Low budget plasma setup, what do I need?

Yes, upgrading the power hurts in this country. 100 amps is pretty big by most industrial standards around here. I Was a bit worried about my 125 amp plasma cutter which officially draws more than what comes in to my unit but its been running fine off a 32 amp 3 phase power point.

I know a couple of laser cutters who have relocated and it was pretty horrendous to get the power and in one case, they did not think about it at all so had a pretty torrid time over it.

I did a short test with 200A AC on aluminium and no problems with my power lines.

So I am a happy camper

In my workshop I have 16A breakers with C character.

Could it be that this welder has PFC (power factor correction) ?

Andy thanks for the tip, but i have used that tig exactly once since i got it 3 years ago to test if it works, it did so i was happy.
My home has the wiring for anything i can throw at it as i did the wiring using 5X6mm solid wire, my whole workshop gets it's power from a single 3 phase socket in the kitchen. Back when i build the house i was living in the city centre so it was an overkill to have such thick wires, and because of that i had installed only 16 and 25Amp fuses.
I already bought the 40Amp ones but since i will have to move soon enough i do not feel like changing them.
I also need a new line with at leas 5X10mm for my Mazak lathe, that monster uses 40 KW at full throtle. As Mr. Smith would say " it is inevitable " ( quote from Matrix.

tommylight wrote: I already bought the 40Amp ones but since i will have to move soon enough i do not feel like changing them.

My point was that often you will need a breaker of the same capacity, but a higher instantaneous rating.

In your case, with oversize wiring, you could use type D breakers and still be sure that they would work properly.

andypugh wrote:
In your case, with oversize wiring, you could use type D breakers and still be sure that they would work properly.

With my current build I am using a 1500w toroidal power supply for my DC servos,

I wired my control box up with a normal breaker and the inrush current kept tripping the breaker,

I changed it out for a D curve breaker and no more problems!

andypugh wrote:

tommylight wrote: I already bought the 40Amp ones but since i will have to move soon enough i do not feel like changing them.

My point was that often you will need a breaker of the same capacity, but a higher instantaneous rating.

In your case, with oversize wiring, you could use type D breakers and still be sure that they would work properly.

Andy, sorry if it comes through as ignoring you, i most certainly am not.
I am fully aware of different types of breakers and different types of Ground Fault interrupters, i have plenty of them installed and in use, with the habit of checking them every 3 to 6 months.
Here i can find only B type breakers and 300mA delta GFI ( lately, like in last 8 months there are by some miracle 30mA ones, but usually 40A and under, i use 63A and up ). I did manage to get 3 of the C type variety at 40A, so that is what i plan on using for the Mazak at the "for the time being unknown" location.
Thank you very much for your continued support.
Regards,
Tom

Updated schematic



Question:
Where do I connect the Pilot Arc?

There is nothing to connect for the pilot arc, thats handled by the machine. Sorry but I don't know enough about the cards you are using to comment on anything else.

5 volt logic level seems low to me as I'm used to working with 24 volts, I hope its not affected by noise.

Is ARC OK to be setup somehow? Is some sensing device needed?

I think you might be able to synthesise ArcOK by monitoring current on the material clamp lead. You may have luck with a slotted ferrite ring with a hall effect sensor glued into the slot placed around the cable. I did make one ages ago but my plasma died so I never used it in anger to know if it worked.

But you might just use the correct mode in Plasmac which sets a voltage threshold for ArcOK for those machines that don't have a signal.