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Thread: upgraded welder

  1. #1
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    Default upgraded welder

    g'day. i havn't posted much in hear but often read some posts.
    a few weeks ago i was lucky enough to score an used inverter
    arc welder. It was very cheap. it work great and i was stocked
    with my new tool/toy.
    its an older wia machine. It came with no leads so i made up a set
    out of 10mm cable. there 4m long. Is this to long for the little weldr?
    aaron.
    welder2.jpg
    new machine

    welders.jpg
    the old and new

  2. #2
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    Default

    I would say 4M leads were a perfect match for that machine.
    I probably would have used 16mm cable myself, but I have a personal bias towards running leads at the heavier end of the range by preference.

  3. #3
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    Default leads

    hi Karl.Thats interesting i have some of that bigger size.can you get male plugs that 16mm will fit into?
    the ones i brought it was a squeeze to get 10mm cable in.
    thanks for the reply.
    Another question is what amps do you think i should use for 2.5mm low hydrogen rods in the vertical up
    position.
    aaron

  4. #4
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    Default

    I would imagine your welder uses Dinse 25mm plugs. If so, there are definitely plugs that will take 16mm^2 cable.
    For a 2.5 low hydro, anywhere from 50 to 65 amps on DCEP should see you right. Having said that, if you were welding on heavy sections, a bit more gusto may be in order. That welder will handle 3.25 easily and even 4mm electrodes in the right circumstances. 2.5 and 3.25 would be your best bets.

  5. #5
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    Default rods

    hi again. the dince plugs are the about 8mm dia ones.
    as far as the dia of the leads im not shore about the
    squared bit but i just measured the dia of the cable
    10mm.
    i was using the 2.5mm rods because ive run out oif
    the larger ones. it welded with the 3.2mm ones
    beautifully. im just having trouble getting a good
    weld with the 2.5mm ones.
    aaron

  6. #6
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    Default

    Hi Azzrock, Are you measuring the actual diameter of the copper cable or the external diameter including the insulation? The reason I ask is because if the diameter of the actual copper is 10mm then that is a very heavy cable and about 75mm Square, which would do over 400 amps. I suspect that you have measured it including the insulation which is not the way to measure cable as different cables have different insulation thicknesses and will not tell you how much current it will carry.

    Hope this helps.

    Cheers

    Ed.

  7. #7
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    Default cable

    hi ed. ive measured the copper only no insulation.
    i did think it was heavy but thought the heaver
    the better.
    i picked that size because i wanted long leads.
    thanks for your help.

  8. #8
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    Default

    Then in that case it is more than adequate! for 4mts, that is next to nothing, no voltage or amp loss what so ever.

    Cheers

    Ed.

  9. #9
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    Default succsess

    hi again after more practice ive managed to a half decent result with 2.5mm low hydrogen rods.
    set at 85 to 90 amps which seems high the other type of 2.5mm rods ive tried dont seem to
    need such high settings.

  10. #10
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    Default

    I think in general that the 7018 low hydrogen rods need more amps than 6013 ones. I bought a 5kg box of 4mm sticks a little while ago just to practice on as I only have ever used the 6013, and went through about 5-6 electrodes before I got the hang of how to weld with them. Had to up the amps by about 15% more than 6013. Can't say that I like them, you are supposed to pre heat them before using them. I didn't with mine and they were an old opened pack I picked up from a pawn shop for $5, so probably not the best to try out with. But for $5 it was a try, trying to keep the skill set up. Haven't welded with MMA for any length of time for about 28 years. So definetly rusty in that department.

    Cheers

    Ed.

  11. #11
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    Default

    No voltage drop great. im fairly shore i wont need longer than 4m.
    Well i got the rods i was talking about at the market $7 for a pac.
    there weldex 70.
    I didn't pre heat the job and my prep work could of be better.
    I was just raising the height of my welding bench which is in
    the first photo from i posted. unfortunately the bench has been
    busy on domestic duties
    aaron

  12. #12
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    Hi, If you have more of that same size cable and you need longer leads then that size cable will handle more than what your machine can ever put out, I take it that cable is actual battery/welder cable with several hundred strands and not just 7 core? If it is I think what you have is the equivalent of 2/0 cable which is what I run on mine, I have an 8m earth and a 4m mig torch on it and my machine can put out 560 amp. Not that I use those sort of amps however I did 350A for about 1.5 hours once and the cable was fine for that. Not sure what your welder outputs but judging from it's size in the photo I would say maybe 150A-160A tops, so if you wanted to put 10m-15m leads on it still wouldn't be a problem. Enjoy!

    Cheers

    Ed.

  13. #13
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    Default

    That cable would be adequate for 40M leads for that machine!
    Your Dinse plugs on the Machine will be what's known as Dinse 25, the larger ones are Dinse 35/50. I'm not surprised you had trouble fitting that cable in the plugs.
    Re. your electrodes, what problems were you having with them at lower amperages? I am a little surprised they didn't like running lower than 80-90A as I've run 4mm E4818's down to 90A on DC before and 90A was a fairly common amperage for 3.2 4818's when doing WTIA Cert 4. You are running DC electrode positive I assume?
    Low Hydrogen does like a short arc when welding.

  14. #14
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    Default

    At a guess, the Vortex DX13 OCV may not be high enough, not sure of what the specs are on his machine, those electrodes needs 70V+ as a minimum and I think it can run on anything AC,DC and a earth + and a earth -

    Cheers

    Ed.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ed.. View Post
    At a guess, the Vortex DX13 OCV may not be high enough, not sure of what the specs are on his machine, those electrodes needs 70V+ as a minimum and I think it can run on anything AC,DC and a earth + and a earth -

    Cheers

    Ed.
    That only applies to AC current. DC will run with much lower OCV. Low hydrogen electrodes should always be run on electrode positive using DC current.
    Low OCV will not normally affect the weld. If the OCV is too low, there will not be a weld as the electrode will not run.
    Arc voltage will affect the bead profile, more voltage gives a wider, flatter weld given the same amperage.

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