240V 40A service - whoa - 8/3 is big cable!

Wednesday - 072209 - I Started the electrical power project. I need a 240V 40A circuit in the workshop to power the TIG welder and hopefully some day a milling machine. I meet with my friend Kip a local electrician to run the plan by him, and see if he would be willing to do a quick inspection of my work and the service panel connections. Kip had some good ideas and was willing to inspect and do the final hook up to the panel. The basic idea is use 8/3 cable and run a line from the main service panel - using 1inch non metallic conduit, to a sub panel in the workshop. At the sub panel in the workshop I can distribute the power to a 240V 30A circuit for the TIG welder, a 240V 20A circuit for the Milling Machine, and a 120V 20A circuit for misc tools in the workshop. Yeah - that adds up to way more than 240V 40A - but it is VERY unlikely that I will be using the TIG welder and the Milling machine at the same time - I simply don't have enough hands.....

I have pulled a bit of cable in my life - but nothing as big and burly as a bundle of 8/3. Getting four 8 gauge wires through all the conduit, fittings, connectors and whatnot took more effort than I anticipated. It probably took me about 8 hours total to run the linear 125ft run, and several trips to the hardware store. When Friday afternoon rolled around I was mostly done, Next week I'll try to get Kip to stop by and do the final connection.

The TIG welder a Miller Dynasty 200 DX should be arriving shortly. The folks at the local Airgas in Goleta were very helpful - they even managed to hook me up with 5lbs of WeldMold 880T filler rod. Normally this is a 10lb minimum order, but they had 5lbs on hand and were willing to sell it for about $18 a pound. 5lbs is a lot of filler rod - it should last me a while.... but every other place I have seen it has charged $35 a pound with a 1lb minimum order.