My trusty old Clarke 160 ARC welder has been playing up recently, won't strike up and ARC intermittantly and appears to be giving a really poor solid weld.

I've checked the coil and wiring to it, which is all solid so I think there may be a break in the earth or electrode clamp wires.

Anyway, picked up a cheap Silverline Inverter Tig/ARC setup, its clearly not the greatest but 3 year warranty and a spec which is fine for the messing about (arc) I do.



Just had a really quick play tonight, and its totally different to a my old coil setup. Clearly there's no hum from it, apart from a fan, but when running a weld its not very crackly, spattery at all.

Normally you can feel the arc and the rod, this is just smooth and like running the rod end through water.

Its also perfectly happy running a nice bead from a 2.xmm (larger than 2.1 but I forget what they are) rod at an indicated 70A, which I thought was pretty good.

Clearly there are electronics doing all the hard work rather than a coil, but I would expect a coil to give consistant power due to the fact its doing such a simple job.

Why does the inverter feel so different and why the lack of sizzling/spatter?

ta
Chris

It's probably using DC for stick welding - which is what's used for scratch TIG. Ordinary welders are AC.

I have an elderly scratch TIG that mostly gets used for stick welding - it is so much nicer to use. It has just one drawback - if the earth clamp is a long way from the weld, the arc can wander due to magnetic effects. Saying that, it's never bothered me!

It's probably got a lot more capacitors than your old welder and a processor to help control the arc as well. You will be able to use it as a scratch start tig with a valved torch and argon bottle.

[Edited on 31/8/07 by Peteff]

Dur...

Just looked at the picture, and what does it say on the front plate? "DC Welder"!

Yip it is DC, and yip I "invested" in something which was £30 more expensive than a cheapy arc welder as it is a scratch Tig too.

So its the AC/DC difference, or lack of alternating (effectively), which I can feel.

Very different to use, and I must say,very nice.

Sub £80 delivered, new, and very impressed

Quick, go buy yourself a TIG torch get a gas bottle, a bench grinder and start producing beutiful welds with full penetration!

Caber

quote:

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Originally posted by caber
Quick, go buy yourself a TIG torch get a gas bottle, a bench grinder and start producing beutiful welds with full penetration!

Caber

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A friend of mine is after something cheap and easy to carry and something like that might be just what he needs.

quote:

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Originally posted by Peteff
A friend of mine is after something cheap and easy to carry and something like that might be just what he needs.

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