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Faulty Group Buy TIG Welder
paulbeyer - 20/2/11 at 12:15 AM

I have one of the 200amp AC/DC TIG welders that Calvinx arranged a group buy for some years back.
To be honest it was used for all of about 20 minutes when I first got it just to check it worked ok but hasn't been used since. I tried it the other day and I have no spark at the torch.
Does anyone know someone that could take a look at it for me or is it junk now being a cheap Chinese model?


Steve Hignett - 20/2/11 at 12:22 AM

I had one too and it never worked

A friend looked at it briefly and said the parts that were needed weren't readily available so it wasn't cost effective to fix.

Not saying that was a definite, or whether you're problem is same as mine...

I never actually got to use mine (£400).........

ATB
Steve


paulbeyer - 20/2/11 at 12:43 AM

Oh great


Steve Hignett - 20/2/11 at 05:57 AM

I ought to clarify something...

Mine wasn't from CalvinX himself, someone else jumped onto his bandwagon after his bulk-buy that I couldn't get the money together in time for...

Another Scottish member, that I wish I could remember!

As far as I know, CalvinX did have a guy with a problem with a Tig set, that he paid to be sorted out of his own money...


DavidR - 20/2/11 at 08:12 AM

You could try putting a post on here

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/index.php

there seem to be some pretty knowledgable guys there

Or give this comapany a phone as what there labour rate is likely to be for repairing it

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/index.php

£400 ( - what you would get for spares) is alot of money to throw away


Peteff - 20/2/11 at 09:39 AM

You could try asking on Cut40 as they sell similar machines and offer technical support.


mcs - 20/2/11 at 10:43 AM

Hi,

Just seen the post about our Company www.cut40.com Yes, we import, sell and repair low cost Chinese machines in the UK and Europe.

Hope we can help someone.

Mike


prawnabie - 20/2/11 at 10:43 AM

Statement from Calvinx re: group buy Tig-Sets

Each individual unit was removed from its packaging upon delivery to me, each unit was visually inspected for damage, then powered up and run through a series of weld tests with its own torch/pedal before being re-packaged and dispatched to each individual group buyer. At that time ALL units were found with NO faults, BUT………. X2 units were damaged in transit by parcel force, both of these units were returned to me and replaced by ME & I bore the full cost of replacing these units, when I could just handed over the insurance details for parcel force let them fight it out themselves !!!

But being the complete wan**r that I am, I felt sorry for those and felt obliged to replace the transit damaged units (I never received full recompense from parcel force, for all my out of pocket expenses, I only received the monetary cost of the item, nothing more ) so in effect in the end I paid More and ended up out of pocket to keep the two other member of the group buy happy

So lets just break that thought of extra cost down for a moment.

x2 replacement units.
Carriage (airfreight do allow the recipients of the faulty units their items faster no waiting of six to eight weeks on sea freight) and then the local land carriage to the buyer.
Import duty and vat.

Work all that extra cost out in your own heads…..

If anyone wishes to fly here to Cyprus they can come inspect the obvious drop damage to both units, you are most welcome to inspect these units as they are both still sitting in my garage, they were kept for the possibility of providing certain spare parts.

Also as a side note the test and repair procedures were still available up until Christmas 2010 if anyone had an issue, all it would have taken was a email to me (which was provided with the original paperwork) to allow me to provide all information if anyone required it, but alas I suffered a physical and unrecoverable failure to the hdd that held all the group buy info, and even though these units must be coming on for over four years old I would have still have assisted anyone asking for help. My own personal unit is still fully operational.

But I am sorry I cannot and will not held accountable for a unit that has been wherever and had what ever done to it over an extended time period, and I will not be slandered by those who a personal axe have to grind who are obviously jumping in with no practical input to the topic at hand.

Please remember I arranged a GROUP BUY not a sale as a trader, a group buy that everyone FREELY CHOSE to buy an item from, NO-ONE was FORCED to purchase, I bore all costs in advance, I undertook the very many hours of arranging purchase, shipment, customs & vat clearance, & for the most part my only profit was that due to the number of units purchased I obtained my own unit at a reduced cost, which I felt for the many hours I put into to group buy, was not being greedy.

if anyone wishes to discuss the matter further in private.

those who have posted here who i consider friends will be able to point you in my direction.

Kindest Regards

Mark Duncan(A.K.A Calvinx)


SeaBass - 20/2/11 at 12:12 PM

Mine's great and still going strong after four years usage.

Mark was great to deal with too - Not sure what dealings you ever had with him gazza285?

I'm glad I didn't waste my money - it was well worth it!

Cheers

James


paulbeyer - 20/2/11 at 12:13 PM

Let me make something very clear here I have a welding set that is faulty. It happens to be one of the group buy sets that Calvinx arranged. The only reason I mentioned it was a group buy set was so that people in the know i.e. other owners would know what TIG set I was talking about.
I am not having a go at Calvinx as I bought this set many years ago and even though it has seen very little use it arrived at my door in a fit and working state.
I know Calvinx turned out to be an unpopular individual and seemed to upset quite a few but this is not a post to slag off Calvinx regardless of what I do or do not think about him. To those that have posted helpful information, thanks and for the others that post crap, snide comments or sh1te, your not helping.
Take a look at my registration date below my avatar - no wonder I post so very little when you get responses like the one from gazza285.


paulbeyer - 20/2/11 at 12:14 PM

quote:
Originally posted by SeaBass
Mine's great and still going strong after four years usage.

Mark was great to deal with too - Not sure what dealings you ever had with him gazza285?

I'm glad I didn't waste my money - it was well worth it!

Cheers

James

James, you posted just as I was typing.

All I want to do is find someone that can take a look at it for me.


[Edited on 20/2/2011 by paulbeyer]


omega 24 v6 - 20/2/11 at 12:15 PM

Guys I have recieved an email the same as Prawnabie from Mark asking me to post it in it's entirety so here it is. Firstly let me state here and now all units ( including the plasmas) were checked on site, unpacked and tested by Mark and Myself ( yes I was there as well) .

All of them were fully working at that point and from memory ( and it is 4 years ago) 2 units were then damaged in onward transit .
All the units were repacked and sent out by couriers to you all. I know Mark had quite a bit of hastle and a lot of work/phone calls to china etc to sort out the buy in the first place, not to mention the channel boat scenario, (remember the bmw bikes washed up on the beach?? at one point he feared it was all our welders) and IMHO he cannot be held responsible for any shortcomings of the units after all he was only the reciever/ onward delivery man.
I know many of you have opinions on many things, and people, but I for one was gratefull for the work done on our behalf and for the price they were I took the line of "if it does my build then I'll be happy" .

Given its now taken almost 4 years for some off these statements to now be made I for one would never think of organising a group buy.
After buying my unit and helmet I spoke with a guy who is a traveller for esab. he slagged my unit AND helmet off but after taking my unit into work and showing him it and the helmet and quoting prices he was speechless. A similar unit from them was in excess of a grand and the helmet, which he admitted was about the base level entry of the ones they supplied, was indeed good value for money.
I cannot remeber how many units there were in total but perhaps everyone who was /is happy with theirs may like to post and give their opinion.


So in summary here is what he has asked me to post.



Hi Garry

Can you place up a statement in this thread on my behalf i have included it below



________________________________________________________________


Statement from Calvinx re: group buy Tig-Sets



Each individual unit was removed from its packaging upon delivery to me, each unit was visually inspected for damage, then powered up and run through a series of weld tests with its own torch/pedal before being re-packaged and dispatched to each individual group buyer. At that time ALL units were found with NO faults, BUT………. X2 units were damaged in transit by parcel force, both of these units were returned to me and replaced by ME & I bore the full cost of replacing these units, when I could just handed over the insurance details for parcel force let them fight it out themselves !!!

But being the complete wan**r that I am, I felt sorry for those and felt obliged to replace the transit damaged units (I never received full recompense from parcel force, for all my out of pocket expenses, I only received the monetary cost of the item, nothing more ) so in effect in the end I paid More and ended up out of pocket to keep the two other member of the group buy happy

So lets just break that thought of extra cost down for a moment.

x2 replacement units.
Carriage (airfreight do allow the recipients of the faulty units their items faster no waiting of six to eight weeks on sea freight) and then the local land carriage to the buyer.
Import duty and vat.

Work all that extra cost out in your own heads…..



If anyone wishes to fly here to Cyprus they can come inspect the obvious drop damage to both units, you are most welcome to inspect these units as they are both still sitting in my garage, they were kept for the possibility of providing certain spare parts.



Also as a side note the test and repair procedures were still available up until Christmas 2010 if anyone had an issue, all it would have taken was a email to me (which was provided with the original paperwork) to allow me to provide all information if anyone required it, but alas I suffered a physical and unrecoverable failure to the hdd that held all the group buy info, and even though these units must be coming on for over four years old I would have still have assisted anyone asking for help. My own personal unit is still fully operational.

But I am sorry I cannot and will not held accountable for a unit that has been wherever and had what ever done to it over an extended time period, and I will not be slandered by those who a personal axe have to grind who are obviously jumping in with no practical input to the topic at hand.

Please remember I arranged a GROUP BUY not a sale as a trader, a group buy that everyone FREELY CHOSE to buy an item from, NO-ONE was FORCED to purchase, I bore all costs in advance, I undertook the very many hours of arranging purchase, shipment, customs & vat clearance, & for the most part my only profit was that due to the number of units purchased I obtained my own unit at a reduced cost, which I felt for the many hours I put into to group buy, was not being greedy.


if anyone wishes to discuss the matter further in private.


those who have posted here who i consider friends will be able to point you in my direction.


Kindest Regards


Mark Duncan(A.K.A Calvinx)


paulbeyer - 20/2/11 at 12:34 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mcs
Hi,

Just seen the post about our Company www.cut40.com Yes, we import, sell and repair low cost Chinese machines in the UK and Europe.

Hope we can help someone.

Mike


Hi Mike,

I have sent you a message.

Paul


Gav - 20/2/11 at 12:56 PM

Ok i had one of these welders and sold it last year to Hicost, it was working fine when i was using for both steel and ally, when it came to sale i had no gas left so just tested that it arc'd up ok, which it did.

Unfortunately when Hicost received it and tested the AC functionality it wasn't working properly but given he had already paid shipping etc decided to get it repaired to which i was obviously gutted as i had assumed it was all still in good working condition. so i offered to pay a good sum towards the repair.

So in short it might be worth asking Hicost where he got it fixed.


Neville Jones - 21/2/11 at 11:31 AM

It took me a while to work out that my cheapo chinese tig set won't 'turn on' or give HF start, if there is no argon pressure. Seems to have a failsafe built in for if and when the gas runs out.

Cheers,
Nev.


paulbeyer - 21/2/11 at 11:57 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Neville Jones
It took me a while to work out that my cheapo chinese tig set won't 'turn on' or give HF start, if there is no argon pressure. Seems to have a failsafe built in for if and when the gas runs out.

Cheers,
Nev.


Really? Is there a minimum pressure it is expecting?


Peteff - 21/2/11 at 11:59 AM

Have you tried just arc welding with it?


Macbeast - 21/2/11 at 12:28 PM

" A few years " is a long time for something electrical to sit around unused. Simple things first - does the wire feed work or has a breaker popped out ? The control PC board is the only complicated part. Apparently there were a load of underspecced Chinese capacitors over the last few years.

Since you have cleared up that you're not having a go at Calvin, perhaps he would test one of his faulty ones and send you a working control board ?


Neville Jones - 21/2/11 at 04:47 PM

quote:
Originally posted by paulbeyer
quote:
Originally posted by Neville Jones
It took me a while to work out that my cheapo chinese tig set won't 'turn on' or give HF start, if there is no argon pressure. Seems to have a failsafe built in for if and when the gas runs out.

Cheers,
Nev.


Really? Is there a minimum pressure it is expecting?


I don't know what the pressure is, as I can keep using a bottle for a while after the gauge hits zero. All I can say is, if I forget to turn the gas on, I don't get HF start, or any start at all. Not tried it on MMA though.

Cheers,
Nev.