I'm not sure if it has any sort of cutout (I imagine is does though)

I was thinking about putting a fan in it ages ago but didn't do enough heavy welding to need it.

I reckon a 240v fan that's connected straight to the 240v after the power switch would be the best thing - better than loading up the 12v power supply in there.

A good weld will look melted right through, but usually it'll look a little bit less "welded" on the back. If you're getting a bead effect on the other side you at least know you're getting proper penetration


And yep, the white stuff is the slag left by the flux in the gasless wire.
All the smoke also makes it hard to see what's going on while welding, but the lack of argon and the better performance in breezy conditions can come in handy

It's good to see you have it up and running anyway!
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/ found this nice welding quide for anyone interested.
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just wondering what kind of resistance is a ground clamp on the welder supposed to be? tried looking it up on google but didnt find anything... its 2.5R on mine so im thinking i might buy a copper one. the ground wire has a huge burn through in the insulation anyway

and also still trying to come to grips with welding two pieces at 90 degrees to each other from the inside. the weld seems to just attach itself to one side or the other
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The resistance should be as close to zero as possible - 2.5 ohms seems very high, given that ground cables are 00 gauge wire or heavier. Unless your meter was wrong, its time for a new cable.

There could be several reasons for the problem with inside welds. Make sure both pieces are conducting tothe ground clamp. On aluminium, I like to use a technique called stiching of weaving; as you move along the joint, you move the handpiece from side to side slightly so the welding wive moves in a zigzag pattern as you weld. You can also use a looping pattern so you are partly going back over the weld bead. Both patterns make for a wider weld that 'should' reach over both pieces. That may or may not work with gasless wire...
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the resistance was just through the clamp itself, so i guess it would be even larger throughout the cable as well.

ill give the weaving a go, at the moment im just using the circling technique which is working well. but with the wire speed all the way to minimum (which is the only way to get a constant arc) it seems to still do its stick to one side thing. ill try that tommorow

ah yes and andrew, do i need a new gun or anything else to turn this welder into a gas mig? ive got the solenoid in there and ill probably hook it up in parrallel with the wire feed motor.
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Whoa, that was just the clamp? It would be hard to have such a high resistance through a thick piece of iron, so it might just have been surface corrosion. Clean the jaws of the clamp with sandpaper or a file, then test from the welder ground terminal to the workpiece - it should be virtually zero.
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
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ummm yeah glen check that cause if that is the case it would be practally impossible to weld anything im getting the feeling your out some where on that one unfortunatly and although i know a hell of a lot more about oxy i know that a bad connection or a realy realy high resistance will make it

A: hard to get good penitration
B: get a consistant arc
C: retain any structural integraty in the weld
D: hard to be able to weld effectavly on difficult angles

so yeah check that one again as nick said it should be practally 0
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as a shadow is seen and not heard i am here
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also check your multimeter leads for resistance

It could be worth putting a new clamp on (I have some car jumper lead ones if you want them) but I think it should still be ok.

I have seen some funny stuff happen with other welders before though.

I think the torch on that one is gas ready, but I suggests blowing some air through the tube to see if it does come out the nozzle
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

hey andrew question with the welder, for some reason whenever i turn the main power on the wire feed starts up whether the button is pressed or not ever had that happen before? any ideas on fixing it?
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nope, never had that happen!

does it actually weld, or just feed the wire?

If it's actually welding then it's probably the trigger button in the torch sticking on for some reason.
Otherwise I'd say there's a loose wire inside, bit of metal shaving shorting things out, or the relay has siezed on.
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

just testing it, and its welding, i took the torch apart and the button isnt on so im inclined to think its the relay. (any idea where it is lol cant seem to find it )
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I don't recall where it is exactly, but I have a feeling it was a PCB mount one.
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

well i unsoldered the switch and that was fine, somehow there is continuity between the two wires that go to the swtich so that must mean the relay is buggered. gotta work out how to get the circuit board out now
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hmm

are you sure the wires aren't shorted somewhere?
Maybe disconnect the wire at the welder end and see if it turns off.
Maybe the insulation is damaged somewhere.
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

ill give that a try tommorow. ive got a suspicion if its not the relay the wires have shorted inside the big tube that goes from the welder to the torch, which is gunna suck to fix me thinks.
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