I have a fairly unique situation but I don't think I'm putting the right search terms in.

I have a smaller (I am a semi professional welder, owned/own everything from large engine driven welders to back pkc ot industrial oxyacetylene welders, college educated and almost 3 decades of experience.) welder that I adore, due to its very light weight, very small but also very potent (IGBT rather than low frequency transformer design. I have experience with large, heavy, current demanding welders. Jsvig to mess with cooling, upgrading diodes, capacitors, etc)

I prefer the 120v unit because it offers enough current without the need for large generators or heavy extension cords

The issue is, with all the welding I do, I have fitted a 10lb spool onto the holder where a 2lb spool would go. 5 times the weight

I have modified the welder to accept this larger spool, and it works *great*

I am almost on my 3rd spool

And I've only hit the thermal cutoff *once* while welding continuously

Not bad for a used welder I bought for $115

(It's become my favorite welder. High frequency for the win)

Anyway, the issue is with the 10 lb spool, due to friction, it can drag ass while welding, the 390 brushed DC feed motor isn't torquey enough (just needs a little more.)

So, I discovered you can get brushless 3 phase 390 form factor motors

This motor should bolt directly up into the feed mechanism

With a lower kv rating, it should have ample torque to drive the feed mechanism

(Again, cannot stress how anemic the feed motor is)

The issue is,

The welder is 120vac driven

The DC power supply for the brushed DC 390 feed motor is likely minimal and anemic by design (I will likely have to abandon it)

That leaves me with a 120vac power supply,

With the need for a "regular" potentiometer for speed

To control a 390 form factor brushless 3 phase motor,

That seems to only be offered with DC motor speed controllers,

That seems to only want a pwm pulsed input to control speed (I would prefer a regular potentiometer or even a rotary pulse generator, but that leads me to my problem,

I COULD,

Wire in a high current 120V to DC power supply, powering a BLDC speed controller that powers the 390 motor, that uses a separate pwm speed controller, that I removed the RPG/potentiometer and installed it into the control panel of the welder, to drive the brushless motor, to push/pull the wire,

But then the circuitry would be larger and more complicated than the entire welding circuitry (there is maybe enough room in the welder)

However, I am certain there is such a thing as a 120vac brushless speed controller, with the DC power supply, 3 phase motor speed controller, and pwm pulsed output variator to control the controller,

All built into one (hopefully compact!!) unit (!!!) that isn't a large industrial programmable motor controller

Does such a thing exist? Or do I need to piece together 3 separate things to make this work...




Tl;dr

Is there a small self contained 120vac powered small brushless motor (390 form factor) speed controller with a rotary style speed control knob commercially available that's inexpensive

 

I just scanned over the post, but is it possible to use a VFD they will control the typical 3ph motor using 1ph power.
And a LV DC control level for RPM.
t

 

I suggest checking with a larger motor supplier,

 

Probably there is such a device BUT I am not familiar with it. The problem with a welding wire feed is that the burnig of the feed wire is not always constant. At least not for me.