BenB
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| posted on 5/1/09 at 05:50 PM |
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Strange welder problem
I'm getting a new welder soon but in the meantime there's a strange problem with my old one..... Any ideas?
I tried welding some 25*1.5mm box together and I'm getting hardly any penetration  I attacked the box section with a breaker bar and most of
the welds just broke at the weld- 1 weld broke at the surrounding metal....
It's a Clarke90 turned up to the max power-wise and I'm running it right off the socket (no extension lead anymore) but it's just
not doing it's thing!! The wire speeds spot on and it's laying a nice bead but it's stuck on the surface rather than penetrating....
I'm using 100% CO2 (which is supposed to help!!!)
Surely even a puny C90 would penetrate through 1.5mm of m/steel? When I cut through the section I'm getting 0 penetration..... It's an old
unit- do the transfomers get knackered eventually?
If I weld a lot in the same area eventually it starts glowing a bit and I get some penetration (especially near the edge of the box section)...
Bizarre? Any obvious checks?
TIA!
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UncleFista
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| posted on 5/1/09 at 06:02 PM |
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Has it been used with gasless wire ?
If it has, has someone switched the torch neg/pos back afterwards ? 
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 5/1/09 at 06:04 PM |
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check the earth clamp for corrosion or rust. I clean mine with some sand paper, also check the clamps on the machine. Mind that although the current
flowing through the wire is very high the voltage is very low so resistance of bad connections can have quite a detrimental effect on the weld. Also
keep the earth clamp as close as you can to the weld rather than at the other end of the car for the same reasons. Winter is a common time for this to
show. One sure sign is that an electrical connection is getting hot during welding and it will only get worse over time.
[Edited on 5/1/09 by Mr Whippy]
Fame is when your old car is plastered all over the internet
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BenB
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| posted on 5/1/09 at 06:08 PM |
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No it's never been gassless.
Earth clamp could be a candidate for a quick check- it looks a bit ropey, could be giving some resistance.... Good plan...
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02GF74
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| posted on 5/1/09 at 06:11 PM |
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any highish resistance, and it is probably not notcieable on a DVM - will certainly show itself as a hot spot once the amps have gone through it.
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BenB
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| posted on 5/1/09 at 06:16 PM |
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Yes, I did notice the earth clamp was quite hot today and where it's crimped onto the wire the insulation had melted  Excellent!!!
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vyperstrype
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| posted on 5/1/09 at 09:59 PM |
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welder
Hi, try using argon instead of co2. It gives a cleaner stronger weld.
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UncleFista
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| posted on 5/1/09 at 10:34 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by vyperstrype
Hi, try using argon instead of co2. It gives a cleaner stronger weld.
An argon/co2 mix would be neater than pure argon on steel. But TBH, you should get excellent penetration with co2.
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
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BenB
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| posted on 6/1/09 at 09:56 AM |
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Yup. Tried CO2 with a hint of argon. Neat welds but even worse penetration
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