welder isn't heating up enough

So I just picked up a lincoln 180S, it's an old stick welder.
it came with a larger than normal 220V 3 prong plug in.
I want to plug it into my dryer plug, as it's the only 220V plug I have.

So I bought a dryer plug, connected my wires, leaving the neutral wire hanging loose as there are only 3 prongs to be used.

Now when I try to weld, it's like it's not heating up or something, at 30 amps it makes a small spark when I touch it to the metal, but not much, and even at 180 it makes a stronger spark, but wont do anything near welding.


Any ideas why this is not working?

 

hello thanks for reading

 

do you have a volt meter by chance?
if you do, check Open Circuit Voltage from the electrode to the ground lead. there should be about 60-80 volts. if its lower, then your diodes are bad

 

great, so just touch my meter to the ground and put the other end inside the electrode holder?

 

That should get you there- ground lead to electrode
.

 

ok I set my meter to the 200 volts reading, and I got 7.7 which would be 77 volts right?

I hope so because I burned up the wires for my meter right after I checked that haha

 

77 volts should be good.
is it an AC or DC welder?

 

AC

 

in that case, we dont have to worry about the diodes. 77 volts is still necesary though.
Hmm... the only things in the ciruit is the trasformer and the amperage selector. its pretty simple

 

umm, Im no electrician but I think that does mean 7.7 volts when the meter reads that. Im totally guessing though.

 

hope your wrong

 

The leads should not have burned up.

 

well I was messing around with the meter, put the positive in the 10A socket instead of the normal one, and then they burned up, i should have realized that my welder is over 10 amps haha.

 

I tried that and i'm getting nothing, when i pull, it just drags along making sparks, but not enough to do anything. my neighbor is a welder and he said the same thing, basically it's not getting enough heat..

 

which 10 amp socket? where the output stud enters?

 

thanks anyways, I'm sure my neighbour would have gotten it if that was the problem

 

on the left side there is a 10A socket. thats all I did.

 

I would use the positive lead on the right socket to test AC voltage
7 volts on a digital meter normaly means 7 volts

 

but it's dependant on which setting your on is it not?

I really wish I knew how to use this meter, I should probably learn