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Welder help


240ZBUILTBYME

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Hey guys 

went to do some welding in my rotisserie and could not get my welder going properly. 

it’s a cigweld 135 cheapo from supercheap, it’s about 3 years old now.

move done plenty of welding with it without any problems. It hasn’t been used for probably 8-10months. The wire is about the same age and is gas less.

I used the exact same settings I’ve always used for welding 3mm thick tubing together. 

The machine seemed to be pulsing, would not give out a constant arc and would not get the parent metal hot enough to penetrate. It would melt the wire but barely penetrate. 

I use extension chords to get power to the shed. So I moved the welder to the house and tried direct into the power point, it seemed stronger than before but still not normal.

- I checked and cleaned the earth clamp and cable

- I checked the feeder tension and rollers. All normal

- I made sure the metal I was welding on was clean

- I checked the tip size was right for the wire 

- I checked the welder power wires and earth wires for damage

- I played around with the setting a lot and the only time I could get a decent pool and weld was if I ran the voltage at 4 and wire speed at 5 (normal settings I use are voltage 3 and wire speed 7.5-8)

it seems it’s not getting enough power. I’m not well versed on the mechanics of welders. But is it possible that it has some sort of voltage regulator that is not working properly? 

I’m  basically trying to work out if there’s anything else I should try or if the welder is cactus and I need a new one.

cheers Ryan 

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1 hour ago, C.A.R. said:

Remove the feed wire & blow compressed air down the liner.
Fit a new tip.

Fluxcore (Gasless) wire is shitfull stuff - it should only be used for industrial Sub-arc welding.

What’s your thoughts? Crap in the liner not allowing the wire to feed properly? 

Yes I have the gas less left over and thought I might as well use it up, I do have a bottle of argoshield now so maybe I should swap to gas and see what happens

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13 minutes ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

Crap in the liner not allowing the wire to feed properly? 

Yes.

Also, polarity for fluxcore is positive earth.
Have you got the earth on the correct terminal?

Edited by C.A.R.
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  • 3 months later...
On 2/7/2022 at 4:30 PM, C.A.R. said:

Remove the feed wire & blow compressed air down the liner.
Fit a new tip.

Fluxcore (Gasless) wire is shitfull stuff - it should only be used for industrial Sub-arc welding.

Blew the liner out, some debris did come out, changed the tip, no joy.

Thought maybe the flux core wire was bad so set up welder for gas and solid wire 0.6, ran 7/8 lpm, still no go. When not welding the wire feeds fine, once I start welding the wire won’t feed properly. When it is feeding properly there’s no penetration, just melting the wire and making balls.

I think I’m going to get a new welder Any recommendations? I’d like to spend around the 500-700 mark. 

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On 5/27/2022 at 5:04 PM, kamarchi said:

I would spend a little extra and get yourself a Unimig

https://unimig.com.au/product/viper-185-mig-tig-stick-welder/

https://unimig.com.au/product/viper-185-mig-tig-stick-welder-bundle-pk11054/

Then you can practice your TIG welding which is better than MIG on thin sheetmetal

 

Unimig are not that great... My mate has a Unimig 4in1 and it's not nice to use.
Amperage fluctuations when welding, non-linear amperage control... it's just unpleasant in use.
They are just an overpriced cheaper brand IMHO.

I personally prefer to keep my welders separate.
For a Mig I suggest a Lincoln Electric 180C - it's a solid transformer unit, so it's reliable (single phase).
Consumable parts are easy to get & reasonably priced.
It's only got two controls - linear Amperage & Wire Speed so it's super easy to fine tune.
They are so good - we have two in the shop!

https://www.lincolnelectric.com/en/products/k2473-2

On 5/27/2022 at 5:04 PM, kamarchi said:

Then you can practice your TIG welding which is better than MIG on thin sheetmetal

That is an inaccurate comment.
It is totally depends on what you are doing.

Edited by C.A.R.
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Wow, I have never heard anything but positive reviews about unimig, i own two and they work flawlessly.

35 minutes ago, C.A.R. said:

That is an inaccurate comment.
It is totally depends on what you are doing.

I totally agree, but it was a general statement without going into specifics.

IMO TIG is a nicer process that results in a weld that requires less material to be removed and is softer and easier to manipulate with a hammer and dolly. I mainly use MIG where access to both sides of the panel is not possible or where appearance is not super critical.

Not the greatest welder in the world and mostly self-taught, but experience has taught me to TIG where possible

just my 2 cents, was not my intention to offend :-)

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5 hours ago, C.A.R. said:

I personally prefer to keep my welders separate.
For a Mig I suggest a Lincoln Electric 180C - it's a solid transformer unit, so it's reliable (single phase).
Consumable parts are easy to get & reasonably priced.
It's only got two controls - linear Amperage & Wire Speed so it's super easy to fine tune.
They are so good - we have two in the shop!

I was looking at these. My good mate does a lot of welding and also has a Lincoln 180 which he recommended.

I was tempted to get one capable of mig/tig but as you say thought it would be better to have two separate machines. 

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9 hours ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

I've not used that model, so I cant comment. Maybe look for reviews online?
Regardless, I'm sure being a Lincoln it'd work well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anybody have any comments on synergic welders? Basically you set the material thickness and wire type and the machine controls/sets the volts and feed rates automatically. the Lincoln 191c is a synergic mig and I’m not sure I’m sold on them. I’m leaning towards a more traditional style machine with more manual style settings, like the cigweld and unimig.  

I wanted a dedicated mig machine but all mig welders in the price range I’m looking at are 3 in 1 welders. It’s another 1k to jump to a dedicated mig machine. 

im tossing up between the

- Lincoln 191c powercraft (synergic) $895

- unimig 185 $800

- cigweld 185 $750

 

 

 

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The gods gave me a sign, EOFY sale at total tools which had a promotion for the unimig 185 bundle which included the tig torch so I pulled the trigger and now I get $200 credit to buy more tools!

I couldn’t find enough info about synergic mig welding so I passed on the Lincoln 191. 

Unimig 185 reviews were very positive online so I felt it a safe bet. 

looking at the wire feeder assembly on the new unimig it’s no wonder my el cheapo cigweld wasn’t working, it’s wire feeder assembly was all plastic and incredibly weak compared to the all metal on the unimig. You get what you pay for I guess

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