Welder issues

sandydan

Hi i wonder what views on welders
.
bought a single phase air cooled welder in 76 and did a fair share of welding with it no problem until it rusted to death. bought an inverter in 2010 and it was replaced under warranty in 2011, This is very well minded no heavy work and it stopped working yesterday. i was welding half inch plate and heard a click similar to a wire arking
Switch lights when on, but welder doesn't work
i f it cant be repaired im thinking of buying another aircooled again . oil is too heavy for taking around

patsy_mccabe

How far from your supply are you welding? If you're using any sort of an extension lead, it woudl want to be as heavy as possible. Any light lead will result in a voltage drop from the ideal 230V. This seems to be what ruins the inverter types.

kay 9

sandydan wrote: »

Hi i wonder what views on welders
.
bought a single phase air cooled welder in 76 and did a fair share of welding with it no problem until it rusted to death. bought an inverter in 2010 and it was replaced under warranty in 2011, This is very well minded no heavy work and it stopped working yesterday. i was welding half inch plate and heard a click similar to a wire arking
Switch lights when on, but welder doesn't work
i f it cant be repaired im thinking of buying another aircooled again . oil is too heavy for taking around

What brand is the inverter? Might just be the card that's gone

sandydan

its a brand called Powercut - very appropriate me thinks- anyway i rang supplier and not in production in over 12 months. he recons it would cost as much to fix as 70% of new one and wanted to sell me one too,..

thinking of going back to basic transformer welder again,

sip 250 amp costing 140 , its just a hobby welder. would probably cut out and overheat in any continous welding. most brands are the 400 - 600 eu bracket and scarce in stores.

Blaas4life

sandydan wrote: »

Hi i wonder what views on welders
.
bought a single phase air cooled welder in 76 and did a fair share of welding with it no problem until it rusted to death. bought an inverter in 2010 and it was replaced under warranty in 2011, This is very well minded no heavy work and it stopped working yesterday. i was welding half inch plate and heard a click similar to a wire arking
Switch lights when on, but welder doesn't work
i f it cant be repaired im thinking of buying another aircooled again . oil is too heavy for taking around

Most likely not a heavy enough wire suppling it....I'd to fork out 800 to bring 2 square (??) Wire to the workshop for welding etc few years ago

sandydan

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

How far from your supply are you welding? If you're using any sort of an extension lead, it woudl want to be as heavy as possible. Any light lead will result in a voltage drop from the ideal 230V. This seems to be what ruins the inverter types.

yes and power surges is another suggestion. my cable is heavy enough , but power surges are costing me in bulb replacement. put in an anti surge in light circuit side of board an that has reduced bulb replacement, i was told that i may need to put in a bigger unit as well. cost around 400. i just dunno , electrician told me its something to do with being top of high ground and lightning may have influence. but no lightning on day it stopped welding with a sound similar to a welding rod sparking.
now im looking for advice on basic welders. heard the sip brand was purchased by another company and not as good as old sip brand welders. my first iverter was sip and it kept cutting out ,
i was welding less than 20 feet from 16 amp blue socket next to main fuseboard . must check actual extension cable gauge but its awkward hoo to wind up, i unwind when using

SuperTortoise

There's a huge choice of buying new. Inverters are simple, small, and cheap.
What type of welding are you doing, MIG, Stick?

Nekarsulm

Hi Sandydan , can I butt in and ask you about the power surges and bulb replacement?
Is this bulbs in the home you are talking about?
We built a new house in 2000 and bulbs never seem to last long, 6 months or so seems to be the typical lifespan.
Even "long life" and "rough duty" bulbs seldom last 12 months.
No other house on the transformer, and yard Is a seperate line.

sandydan

SuperTortoise wrote: »

There's a huge choice of buying new. Inverters are simple, small, and cheap.
What type of welding are you doing, MIG, Stick?

its stick welding, i have trained in both mig and tig but never purchased either welder as most is outdoor work

dunno how cheap welders are, one local merchant has sold inverters costing up to €750 and a few of those blew as well . about 3 years old. not all but some
most sales persons say their repair costs experience so far , forget repairs

sandydan

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Hi Sandra, can I butt in and ask you about the power surges and bulb replacement?
Is this bulbs in the home you are talking about?
We built a new house in 2000 and bulbs never seem to last long, 6 months or so seems to be the typical lifespan.
Even "long life" and "rough duty" bulbs seldom last 12 months.
No other house on the transformer, and yard Is a seperate line.

yep, same here ,some bulbs looked cremated or distorted
local electrical shop owner was first one to remark on issue when i called for replacement bulbs and brought in old ones, in one lamp with 3 small bulbs it was like a guess which of the other 2 would blow next after replacing 1, some times 2 would go.
he suggested fitting an anti surge unit in fuse board on the bar which elcb fuse units or whatever they are called, and to date it has certainly reduced blowing, except in cooker extractor hood which is powered via socket. the electrician fitting it reckoned i should fit one as well one the sockets elcb bar if you get my drift. he said 1 is adequate in most situations but...im now inquiring about a single unit fitted at main fuse board beside meter this in yard with welding sockets nearby. in house i have tv and computer on extension leads with anti surge protectors.

sandydan

what brands of old transformer type welders are available in 250 to 350ish range air cooled. i had a CEA for years and 3 neighbours still have theirs, wonder are they still available by manufactured by original company using same quality parts not cheap substitute . same for any reliable brands , im not fussy. clarke is one brand i heard about . e750 ish. wonder could i spend around 300 to 450ish

lakill Farm

did a little bit of welding a few weeks ago with a small inverter welder and a 6.5kva diesel generator . very handy as the generator could run the welder and grinder , no leads and I was 300 meters from nearest welding point

according to inverter manual it will run off a generator putting out 3/3.2kva

foxy farmer

sandydan wrote: »

what brands of old transformer type welders are available in 250 to 350ish range air cooled. i had a CEA for years and 3 neighbours still have theirs, wonder are they still available by manufactured by original company using same quality parts not cheap substitute . same for any reliable brands , im not fussy. clarke is one brand i heard about . e750 ish. wonder could i spend around 300 to 450ish

SIP had a turboweld 6 and 8. The 8 went to about 190A and the 6 went to about 250A. I have the turboweld 8 here with over 20 yrs and never gave trouble. Never once tripped the thermal overload and I've welded some heavy stuff and used it to burn holes on rails etc . It's about 25kgs so portable enough. Might still be got in Welding shops.

sandydan

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Hi Sandydan , can I butt in and ask you about the power surges and bulb replacement?
Is this bulbs in the home you are talking about?
We built a new house in 2000 and bulbs never seem to last long, 6 months or so seems to be the typical lifespan.
Even "long life" and "rough duty" bulbs seldom last 12 months.
No other house on the transformer, and yard Is a seperate line.

have you asked your electrician about the situation. i was asked had i a whole lot of lights or rooms on one fuse or elcb unit whatever that has got to do with it.
i would chat to some esb based electrician or other elec on that issue.it may be erratic power supply . a meter to record voltage may be required. i had that issue years ago . start milking and flueorescent lights went out. voltage below 180. bad for motors in everything. took some arguing with esb i can tell you to get that sorted.

sandydan

foxy farmer wrote: »

SIP had a turboweld 6 and 8. The 8 went to about 190A and the 6 went to about 250A. I have the turboweld 8 here with over 20 yrs and never gave trouble. Never once tripped the thermal overload and I've welded some heavy stuff and used it to burn holes on rails etc . It's about 25kgs so portable enough. Might still be got in Welding shops.

i was told sip were bought out and new sip not a patch on old sip products. dunno if true or not, stories go, but had sip inverter 200 amp i think 5 yrs ago and it plonked in 14 months

sandydan

i think there is a bit of confusion about unwinding reels of extension cable, some tell me not to unwind reels but i was told by an electrician years ago to unwind reels fully as they risk heating up and melting insulation.
what is correct thing, unwind or not, i personally unwind especially if welding , my grinder is 110v and on cable so issue doesn't arise

Farmer

Cable reels certainly need to be unwound to allow heat to dissipate from the centre of the reel unless only carrying minimal current for a short while. If you are welding, there's a good chance it is even operating above it's rated max!

If you find that you don't need to unwind it all to reach where you are working, then a shorter lead may be a good investment and will have less voltage drop

sandydan

lakill Farm wrote: »

did a little bit of welding a few weeks ago with a small inverter welder and a 6.5kva diesel generator . very handy as the generator could run the welder and grinder , no leads and I was 300 meters from nearest welding point

according to inverter manual it will run off a generator putting out 3/3.2kva

what rand inverter was that do you mind me asking, i have a 15kv generator and have used it with the old CEA welder but not the inverter.
im still looking and find a reasonable number marketed as generator friendly.??
i wonder does that mean they can cope with power surges. in my experience generators boost power according to demand not surge. i made a tipping trailer using one and had to turn down amps otherwise id burn not weld
took the inverter to a repairer , he took one look at it and said Chinese not Italian despite what manual said, bit like Irish smoked bacon i suppose. imported from some country packed in Ireland, . reckoned it could be bought now for €40 as some other brand :eek:

SuperTortoise

What thickness steel will you be welding mostly?

enricoh

I've a lorch inverter 140a a good few years now. German made - so they say. Burn 3.2s all day long on a 3 pin plug. Use extension lead no bother.
I fairly dog equipment ,( so I'm told!) So it must be fairly decent!

sandydan

SuperTortoise wrote: »

What thickness steel will you be welding mostly?

10 mm up mostly, got some light stuff to do now 3 to 6 ish, few hrs of 3 mm . . kinda forgotten how without burning damn thing

sandydan

got 3 retailers trying to sell me welder,
1 Decca 250 amp transformer
2 Jassic 200 inverter
3 Thermal Arc Inverter
know nothing about either except salesmen bashing the other 2.
. all claim to sell the particular model without problems for 10 years roughly. problem is i dont know a local user. except i have yet to meet a disgruntled user of the old transformer locally. only thing most are CEA welders and no one locally sells them now ? most seem to sell a different brand every 12 months . rest say sales gone down since inverters came.
they are portable easier to use and lighter on juice than transformer. thats prob why im considering the 2 brands as both retailers seem to stick to them.

SuperTortoise

Never heard of the first one, i've used a jasic and a thermal arc, both fine, jasic would have a slightly higher rep than thermal arc.
What kind of prices were you quoted roughly? and what are the duty cycles of the above machines?

On 3mm if stick welding, i'd use a 6013 rod , electrode negative, if still having burn through issues run them downhill.
If you're welding 10mm+ steel then go for a 200amp and up machine, a 160amp machine will burn a 4mm rod but you'd be maxing it out and the machine would'nt last.

sandydan

SuperTortoise wrote: »

Never heard of the first one, i've used a jasic and a thermal arc, both fine, jasic would have a slightly higher rep than thermal arc.
What kind of prices were you quoted roughly? and what are the duty cycles of the above machines?

On 3mm if stick welding, i'd use a 6013 rod , electrode negative, if still having burn through issues run them downhill.
If you're welding 10mm+ steel then go for a 200amp and up machine, a 160amp machine will burn a 4mm rod but you'd be maxing it out and the machine wouldn't last.

its mostly 10 to 15 mm steel. but only for a few hrs for repairs not workshop

the Decca 250 450 euro a transformer welder weighs 34 kg . 15 pc at 230 amps 60 pc at 115 . 100 pc at 90 amps

jasic 180 se 40 khz. (price depends on supplier,) €300 . to 350. duty cycle 35% at 180 amp . doesnt give percentage figures for lower amps but i guess its similar to to T arc .

jassic 200 40 khz price roughly €450 plus. duty cy 35 percent at 200 amps. 60pc AT 160 amps. 100PC AT 126 amps

Thermal Arc 175 amp 50 - 60 hz €325. Duty cy20% @175 amp stick weld 110 amp @ 60% 80 amp @100%
the khz figure differs from different makers. does it matter
some thing gone funny with keyboard cant bring up percentage or euro symbols

sandydan

anyone using these. a fella recommended these as a really good welders for ampage.
migatronic 160 amp inverter . . priced at 430 euro duty cycle 100 pc at 120 ams and 60 pc at 150 amps

another brand SWP 200 AMP .PRICE 350 EURO . price roughly €450 plus. Duty cycle 100 PC AT 155 AMPS. i thought i read some thing about card problems in this, but never heard of migatronic

SuperTortoise

Duty cycle percentage is usually a good indicator of the quality of the machine, i'm not impressed with any of those in your first post today, give that Decca a very wide berth, the Jassic 200 amp machine is ok i suppose.

The SWP sounds the best of that lot on paper, never used their stuff but they used to have a decent enough rep.
The only Migatronic welders i've seen were big 400amp transformer MIG welders, if memory serves me they used to use the same boards as the Miller machines but i'd be taking about 10-15 years ago, so many brands about it's hard to keep up.

sandydan

SuperTortoise wrote: »

Duty cycle percentage is usually a good indicator of the quality of the machine, i'm not impressed with any of those in your first post today, give that Decca a very wide berth, the Jassic 200 amp machine is ok i suppose.

The SWP sounds the best of that lot on paper, never used their stuff but they used to have a decent enough rep.
The only Migatronic welders i've seen were big 400amp transformer MIG welders, if memory serves me they used to use the same boards as the Miller machines but i'd be taking about 10-15 years ago, so many brands about it's hard to keep up.

dunno about swp. salesman admitted some returned for card replacement and read a few blogs saying same on welder forum that werent resolved.
a local engineering firm uses t arc out nn site work, farmyard repairs cattle crush, gates adding brackets to rails. its the t arc 175 and claims to have no issues, he claims if he had he would not sell anymore of them, they are single phase as well and he said sometimes they have got soaked. he claims that he couldnt sell 200 as price would deter buyers to make it worthwhile, he sells the 175 t arc at 325.
a chap over the road has a decca somilar to the 250 and he claims its fine for his work around farm . he made a car trailer recently and welded brackets on rails. lifted it up on loader. but inverter is handier, regardless. his decca in use 12 yrs while my sip 200 lasted less than 3 years and powercut 160 3.5 yrs or so

SuperTortoise

If you're spending 2-300 euro on an inverter welder it's not going to be a 20 year welder, they are priced and built for the weekend warrior.
I bought an SIP inverter last year, i payed just over 400 for it, i'm expecting it to last 3-4 years, i'm on the lookout for a fronius or a lincoln mig welder( i may buy new) which i would expect to last me 20 years but for 3-4000 euro it would want to.

sandydan

looks that way alright. i was contacted by a supplier selling esab. again 360 for 180. i dont want to buy a welder every 4 years so must change tac. mig is outa question for outside. one i was offered cost 1500 forgotten brand

sandydan

SuperTortoise wrote: »

Duty cycle percentage is usually a good indicator of the quality of the machine, i'm not impressed with any of those in your first post today, give that Decca a very wide berth, the Jassic 200 amp machine is ok i su

just as a matter of interest why do not like decca. or is it the particular ampage
thanks

SuperTortoise

sandydan wrote: »

just as a matter of interest why do not like decca. or is it the particular ampage
thanks

1.Never heard of them,

2.Those duty cycle percentages are horrible, usually an indicator of cheapest components possible being used.


What's your max budget?

sandydan

SuperTortoise wrote: »

1.Never heard of them,

2.Those duty cycle percentages are horrible, usually an indicator of cheapest components possible being used.


What's your max budget?

i think they are an Italian brand , the Decca T arc 530 is priced at 675 plus vat . its got a 50v and 70 v option its duty cycles at 50v 210 mps 35 percnt 160 amps 60 percent. while on 70v its 170 amps at 35 pc. 130 amps 60pc. thats 1 h duty model . they also do a T arc 845 , i dont have figures for that..theres a 529 which has the 50 v and 70 v option and the other one 527.
. i considered 400 for a start but.i now think none of the inverters are a 10 yr welder at any price, so considered 300 as max, with mig option, along with an air or oil cooled.
i was offered an oil cooled refurbished with some warranty 300 e

sandydan

there used to be a Rainbow brand 180 / 200 amp. costing approx 800 / 1000. few fellas i know bought them 8 / 10 yrs ago . mighty machine. youd burn half inch plate with them. not on market now.
some brands selling now will barely outlast warranty in 200 - 300 e bracket

sandydan

anyone used or heard of flama, supposed to cope with voltage fluctuations from 170 to 260 single ph , capable of use on 3 phase as well

enricoh

Jaysus u don't rush into buying stuff anyways! Google reviews for them.
As an aside I bought a plasma last Christmas n didn't want to buy a Chinese yoke n dealt with an English crowd on ebay with good reviews. The plasma was Chinese anyway just probably twice the price!

sandydan

enricoh wrote: »

Jaysus u don't rush into buying stuff anyways!

must be me west of Ireland blood makes me cautious, now while im at it anyone heard of brand called Ripper. ,250 amp 450e

i m o a lot of these are shop or own brand made to some general spec in china

kinda going for flama sold locally and due to its voltage tolerance
, esab, jassic or paraweld, online as around min of 50 e cheaper all in. thermal arc though praised by all seem to have a sticking issue but maybe thats due to having less electronics which maybe is no bad thing.
figured out the Rainbow is a CEA brand which i cant find a dealer for.
i must get something sorted next week anyways,