Ancient MIG welder

[Grimly]

NBC280H made by Norman Butters in the UK more than 30 years ago.
I picked this up a decade ago; it's a 3phase machine, but I always had a notion I'd be able to run it on 1-phase if I dug around enough and just waited for someone else to dig the ground first.
So, with this in mind I went looking again, and found a very interesting thread.
http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97492
Relating to Miller welders, but I have hopes there will be enough pointers and similarities to at least allow me to identify if mine can work or not.
I also need to find a used wire control module for it, but I also have hopes that many of them are /were interchangeable of that era.
If I can get this working, it will be sweet to use - I learned welding on these pro-grade units and that was very useful.

 

[dr_clyde]

You may be in for more work than you'd think. Old mig welders are a pain in the **** to get parts for, much less advice or know how. You're time and money ahead just to go buy a good working welder.

A 3 phase machine will work on 1 phase power, just at 2/3 the rated amperage. I have my invertec set up like that and I used to have a linde trimpower that way too. Just set the taps to the proper voltage and omit the third phase wire. Usually the red wire here in the states. The worst thing that could happen is you let the magic smoke out and have to get a new welder. But since it doesn't work now, you're not really out much. $1500 will buy a LOT of welder. Like a good 250 amp ESAB, Miller or Lincoln. I see ads for the Migmaster 250 on Craigslist here all the time.

 

[zkling]

NBC280H made by Norman Butters in the UK more than 30 years ago.
I picked this up a decade ago; it's a 3phase machine, but I always had a notion I'd be able to run it on 1-phase if I dug around enough and just waited for someone else to dig the ground first.
So, with this in mind I went looking again, and found a very interesting thread.
http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97492
Relating to Miller welders, but I have hopes there will be enough pointers and similarities to at least allow me to identify if mine can work or not.
I also need to find a used wire control module for it, but I also have hopes that many of them are /were interchangeable of that era.
If I can get this working, it will be sweet to use - I learned welding on these pro-grade units and that was very useful.

I'm not sure what the used single phase welder market is like over there but I personally think you are after more of a personal quest than a working mig welder. Nothing wrong with trying to convert and the learn along the way. But most of the time it is a penny wise, pound foolish notion. Do you have other welders you have been using in the mean time?

 

[Grimly]

At the moment I'm using a hobby/diy-grade MIG 150A unit, which is fine for small stuff but not designed for any heavy-duty use or anything above 5mm thickness. There's also a small stick welder which isn't up to much, but does ok.
Where I am, transportation cost is a real factor, so when this cropped up locally I snatched it, as the cost of having a used welder shipped to me is nearly prohibitive.
Yes, I am on a personal quest, because I want to get this working the way I remember them working (whatever the drawbacks and imperfections on 1-ph instead of 3-ph), as I say, because they were really nice to use and NBC welders were very highly regarded at the time. If I had 3-ph power already here it would be no problem, but the cost of installing 3-ph just isn't worth it.
If the smoke escapes, then so be it, but I'll not be applying power to this box until I'm absolutely sure of the wiring layout and exactly what I'm doing to it. Main problem at the moment is trying to find a wiring diagram, but it's a simple enough machine internally, so I'll probably have to trace things out.