I phoned my local welding shop and he recons it will cost £80 just to have a look at it
Are there any checks I can do (fairly good with a multimeter) to find the source of the problem?
I've got a SIP 130 Turbo which starts welding fine from cold but after a few seconds it reduces power to such a low level it is useless.
I phoned my local welding shop and he recons it will cost £80 just to have a look at it
Are there any checks I can do (fairly good with a multimeter) to find the source of the problem?
try www.migwelding.co.uk - forum which might have the answer or the welding centre suirbiton is where I bought mine and they are helpful. Cheers, Pewe
Pewe - that webby doesn't seem to exist 
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=661
Hi Raz
I had the same model and subsequently a larger Autoplus 170. Although not by a long way, the best welders you can buy, SIP technical support is really
excellent. You can ring their technical department and in all probability, they will be able to diagnose the problem there and then. If a repair
rather than a replacement part is needed their prices and turn-round in my experience has been very good. I don't have their telephone number to
hand but could find it if you would like me to. Please send a U2U if I can help you any more.
Kind regards
John
I suspect you still have teh piece of string earth lead, even if this is not an issue replacing with a decent lead and clamp (not that expensive) will
drastically alter the stability of any budget welder.
I,ve got an old 150te welder, it started to play up, when I stripped it down this was due to corrosion on some tracks on a small PCB inside, I would
also suggest you pull it apart and look for dry joints, burnt tracks etc.
Regards Mark
i had a similar problem with mine which turned out to be the cable which is bolted to the neck of the torch was a bit corroded and would weld fine for a few seconds then slowly drop power until it barely made the wire glow
Froggy, that certainly sounds familiar - I will strip it down and see what's happening in there.
The earth wire does look a bit wimpy and gets quite warm after a while so probably a good move to replace it as a matter of course.
John - I found the SIP website but their phone numbers don't seem to work - all of them !
[Edited on 14-10-06 by RazMan]
quote:
Originally posted by Surrey Dave
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=661
I'll go with the earth being a problem.
Get yourself a proper manly earth clamp (you can never beat a cheap mole grip with an M8 bolt welded to it), a heavy cable (only a few pence per metre
at a welding supplier), and check the connection of the cable to the welder.
99% of all MIG problems are the quality of the earth connection
I have the same welder and had the same problem. Where the earth cable goes through the welder casing its clamped to the brass bit. The cable had broken there and was only held on by several strands. I cut the clamp off and used a jubilee to fix it back on. Cleaned up the clamp and the cable connection there. Worked a treat till it buggered up again. I replaced the swan neck and liner and it welds now better than it did when it was new.
quote:
Originally posted by froggy
i had a similar problem with mine which turned out to be the cable which is bolted to the neck of the torch was a bit corroded and would weld fine for a few seconds then slowly drop power until it barely made the wire glow