Sharing a receptacle box 220v with a 3 wire and 4 wire appliance

Question

I have a 60amp 220v run from a sub-panel. The run is a four wire run (2 hots, 1 neutral, 1 ground). The appliances are an air compressor and a welder. The compressor only requires a 3 wire setup because of it’s magnetic motor. The welder will use 4 wires. I’d like to setup the wiring on both appliances with a plug on each so that I can connect one at a time to a receptacle as needed.

For the compressor, I’d get a 3 wire plug and for the welder, I’d get a 4 wire plug. With that said, how do I setup a receptacle that has a 4 wire run to accommodate both a 3 wire plug and a 4 wire plug at a time?

Any thoughts on what I can do here without running a separate run for each appliance?

Answer 1

In a code free world, you would need a 4 wire receptacle and two plugs to match. You'd wire the welder with four wires as needed and wire the compressor with the three wires in the other plug and not connect the terminal for the fourth wire. I don't think you can't do this. You shouldn't jury rig plugs and outlets like this. The other major problem is the 60 amp breaker. If either one of your pieces of equipment failed, they burn up before your 60 amp breaker tripped. They would literally have no protection. Do this right and run two circuits, protecting them individually. If this run is in conduit, running two circuits would not be that difficult.