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6th Oct 2017, 04:33 PM #16Most Valued Member
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I am kind of thinking if i move i can take the lead with me Karl as I'm renting, i went to Jim's Electrican and seems they now send your number out to multipal businesses some are saying they want a $44 call out fee to do a quote
forgot to add i have 3 staffys and a boarder collie so really hard to allow someone in the back yard and no where to put them inside because they wee on the walls and furniture
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6th Oct 2017, 08:31 PM #17Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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7th Oct 2017, 01:05 AM #18Most Valued Member
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Here's another way of looking at the situation.
What is your planned usage of the machine? You will probably get away with pulling 100 odd amps without too much drama on a 15A circuit. That should allow you to weld 3mm aluminium on AC without too many issues. Make sure that the high frequency is working before investing too much time or effort. The weld that you were shown on stainless would have been done using DC and could well have been done without HF. AC requires HF to run effectively (although it will run without as I accidentally found out, albeit nowhere near as well as using HF). Any major breakdown, and I include a dead HF unit in this, will be a fatal breakdown for your old girl.
Have a play before you make too many hard and fast decisions, remembering $1200 or a bit under puts you in an Inverter based AC/DC tig that will run on your existing supply quite well, so upgrading your power supply would account for nearly 50% of that figure, while still leaving you with a very basic machine without any user friendly features and with less performance than a budget level inverter power source.
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10th Oct 2017, 05:53 PM #19Most Valued Member
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I still have the welder and still looking at my options, while i was picking up the machine the seller switched it over to HF to show it worked but i have not tested it yet
i have a couple concerns, theft being the biggest one i am not rich so someone lifting a tiny Everlast tig from my shed would leave me devastated that's why i bought this old machine it's not worth pinching but its worth a mile to me
understanding the cost of installing a new line is a bit costly considering the price of a 15amp tig welder on ebay is around $900 and the dedicated line would be around $400-$500
I'm not to worried about this old girl using a lot of power i will only use it every now and again (i still have my ESAB mig and spool gun)
what worries me is if i install this second line than move house because i am renting
i will fire up the old beauty queen sometime soon i just need to find a suitable power cord i can use or i will have to make one, i did note bunnings sizes on cables today i think they had 2.5mm in 15amp or i can buy a extension lead and cut it in half
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12th Oct 2017, 06:29 PM #20Most Valued Member
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I got the welder fired up this afternoon i tried to run a corner weld but i couldn't get enough heat into the job i was at around 145-150amps it didn't trigger the power board switch but i found the collet in the torch was only screwing in 1 turn, the problem may lie with the tungsten holder its bent out of shape anyone know why? it was a 2.4mm and the tungsten was 2.4mm wondering why it was twisted
the HF worked i had my ass on the welder and arm touching a piece of aluminium on the table i felt my backside getting zapped
it seems something needs to be cleaned it not a very consistent arc it comes and goes sometimes stronger sometimes weaker same goes for the HF, do u possibly thing its the holder and collet not carrying the current properly?
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12th Oct 2017, 08:12 PM #21Most Valued Member
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How thick was the material that you were trying to do the corner joint on? 150 odd amps would be more than enough for 6mm ally as a rule, so something is amiss. The bent/twisted collet is not uncommon being caused by heat, pressure and the twisting forces generated when the back cap is tightened, about the worst effect of it is the tungsten not being held tightly and that's pretty uncommon. Normally the collet holder breaks around the area where the gas holes are drilled first. The HF should not be feeding back through the welder like that. It would pay to check that you do not have 240v mains voltage reaching the case.
Check all your connections first, but I doubt the damaged collet will have any bearing on your arc instability issues. You could also check the points gap in the HF unit and reset to spec.
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12th Oct 2017, 09:14 PM #22Most Valued Member
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Hi Karl, What made me think it was the collet and holder was the collet was only screwing in 1 turn if that so i thought it might not have enought contact to allow the power to flow thru the torch
The HF zap was because i was earthing the job trying to get into position, when i mentioned the HF arc varied sometimes it would zap at 20mm other times it would get close 2-3mm before zapping
The material i tried to test on was 4mm open corner weld
Could it also be my earth cable is around 6-7 meters long?
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12th Oct 2017, 11:24 PM #23Most Valued Member
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That length of earth lead should be no issue provided it is in half reasonable condition. A simple test for welding cable condition is if they are getting hot, there is a problem. This applies to any and all cables and connections in the circuit, including mains input cables. Heat is bad and is indicative of poor contact or inadequate cable capacity. To explain a little further, heat causes increased resistance, which in turn causes more heat, causing more resistance. This occurs until cooling of the cable increases to a level that halts the cycle, the current flow stops or the insulation melts and a the conductor/s are exposed. Annoying on welding leads, but downright spectacular on mains circuits. Yes, I have witnessed it.
I suggest that you take your tig torch apart, removing the back cap, electrode, gas shroud, collet body and collet, looking for damaged threads or other damage, then reassemble in this order. Collet body and collet, gas shroud, electrode and then the back cap. Make sure to gently tighten the collet body in the torch head with a pair of pliers before proceeding further. I greatly doubt that a lack of contact in your torch will be the issue, but this should solve the issue of only a thread or two engagement of the collet body.
4mm should have been a doddle with 150 odd amps, so somewhere along the line you are not getting the full output.
On another subject. The tungsten that came in your torch was pointed for DC usage and is most likely a type that is less than ideal for AC usage. Once you sort the output/stability issue, you will want to swap it for a more compatible type. I stress though that this bears no relationship to your current problems.
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12th Oct 2017, 11:33 PM #24Most Valued Member
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I just had another brain wave.
Your machine was originally wired for 415V I believe and you rewired the input for 240V. Check that you got all the connections right as this could cause major issues with the welding current output. If you are unsure or the connection diagram inside the machine is damaged or missing, there are manuals available online that I can point you towards if necessary.
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13th Oct 2017, 11:42 AM #25Most Valued Member
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Hi Karl, Yep i wired it for 240v it still has the original wiring diagram, the only thing i forgot to do was tighten the gas lense with the pliers, Here is how it welds
I'm using 2.4mm white tungsten
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13th Oct 2017, 12:42 PM #26
If that gauge is correct that's a huge gas flow, should be down around the 7-12 lpm rate.
A pea-shooter style device will make it easier to set the flow as well.
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13th Oct 2017, 01:04 PM #27Most Valued Member
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Gavin, Nah the gauge is not accurate i set the flow rate by listening to the torch as i previously found my gauges and other measuring tools incorrect, i tried a few different gas flow amounts when i dribbled those welds
i hope the machine isn't a dud
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13th Oct 2017, 07:14 PM #28
Going back to basics, have you done a DC weld in mild steel with the welder in it's current setup yet?
Do you have a clamp meter so you can measure the actual DC output to compare with what the machine is set to deliver?
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13th Oct 2017, 09:03 PM #29Most Valued Member
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Not yet mate but i'd assume it works in DC mode because the seller had it set up and offered me to try the machine plus he showed me a piece he had just welded with the machine weather that is the truth i can't be sure but the welder was up and running when i got there, i don't have any steel filler rods just yet all mine rusted away
I don't know how to use a clamp meter i'll youtube it now and get a meter next week
Thanks Gavin
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13th Oct 2017, 09:51 PM #30Most Valued Member
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Ahhh i just went back to J&H's post with the manual for my welder i may have found the problem, When i done the wiring i cut off the 415v plug wired on a 240v 15A plug i than opened the machine again and moved a couple of wires from 415v to 240v but looking in the manual i was meant to change the bridge of 2 terminals, i never changed over the bridge
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