On Mon, 13 Mar 2006 19:51:36 -0500, SCOTT
wrote:

Found at dump, Thermal Arc LT-300, brought it home without looking at
it closely. Turns out to be 3 phase 460/565V. I have 3 phase 220v via a
3hp rotary converter. Is there a way to make this all work? I have no
idea if the welder has a fired board or something anyway, but it may be
that the last guy just didn't have 460V either. The cord has been cut
off. Or should I just take it back to the dump?

Open it up, clean out the big chunks, blow out the little ones using
compressed air and a paintbrush as encouragement when necessary. :-)

Then get in there with a strong light and look for obvious signs of
"blowed-upedness". (Yes, it's a new word - we like doing that in
English. It's the past tense uncertain of blowed-up.) ;-P Use
your nose, many blowed-up components are easily identified by scent.

(Somehow, stuff like that sounds better with a patently fake-
sounding Southern Accent slathered on. But that's just me.) ;-)

Don't waste time trying to fix it or develop a way to power it at
home, that will be a big waste of time - especially if you don't even
know if the stupid thing works yet.

Go find a friend or acquaintance with an industrial shop somewhere
close that has some utility supplied 480V 3Ph you can borrow, scrounge
up a set of cables, and see what happens when you try powering it up
and striking an arc. Who knows, it might only have a small problem
that can be fixed cheap - plug the loose cooling fan cord back in and
replace the one diode that overheated first.

The ideal friend would have recently moved his fab or welding shop
into to a bigger building with a 480V 3Ph Utility feed, and he's been
running his old smaller rig looking for a big 'un just like you found.
You walk in with that monster and watch him turn green...

Swap straight across for his old 240V 1Ph rig that you can plug in
and use at home, with visitation rights reserved for when you have big
jobs that need a big welder.

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.