Powcon Help

I have a line on a couple of Powcon power supplies and wirefeeders for a song. One is being sold as a parts machine the other worked until last week. Are these things prone to trouble or expensive or impossible to repair? Any idea what they are worth? I can't post photos right now.

These things are 400 SMTs with Powcon wirefeeders mounted on the top. Does anybody know what the SMT means?

Hi Avanti
I have several of the Powcon welder and think there great. The 400 SMT was / is one of there top of the line welders. The S is for stick, the M is for MIG and the T is for TIG they also sold an MST also MIG,Stick and TIG. The SS are stick only, ST are Stick TIG and the SM are Stick MIG machines. They also made PlasmaPLUS which was a welder and plasma cutter in one setup and the Starcut add on plasma. POWCON also sold Kemppi and a few other makes with there name on them. As far as I know all of the fiber glass case welders are POWCON and the metal case welders are Kemppi. The associated equipment is a mix of makes. Arc Products in San Diego (1-800-770-0063) sells parts and new / used machines and service all of the POWCON made stuff but not the other makes. I have a manual for the 400 SMT if that helps. I also have a Pulser listed FS on PM if your interested. Here is a photo of my MST300.



All of mine have been very reliable I do have a SM300 that needs work but it was that way when I got it.
Andy

Here is a better photo of my MST300 with all of the extras This setup will do everything but AC TIG.
Andy

300 sm

Avanti said:

I have a line on a couple of Powcon power supplies and wirefeeders for a song. One is being sold as a parts machine the other worked until last week. Are these things prone to trouble or expensive or impossible to repair? Any idea what they are worth? I can't post photos right now.

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I bought a 300 SM new, 20 years ago. Still a workhorse in my shop.
They're happy on 3 phase, not on single phase. There's bridge links for
presetting the input voltage, inside the cover and you WILL want to verify
that before powering up. I've had to do no repairs on the unit. They will power a plasma, which I haven't done.

Does a nice job in MIG and good with stick. These are inverters, so power consumption goes way down, compared to the 500# transformer clunkers they can replace.

Wirefeed:
The factory (I discovered-a year ago) had not tapped a holding screw in part
of the assembly that transfers power to the butt of the MIG gun. This gave me fits with burnback at the feed rolls. Fixed that.

As long as they are working they are great machines. I have a 400SMT and my dad has a 300SM and a 200SM. All are happy on single phase since they are an inverter. Running on single phase does affect their duty cycle.

But parts can be expensive. The breaker that they uses as a power switch is about $250.

PowCon Gloat

I just put a single phase plug on them and lo and behold one of them works. I got 2 400 SMTs, 2 PowCon I/M wirefeeders, 3 Tweeco MIG guns. a pair of 35' 2/0 ground cables, and a RP250C remote pulser with 85' of cable, all for $100! "The CraigsList be bery, bery good to me!", as Jose Jimenez would have said.

Hey Andy St, any chance of getting a copy of that manual for the 400 smt? Just got one and need a manual.

Thanks.

Just purchased a 400 SMT I believe it has a breaker issue I turned it on and it immediately kicks off this is what you quoted was wondering if this is the same issue you have that's why she said the switch was $250. appreciate any help I can get

Cheers justin

macona said:

As long as they are working they are great machines. I have a 400SMT and my dad has a 300SM and a 200SM. All are happy on single phase since they are an inverter. Running on single phase does affect their duty cycle.

But parts can be expensive. The breaker that they uses as a power switch is about $250.

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