Blown my welder up.

[minimutly]

Hear your pain re the welder, but you've a long way to go to catch up with my marathon Glentronics inverter repairs - I was months at it - fixed it numerous times for it to go pop again. When I eventually binned it the sense of relief was - well, emotional.
As for foot pedal or no - I would say yes, if you're welding ally you really need one. Sure it's another element to master, but otherwise you just end up oxidising the metal waiting for it to melt. For steel/ stainless not an issue.

 

[Hood]

.... if you're welding ally you really need one....

Sorry to disagree but Alu is the majority of my Tig welding and I never use a pedal.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Ruffian; if the worst comes to the worst I've noted what you say.

Thanks minimutly; I'm not alone with problem after problem and I too have done repairs like a chain reaction; we used to have an Ideal Isar CH boiler; the pump packed in so I bought the new pump it being winter and snowing as it usually is when these go wrong; back home the pump was the wrong one; only two types but I get the wrong one; an easy job but once the pump was in the boiler started popping leaks; as I fixed one another appeared; in the end I had a cascade of water from under the boiler; it took British Gas three days to finally sort it out. Our water pressure was almost ten bar when BG tested it so I installed a pressure regulator. After lots of research we had an Intergas combi boiler installed four years ago and can forget the problems for a few more years yet; it's under warranty and these boilers have a lot less moving parts to go wrong.

I note your different opinions minimutly and Hood regarding foot pedal or not; as I don't have a foot pedal I can try without assuming I end up with a working welder then if I have problems I can always buy a foot pedal; thank you both though I appreciate all suggestions and ideas.

I'm busy already next week; welder to repair; cooker oven packed in so this to repair when the new oven element arrives; four new roller blinds to trim and fit midweek; possibly the bathroom fan heater to replace but whilst I'm wasting my time with these I can get on with grass cutting; hedge trimming and another load of jobs; I'm retired but I really need to get back to full time work for a rest because I can't get much time doing what I want to do; I'm never bored. I washed the car this morning; as I was putting the bucket away down came the rain; dinner time the cooker packed in so I stripped the element out. I lead my life in the fast lane.

Kind regards.

 

[Paul.]

I never use a pedal.

Me neither, I haven't used a pedal on a tig set since I was a wage slave using a BOC ADR about 30 years ago, I do have a foot operated on of switch which I got for one particular job, only comes out very very occasionally if I'm welding inside something a bit tight. when I used to teach welding at college we never used pedals on TIG sets.

 

[Hood]

I am not saying don't get a pedal, I am saying you do not need one although as I previously said some people can't do without one.

The Parweld has a nice feature when using 4T mode and it is something I really miss now that I no longer have the XTT.
That feature is if you tap the button whilst in 4T it will drop to the end current that you have set and that can be used to good effect if the weld is getting a bit too hot, tap again and it goes back to full set current.

 

[minimutly]

Crikey - the 4t feature is really hard for me - pedal I can do - more pedal more power. Press once press again, stop, bugger its gone up. I tried, what can I say?
Pedal is easy, it saved my sanity.

 

[minimutly]

Sorry to disagree but Alu is the majority of my Tig welding and I never use a pedal.

Fair enough, I'm just a beginner, but until I had proper control of my amps I was floundering. The pedal gave me that control. Maybe (more than likelely) with experience and practice I could master 4t but for now I use the pedal.

 

[Hood]

4T is simple.
Press trigger and hold, pre flow starts then arc starts
release trigger and it slopes to main current
Tap trigger and it will drop to lower current
tap again and it is back to main current
Hold in trigger and it will start to slope down to end current
release and it will stop and post flow.

Sounds complicated but it is not. You do not need to do the tap if you do not require the current to drop whilst welding, I used to use it mainly for repositioning myself whilst welding round a pipe or similar.

 

[Hood]

Oh and BTW 2T works fine as well, used that for many years without an issue, just practice I suppose.
Only tried a pedal once or twice and didn't think much of it and as I am never sitting down at a bench and in fact a lot of the time I am not even near a bench, then a pedal isn't much use.

 

[minimutly]

4T is simple.
Press trigger and hold, pre flow starts then arc starts
release trigger and it slopes to main current
Tap trigger and it will drop to lower current
tap again and it is back to main current
Hold in trigger and it will start to slope down to end current
release and it will stop and post flow.

Sounds complicated but it is not. You do not need to do the tap if you do not require the current to drop whilst welding, I used to use it mainly for repositioning myself whilst welding round a pipe or similar.

You say its simple, but that took you 6 lines to describe. As a beginer, that's 6 lines of thinking of something other than pool, arc length, travel, filler oh I dunno, have I forgotten something?
So one day I will spend some time on the torch switch, when I've mastered all the rest. Then My advice will be different, perhaps.

 

[Hood]

It is simple and it is more complicated to write it than use it.
What it boils down to is
press trigger and once arc starts release trigger.
Come to the end of the weld and press trigger and release

 

[northwest]

That feature is if you tap the button whilst in 4T it will drop to the end current that you have set and that can be used to good effect if the weld is getting a bit too hot, tap again and it goes back to full set current.

Ahhh! That's quite interesting, I didn't know that. I shall have to try it.

Personally I struggle with a pedal and I don't know why, I have good hand/eye/foot co-ordination but a button on the torch is okay for me. Now that I have use of my hand a bit of Tig would probably be good for it.

 

[Hood]

Ahhh! That's quite interesting, I didn't know that. I shall have to try it.

Personally I struggle with a pedal and I don't know why, I have good hand/eye/foot co-ordination but a button on the torch is okay for me. Now that I have use of my hand a bit of Tig would probably be good for it.

Not all welders have that feature, my SWP Stealth doesn't.

My EWM Mig welders however have it when in special 4T mode and it comes in very handy for the stuff I am often doing as I can be working on badly corroded shelter decks on boats, one minute the Alu is 6mm thick, get along a bit and it is suddenly 1mm thick

 

[northwest]

Not all welders have that feature, my SWP Stealth doesn't.

More often than not, until you have read the manual a couple of times (and actually understand the words) you won't have a clue as to what features you do and don't have. I managed to get the set into "I am asleep and will not wake up until you embarrass yourself and call technical support" mode once. Now I have the manual close by in case I get myself into Brain Fade mode.

 

[Hood]

More often than not, until you have read the manual a couple of times (and actually understand the words) you won't have a clue as to what features you do and don't have. I managed to get the set into "I am asleep and will not wake up until you embarrass yourself and call technical support" mode once. Now I have the manual close by in case I get myself into Brain Fade mode.

What do you have?

 

[northwest]

What do you have?

I have a Parweld XTT 202P I can go into some detail about this machine because I agonised for a couple of weeks before buying it and it is, for me and the stuff I do, a great machine. I have thought about adding a cooler but I just don't need one. The machine is terrific.

 

[Hood]

Oh well you will definitely have that feature

 

[Hood]

It says initial current but I was thinking it was the End, its been a while since I sold mine so....

 

[Munkul]

Just to add, if you think that's complicated then just use 2T mode with a longer slope up/down time, then you just have to "feather" the button off and on to achieve the heat you want With set amps for good travel speed, your initial puddle will form fast enough, and as you get to the end of the run, you start feathering.

 

[Hood]

Just to add, if you think that's complicated then just use 2T mode with a longer slope up/down time, then you just have to "feather" the button off and on to achieve the heat you want With set amps for good travel speed, your initial puddle will form fast enough, and as you get to the end of the run, you start feathering.

Yes, I used to use that method on the TecArc I had, as long as you repress the button before the slope ends it will go back to main current allowing you to keep welding.