Thermal Arc 400GMS max output?

[welderdude]

Hi everyone,

I have a thermal arc 400gms that i scored off of ebay dirt cheap ($580). It can run off of single phase or 3 phase. Going by the label on the back, it shows 280 amps as the max on single phase, but I can set the amperage on the panel display all the way to 400 amps on single phase.

I'm wondering is it wont go past 280 amps even when its set higher, or if it will fry something internally. I'm not willing to test it out and see if it lets out the factory smoke.

Thanks!

[geezer]

By your own label..it say's 70/78 amps on single phase to pull 280, that's a lot of amps on single phase, most welder plugs are 50 amps,,,you will be lucky to get 210 to 230 amps out of it on single phase,,,regardless of what the dial say's,,,To get 300 & 400 you need 3 phase and large breakers...My 3 phase comes in a 208 volts which sucks when you hook up to it on single phase,,,it ups the amp draw as you can see from the label, when you compare to 230 or 240 volts.

[welderdude]

Thanks, I doubt I will ever need that much power anyways. I'm just being curious and learning everything I can about my machine.