Theoretical question

[vwguy3]

I was talking to a guy that was given an import tig machine. From the sound of it he has just the power source.
He asked about a torch and I said it would depend on the torch connection.....no biggy(probably).
I said the bigger thing would be an amperage control. Some brands, id'ing and finding an amp control would be no issue but what if you don't know what ohm pot it takes? What if it take a 10 ohm pot and you put a 1 ohm on it.....what happens?.....magic smoke release or simple lack of control?
I realize that the easiest path is to ask the vendor but in this case the vendor buys and resells Chineseium equipment not the ancillary items.

[jpump5]

A pot with too low a resistance could damage something by
allowing too much current to flow, depending on how the pot
is wired.
It’s unlikely that too high a resistance would damage anything
and it may work fine, again depending on how it’s wired.

[vwguy3]

Thanks! That makes perfect sense.
So short of specs how would you figure out the correct pot?

[jpump5]

If I knew how the proper pedal is wired, I would start with a
high resistance pot maybe 100k.
Doesn’t work,try 50k and so on. Not very
scientific, but you won’t blow anything up.
That’s just how I’d do it, because I have a drawer full of pots.
There’s probably a member here who knows
what the Chinese machines use and could steer
you in the right direction.