Life just sucks!

Booked a week's hols just to get out in the garage and work on the locost.

Laying some great runs tonight and it died See pic

The welder lights up and the fans on the wire feed works as norm. But there is very little current. If you run the wire over the clamp it starts to get red after about 2-3 sec's.

I’ve checked all connections.Can any body suggest anything before I bin it, it’s a Sip 150 turbo and I got it second hand 5 years ago?

Now’s not the best time for me to be looking at a new welder as im skint this month but hey ho. has anyone got anything good or bad to say about this one?

Butters 170

Or has any body gat any recemendations?

Either way i'm short on free cash so its going to mean battering the plastic or/and selling a few spare assets

[Edited on 11/1/06 by big_wasa]

Have you checked the earths inside the machine??

Machinemart is doing vat free days if you are really stuck or this lot http://www.welduk.com/Results1.asp?Category=30 but price is higher. Perhaps some one local can loan you a machine till yours gets fixed/ relpaced.

Check the obvious things - the two connections from the transformer to the torch and earth clamps....the tip (it's a MIG right?) - if its an old tip it may not be conducted as it should....then I would take the torch apart, check the wiring all the way down, take any connections to pieces and sand any corrosion off till their shiny, put them back together with some vaseline and try again.....If it don't work I would take the side off and check out the transformer connnections - be carefull though as they can still electrocute you even when they aren't plugged in - check for continuity along the copper wires of the transformer - if all this turns up OK then prob time for a new one....I would imagine you'll find the problem after doing this little lot - only an evenings worth of work aswell....prob worth it for the sake of £200-£300! If it's the transformer and you don't get continuity then prob better just to bin it - good excuse for a new one.....they really are simple things so as with everything a cool head and systematic approach so see it solved......HTH Oli.

i agree, looks like it was producing very nice welds a moment before it went kaput so it might be something mundane.
last time mine went kaput i thought the wire feed relay had gone so i soldered a new one in and still didnt work, then it turned out one of the power setting switches was stuck in the middle between high and lo! doh!!
sounds like your problem is like what you get when the wire is scortched and doesnt quite conduct properly so as said earlier try cleaning all the bits.


Russ.

Striped it and checked all conections

I remember reading a thread about improving the Sip welders by stripping something on the inside which slowly corrodes and spoils the performance.Guys had done the mod and it worked. It may even have been the capacitors or some thing. If it is capacitors you could give Sip a call they`re pretty helpful and the caps might only be coppers so may be worth a try.The Butters machine looks good for the money but W
Wonder if it`ll be much better than your Sip which I think goes down to 25 amps for thin plate. I don`t think your Sip is
finished yet.
Alex

Yeh I wouldn't give up too soon....Probably worth trying things like the capacitors etc....Am sure their soo simple it must be either something really obvious and mundane or something really seriously wrong - which I would expect to be fairly obvious. All speculation though and whether your willing/can afford not to get going with it is a different matter entirely.....Good Luck....Sorry my suggestions didn't work out for you...Oli.

My old SIP died with similar results , took it back to Shepshed and they repaired it while I waited for not too much money. Don't know if they still repair on site but worth a phone call, could save you a fair bit of cash?

Im going to cry

Wife said go on treat your self so I did, Then she spent all day moaning about it .(inpulse buy on the net)

Now tonight I fixed the bloody thing.

The main lead in the torch lead had frayed to one strand inside its sheathing 1 cm in from the feed mech so it was showing a current but not enough to weld with. Striped it down cleaned it and reconected it all up and it works fine again......

Ive already paid for the new one and its on its way....

This time next week ill have 2 welders...


ebay here we come.

Whack which ever welder is going on here first, got a few m8's who'd prob be interested as their vaguely looking at the moment....Sort of glad to hear you got it sorted tho! Least this way you can still get some work done will you wait for the posty. Oli.

Yeh silver lining is Ive got this one to to sell to put towards it.

These welders get slaged of a bit but when I changed the cheapo plastic linear for a good quality steal item it transformed it .The argon shield helped lots aswell.

quote:

---

Originally posted by oliwb
Check the obvious things - the two connections from the transformer to the torch and earth clamps....the tip (it's a MIG right?) - if its an old tip it may not be conducted as it should....then I would take the torch apart, check the wiring all the way down, take any connections to pieces and sand any corrosion off till their shiny, put them back together with some vaseline and try again.....If it don't work I would take the side off and check out the transformer connnections - be carefull though as they can still electrocute you even when they aren't plugged in - check for continuity along the copper wires of the transformer - if all this turns up OK then prob time for a new one....I would imagine you'll find the problem after doing this little lot - only an evenings worth of work aswell....prob worth it for the sake of £200-£300! If it's the transformer and you don't get continuity then prob better just to bin it - good excuse for a new one.....they really are simple things so as with everything a cool head and systematic approach so see it solved......HTH Oli.

---

That's funny first thing I did with my Draper welder was pull out the metal liner and replace it with a plastic/teflon one....makes the welding much better and is damn near impossible to mig aluminium with a metal liner as the filler wire is particularly stick and catches on the metal ones....There also a lot easier to replace regularly and cheaply too! Mind you if all your welding is lots of steel I guess you can sacrifice most of this for a bit more durability....Oli.

Yep good advice thanks.
Like I say checked all connections and continuity on all leads ect twice before posting for a bit of advice. Only found it by chance whilst disconnecting it all, as the lead felt a bit more flexible at the point where it comes out of the cassing. The most obvious point for it to go really.
I assumed the worse and got a new one. Still you live and learn .


Regards warren

what machine did you get to replace it with?

Hope your going to say a proper one like the butters stuff not a mickey mouse one!!

Butters 170...The best I could stretch to.

Nice but got a couple of dents in post

[Edited on 13/1/06 by big_wasa]

quote:

---

Originally posted by big_wasa
Im going to cry

Wife said go on treat your self so I did, Then she spent all day moaning about it .(inpulse buy on the net)

Now tonight I fixed the bloody thing.

The main lead in the torch lead had frayed to one strand inside its sheathing 1 cm in from the feed mech so it was showing a current but not enough to weld with. Striped it down cleaned it and reconected it all up and it works fine again......

Ive already paid for the new one and its on its way....

This time next week ill have 2 welders...


ebay here we come.

---

Hmm My Sip 150 dies a lot... Specially when running flat out.. Its the Termerature in the Transformer, trips the thremal cutout which is burried in the windings of the transformer.

I was checking it after it stopped working and found an open circuit winding. Consoled myself with a cup of coffee, and miraculously it "fixed" itself... only then did I realise what was happening.

Next time it happend I just wnet and had a long tea break!


Edit:

Mr Wassa_Man
If I could get welds like that I would not change the welder!!

[Edited on 13/1/2006 by wilkingj]

Where did you get the parts to repair the welder? I've been given a Sip Migmate 130 turbo which is complete apart from the gun and the section that the wire and gas run through from the welder to the gun. Any ideas where to get one and what the piece i need is called appreciated.

Welders Warehouse

[Edited on 13/1/06 by stevebubs]

You can buy a converter so you can fit a proper euro torch to a hobby welder. Welduk and Brundle supply them.

Firm on ebay...I like ebay Well most of the time

Yeh but new machine is even better still. Just need a bit of practice to become one with it

I never had mine cut out on me?

Had an arc welder to start with that would do that every time.

[Edited on 16/1/06 by big_wasa]