Posted by Mike Hernke (MO) [69.179.162.43] on Sunday, June 22, 2014 at 09:06:34 :
To the welders out there I have a Miller 210 mig and when I try welding thick metal (3/8 +) and turn the machine up to settings beyond 5 I have a difficult time holding an arc and the welds look terrible ( probably not as strong as I would like either). I currently have my welder in my house garage which is insulated and therefore more comfortable than my pole barn. I only have a 30 amp circuit in the garage but I have never tripped a circuit breaker. Could I be dropping voltage at the plug due to wire size? What would be the best way to measure? I figure I could get a meter across the plug I measure the feed or I also could measure the lugs to the torch. I really don't know what voltage I need at the torch. Also if the arc is not holding well will a meter bounce too much? I was thinking my welder is only rated for around 30 amps input it uses a 50 amp plug but I assumed that was just standard for welders since a friends 175 uses a 50 amp plug also.
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