having to do with the fact that most TIG welding is done on ac . This is due to the fact that the alternating current switches polarity constantly which keeps the the tungsten from overheating plus the fact that the negative portion of the cycle keeps the heat up in the weld zone and the positive portion prevents surface oxides from forming in the molten weld zone. So anyway thats the thumbnail reason for using ac as the primary method of TIG welding aluminum and some other metals.