[font=Times New Roman]Recently I visited my local Harbor Freight and decided to check out the 240v (label on product says 230v but listed as 240v on website) spot welder while I was there, in doing this I made a surprising discovery. Side by side were sitting two spot welders that looked almost completely identical except for their labels and one had a standard American 110v plug while the other had nothing attached to the end of the cable. I carefully examined the two down to the stamped voltage and amperage ratings on the sheathing of the wiring for the plugs and found that all of it appeared to be identical. Yes I know that the online photos of the spot welders show them to be two different sizes but the actual ones that are physically at harbor freight seem to be identical in all ways including size.

Both power cords were stamped with:
(UL) E323736 SJT 3/C 14AWG(2.08mm²) 60°C 300V VW-1 100406-911 ? C(entire code repeats to 300v) FT1 NINGB0 FUYU ELECRICAL CO.,LTD

This led me to wonder if their internals were identically wired as well and if all one would have to do is swap out plugs to go from having the 120v (label on product says 115v but listed as 120v on website) version to having a 240v version.

Is there anyone who has the two versions who would be willing to open them up and compare their internals?

If they are indeed completely identical except for the plugs how hard would it be to install a sort of two way power switching unit that would have both types of plugs and allow one to be plugged in for either 110v or 220v use?

If so this could end up saving more than a few future and current builders a bit of money that they could use for other tools, or maybe as a small contribution to help their favorite forums.[/font=Times New Roman]

thats not a vary good idea ... the 240 has more windings and pulls more amps then the 120 version

It should have, correct. This is why I am wondering if anyone has the two different models and would be willing to take a peek inside. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that they are actually the identical machine just with a different label slapped on the outside and a plug attached to the 115v. It has often in the past been quite common to find a company selling the same machine under two different labels just to make more money.

I wonder if there are just different taps on the transformer.  A few years ago I worked with some high current power supplies that were built that way.  You could run it on either 120 or 240 volts, depending on the connections.  IIRC, it wanted 30 amps on 120, but only 20 amps on 240.

Just get the 220v spot welder and be done.  It'll work fine for everything you'll ever need.

I have the 110v unit & have never had a problem. I have welded thick scope rails onto the side of the receiver without a problem so they can easily take care of the sheet metal rail to receiver spot welds that need to be done for an AK build.