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Thread: wia 180 welder

  1. #1
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    Default wia 180 welder

    hi All

    A second hand shop has one of these , it looks unused in the box . He wants 290$


    Are these a good welder for general fabrication ? What can they do ?

    Thanks

  2. #2
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    Morrisman,
    WIA was a good brand in the past,but crikey you do make it hard mate?

    Welding Industries of Australia made a lot of different welders over a long term and some were 180 amp capacity.

    Until a better description is forthcoming, how can anyone answer you without guessing themselves?

    Is it a brand new unused old model or is it a contemporary machine made god knows where.

    Is it a AC output stick welder? A DC output machine .A stick welder, a mig.AC/240 or 3 phase.

    I suspect it may be a inverter model and could possibly look like the pic I have attached.

    I have no experience with the current WIA who don't make stuff here anymore so I won't venture an opinion. Make someone else has one and can say something nice about them.

    mc103-0-wia-weldarc-180i-welder-inverter-tig-arc-15-amp-1.1042.jpg

  3. #3
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    Hi

    Sorry about that.

    Yes it's that one in your pic. Inverter technology . I see on EPAY they are available new still.

    I might talk the guy down a bit in price , he's had it for quite a while . ATM I have a very old variable inductor transformer type single phase CIG arc welder from the 1970's - it's OK but not easy to use . When the mains voltage drops here down to 220, it's hopeless welding anything.

    I also have a very old Lincoln ? tractor pack DC welder on a trailer driven by a Holden red motor , its about 120 amps I think . The commutator and brushes in it seem good but for some reason it doesn't perform very well.

    I did a TAFE welding course , they had big 3 phase mig WIA welders, amazing how easy it is to weld with that type of gear - perfect . Try it at home ... crap welds .

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by morrisman View Post
    Hi

    Sorry about that.

    Yes it's that one in your pic. Inverter technology . I see on EPAY they are available new still.

    I might talk the guy down a bit in price , he's had it for quite a while . ATM I have a very old variable inductor transformer type single phase CIG arc welder from the 1970's - it's OK but not easy to use . When the mains voltage drops here down to 220, it's hopeless welding anything.

    I also have a very old Lincoln ? tractor pack DC welder on a trailer driven by a Holden red motor , its about 120 amps I think . The commutator and brushes in it seem good but for some reason it doesn't perform very well.

    I did a TAFE welding course , they had big 3 phase mig WIA welders, amazing how easy it is to weld with that type of gear - perfect . Try it at home ... crap welds .
    You could buy a brand new Chinese manufactured inverter, with a warranty for similar money. The WIA will be of Chinese lineage by the way.
    The Lincoln tractor pack should perform very well. What does it do/not do? Has the red motor had a governor fitted, as it will need one to ensure stable engine speed under varying load conditions? Is the tractor pack running at the correct speed? The correct running speed should be stamped in the plate that also has the serial number and code number listed. If you have a code number or even a model name, then email Lincoln Australia and they will sort you out with a manual to suit. If your red motor doesn't have a governor fitted, then an automotive cruise controlunit can be adapted for a cheap and easy work around.
    There were a couple of different Tractapack welders offered by Lincoln, usually around 200A capacity, with some having greater adjustment abilities than others and in my opinion they would match or surpass the welding performance of just about any inverter you cared to put them up against. The inverter wins out in the portability stakes of course, but Lincoln engine drive welders are an icon within the metal fabrication and construction trades with good reason.

  5. #5
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    Ah OK . The red motor doesn't have a gov. fitted. The motor revs die as you begin to weld - that's my problem .

    You plug the Neg welding lead into one of the row of outlets depending on your rod diameter... there is a large wire resistor bank behind the outlets, I pulled it apart and cleaned it up. It is a old model tractapak. The commutator and brushes look in good shape .

    BTW the red motor needed the head done up, I refaced the valves on my lathe . It runs OK now , I think its a 161 bored out to 186 .

    Thanks for the info

    welder.jpg

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by morrisman View Post
    Ah OK . The red motor doesn't have a gov. fitted. The motor revs die as you begin to weld - that's my problem .

    You plug the Neg welding lead into one of the row of outlets depending on your rod diameter... there is a large wire resistor bank behind the outlets, I pulled it apart and cleaned it up. It is a old model tractapak. The commutator and brushes look in good shape .

    BTW the red motor needed the head done up, I refaced the valves on my lathe . It runs OK now , I think its a 161 bored out to 186 .

    Thanks for the info

    welder.jpg
    That's even older than I envisaged, I suspect Noah may have had a couple when he built the Ark.
    How is the welder attached to the red motor? Direct drive shaft or vee belts? Tractapacs were normally driven from the standard 540 RPM PTO shaft via a speed increasing vee belt drive that I suspect gave actual welder revolutions of 3000 RPM (ratio of pulleys appears around 1:6). Don't just guess this, but confirm it with the aforementioned data plate or Lincoln Electric Australia. Rotational speed affects output greatly as you have found. Just guessing here, but I reckon the old red motor would want to be doing at least 1500 RPM to have enough power to run the welder at full output, so any vee belt drive would need to take that into account. Direct drive would work, but a red motor screaming away at 3000 RPM would fast become tiresome and thirsty, (assuming my 3000 RPM guess is accurate).
    Belt driven governors are rare beasts today, so I probably wouldn't even try to find one to be honest. One option is to buy an aftermarket cruise control unit and fit that to your red motor with the speed sensor reading either off the crankshaft or the welder's drive shaft. You will also need an electric tachometer so as to set engine speed. The down side of the cruise control work around is that speed must be reset every time you shut the machine down as settings are not remembered by most units I've come across.
    Not trying to talk you out of an inverter at all as they are super convenient, but no single phase inverter will match the performance, (amperage and duty cycle), of the Tractapac once you get it sorted, plus it is totally stand alone portable into the bargain.

  7. #7
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    It's a direct drive from the red motor to the tractapac . It's not a ideal setup . The whole unit is a very agricultural construction - not having a go at whoever made it , but the trailer chassis is made from light gauge angle iron and its definately not fit for road use . But it's ideal for a farm . I'd say it was done in the 1960's , it has 13" Holden wheels on it and HD tailights.

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    Oh well, direct drive it shall be then.
    I'll be interested to find out what speed your welder is actually meant to be spinning at should you proceed further with fixing up the old girl, in fact, incorrect speed could be a large part of any issue. The good old red will have plenty of oomph running direct I should imagine.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Karl Robbers View Post
    Belt driven governors are rare beasts today, so I probably wouldn't even try to find one to be honest.
    Karl,

    I remember years ago reading a letter or article in an old Power Farming magazine by a farmer who claimed to have got around the lack of a governor problem with his car engine driven welder. He had fitted a push button on the electrode holder which energised a solenoid that opened the throttle to a pre set adjustable stop to suit the work in hand before striking the arc. Releasing the button returned the engine to idle.

    I have often wondered whether this would be a worth while alternative to an unobtainable governor for this application. It would be cheap and simple to set up - do you think it would be too inconvenient for normal use?

    The suggestion to use a cruise control as a governor is interesting. I had not come across this before.

    Frank.

  10. #10
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    That could possibly work acceptably well in this case provided the engine is producing sufficient torque to maintain RPM under varying loads. If the welder is designed to run at say 300 RPM, then I'd back old red to be up to the task without losing too much engine speed, but if it were only running at 1500 or 1800 RPM, then I reckon old red may die back if you were pulling a decent amperage. It's a fairly tall order asking an engine to maintain a reasonably constant speed when your loading on the welder may be as low as 30A and as high as 225A. The cost of a suitable solenoid could be an issue though. I recently priced such solenoids while designing an automatic engine protection shut off for my Lincoln AS 400 welder. $200 was one of the lower priced ones and some went close to $450. By comparison $300 ish buys you a universal cruise control kit and a trip to the wreckers may be even less provided you can find a suitable unit.
    Another thought that springs to mind was that certain Clark forklifts used the Holden red motor and these were fitted with a maximum speed governorthat could possibly work. Several Hyster forklifts (quite possibly other makes as well) also used belt drive maximum speed governors.

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