On Jan 12, 6:23*pm, Grant Erwin wrote:
wrote:
On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:26:51 -0800 (PST), Too_Many_Tools
wrote:

Your old welder wouldn't happen to be a Century or Sears would it?

Years ago I had one that had just the connector that you described.

TMT

The NEW welder is a Sears. *It has 3 plugs on it. *
GROUND (the thicker one)
POS. HI and POS LO (thinner ones).
There is a lever that turns on the top to adjust the power level.
It's an AC (only) stick welder.

The old welder is an unidentified brand. *It's rusted and ugly, and
has about a dozen plugs on it for different power levels, but no
adjustment knob. *I bought it at an auction for a couple bucks about
10 years ago. *It works, but this new one works better and has more
power. *I never knew which plug did what on that older welder, because
the rust destroyed the lettering on it. *I got to know which was which
thru trial and error. *I might just scrap that old one since I hooked
up the Sears one, I know it's a much better welder. *Seems to be a
waste of garage space keeping that old one. *

I called the farm supply store and was shocked to learn that welding
cable is almost $3 a foot....... *I'll wait till I find some used ones
at another farm auction.

Thanks for all the help !!!!

You might take this as an opportunity to learn a little about welding cable
and about welding cable connectors. Welding cable comes in several sizes.
They are numbered - the larger the number, the smaller the cable. Most
small buzzbox welders use #2 cable. There used to be a handy table on the
Web of welding cable data but the company has gotten out of that business
and has obsoleted that table. I archived it and cleaned it up. Here it is:

Welding Cable Specifications & Details:

* AWG * * *Conductor *Insulation * *Nom OD * *lbs/Kft *Cu Wght/Kft
* *6 * * * * 266/30 * * *0.06 * * * *0.32 * * * 116 * * * *79.35
* *4 * * * * 392/30 * * *0.06 * * * *0.375 * * *163 * * * 125.66
* *3 * * * * 525/30 * * *0.06 * * * *0.428 * * *215 * * * 158.73
* *2 * * * * 644/30 * * *0.06 * * * *0.44 * * * 252 * * * 200.61
* *1 * * * * 784/30 * * *0.08 * * * *0.515 * * *321 * * * 253.52
* 1/0 * * * 1026/30 * * *0.08 * * * *0.55 * * * 389 * * * 309.66
* 2/0 * * * 1254/30 * * *0.08 * * * *0.59 * * * 474 * * * 406.89
* 3/0 * * * 1615/30 * * *0.08 * * * *0.66 * * * 601 * * * 514.60
* 4/0 * * * 2052/30 * * *0.08 * * * *0.725 * * *763 * * * 646.24

To understand the various welding cable connectors, I suggest that you
spend a few minutes looking athttp://www.weldingsupply.com- you could
start by searching for Tweco or Lenco.

Good luck. On the welding newsgroup we generally suggest that guys looking
for a small home welder look for a model which has AC/DC. My personal favorite
is the Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC. from just a few years ago, long enough to have
detachable leads. I prefer detachable leads because I generally upgrade the
leads to be longer, and also I think they store much more neatly.

Grant Erwin

--
Posted via a free Usenet account fromhttp://www.teranews.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Grant..thanks for posting this table.

It would be exactly what I was looking for several years ago when I
was chasing welders and finding cheap welding cable (THOUSANDS of
feet..even color coded) in the junkyards.

The good old scrounging days....

TMT