A big 'Hello' from the Isle of Skye!

[Skye Landy Welder]

Hi all,
I suppose I should explain why I'm here...

Over the years I've owned a number of decrepit vehicles, ancient Range Rovers, old Landys, Brit sports cars, etc, but have never been able to weld (though I know a bit about different types of welders, what the maximum current is, duty cycle, etc). This gaping hole in my technical skills was brought home to me when I had to farm out some sill welding on my MGB - the bill that came back was more than I paid for the car. It was at this point that I decided to master the black art. In an instance of incredible serendipity (I was doing some work for a garage), I spotted a large old MIG welder behind a compressor; I explained to the chap in charge that I had been looking for a MIG welder for my Landrover (a 1982 series III Stage 1, for those of you who are interested), and I asked him about that one. He told me I could take it with me. Needless to say it was loaded into the back of the car fairly quickly...

Once I had got back home, I cleaned it off and found I had a Sealey 'Power Welders' Supermig 180/1, Turbo Fan Cooled. I must say, I was rather pleased.

I guess my first point is this: the welder has been sitting in the back of a garage for years - it has its torch, and seems largely complete, but has no regulator. What I would like to do, is strip it down, clean it up, and see what I have, and what I might be missing - is this a relatively easy task? I have some mechanical skills, but no experience with dissembling welders. I would be very grateful if someone on here could give me a rough order of how to strip it down and put it back together. Equally, how far can I test it without wire, gas, etc. I managed to find a manual for the later 180 V.2 online, along with a parts list - but can somebody point me in the direction of a manual for my earlier model?
(As an aside, I can upload some pictures, if that would be useful.)

Having done a bit of research on these welders, it seems I've got rather a nice unit, but anyone who has any experience of these units, and could pass on some tips - your help would be very welcome.

I think that's about it - I'm sure I'll have all sorts of idiot questions, but I think I've asked plenty for now!

Cheers,
Wilf.

 

[rusty69bus]

if you gong to strip it down, take lots of photos and notes.
also buy a torch service kit and some mig wre.

and welcome

 

[rtbcomp]

I'd be inclined to just open it up and blow the dust out with compressed air (go back to the garage and ask him for the compressor ).

I'm a great believer in "if it aint broke don't fix it."

Check that none of the insulation on the wires is perished, switch it on pull the trigger and the feed motor should run, feed some compressed air (about 10psi) into the gas pipe and you should get a hiss at the torch whe you pull the trigger. The fan should be running all the time.

Blag a bit of wire and get a piece of scrap, try a weld if you get a load of sparks the transformer is OK (protect your eyes).

If all is OK upto this point it may be worth spending some money. New tip(s) shroud and liner and swan-neck liner would be essential. Reel of new wire and a decent helmet. Gas regulator and bottle, search the forum, loads of info on gasses. Ask Weldequip on here about regulators and Auto darkening masks.

 

[Skye Landy Welder]

Thanks for advice thus far...

I'd be inclined to just open it up and blow the dust out with compressed air (go back to the garage and ask him for the compressor ).

I think that might be going too far, but the cleaning sounds sensible.

If it ain't broke, I tend to fix it it 'til it is!

Useful to know the fan should run all the time and that the wire feed should run - I'll test all that out and let you know how I get on.

Many thanks,
Wilf.

 

[Drains]

Hi Wilf. What part of Skye are you in?

Btw, RTB's quite right. See if the welding set works before you try and break it. It's so much more satisfying knowing what you've lost....

 

[malcolm]

I'm with the others - though should add a vacuum cleaner with a soft brush on the end is great for cleaning the welder out. Not a lot else would really benefit from a service in the transformer compartment (unless you spot bits in the process of breaking) though a torch and lead service and a good clean up of the wire feed rollers would be a good idea.

Spent some time on Skye back in the late '90s during a freak fortnight of beautiful sunny weather. Turns out the rest of the country had been dull and rainy and nobody believed us when we told them where we'd picked up our sun tan.

 

[Skye Landy Welder]

Following the extremely sensible advice of you all (which I proceeded to follow), it seems the welder makes all the right noises...

I plugged it in and switched it on - the fan runs all the time, as it should (thanks RTB); the timer works; the wire feed rollers work (and speed up and slow down as per the dial), though they do seem a trife noisy - is this simply due to the gearing of the motor? I removed the side panels, and had a look at the transformer side of things - it looked dusty, but as thought it had not been fiddled with, or mucked about, and there was nothing obviously amiss; so I blew the dust off, and closed it up again.

I had a brief look at the torch (thanks for the servicing link - I'll check that out), but I couldn't pull the shroud off (that will definetly need replacing), I thought it was a brief turn clockwise, and then pull, but I must be wrong.

I'm in Portnalong, which is a small village very close to Carbost, home of the famous Talisker whisky - very picturesque, but wet and windy. Though, as Malcom points out, sometimes we do get beautiful weather!

Thanks all.

 

[irondarren]

my old supermig wire feed unit was a little on the noisey side, but was no big issue you soon learned to ignore it. I think its mostly because its a small motor having to work hard that makes it noisey. I did have trouble with the fan being noisey, but that was soon sorted using a small piece of plastic hose to act as a shim in the fan unit.

 

[rtbcomp]

To remove the shroud twist clockwise and pull at the same time, to refit still turn clockwise and push. It's held in place by the friction from a coil spring, if you turn the wrong way it tightens up.

Just to add to the fun you may unintentionally unscrew the shroud mounting from the swan-neck because it is held in place with a left-hand thread!

 

[Drains]

mmmmm.... Talisker.....

You'll be just up from Glen Brittle then. Top beach.

 

[DaneSmith]

Like some of the others have said, don't take it apart! I did a lot of welding on an old Carl Cloos MIG. It was dusty - it gets that way very quickly! Some advice: try to get a new wire liner or take the old one out and clean/blow it out with compressed air if possible. (Think about getting an air compressor. Anyway there is a lot of tools for compressed air useful to automotive work. )It seems to me that the wire feeder/wire unit and the wire liner are the most important things to regularly clean/check out. And don't hesitate about replacing the copper tips on the torch often.