Wendelspanswick
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Part of your problem is you are welding into an acute V so your struggling to keep the arc centred, you could make it easier for yourself by grinding back the lip so the V is not so deep.
- Thread starter Onoff
- Start date
Not enough amps and not maintaining a tight arc. You have to establish the weld pool and then control the weld pool. Cheap rods often need the current to be spot on. Better rods are usually more forgiving.
Can you put down nice even beads on the flat on a piece of thick steel consistently? If you can, fairy nuf. If you can't, you'll not succeed with a weld like this which is much harder.
As for returning the welder, I'm with mrfuzzy. I've had some slight dealings with customer returns and usually a company finds it easier to take an item back and not argue, even though there's no prospect of reselling it and even though the item's shown signs of deliberate damage. Say it's got an intermittent fault. They're unlikely to know how to test it, leave alone do that.
Can you put down nice even beads on the flat on a piece of thick steel consistently? If you can, fairy nuf. If you can't, you'll not succeed with a weld like this which is much harder.
As for returning the welder, I'm with mrfuzzy. I've had some slight dealings with customer returns and usually a company finds it easier to take an item back and not argue, even though there's no prospect of reselling it and even though the item's shown signs of deliberate damage. Say it's got an intermittent fault. They're unlikely to know how to test it, leave alone do that.
I've got the Parweld (think that's the cheapest one they do?) and I'm well chuffed with it, I've played around with an old buzzbox a while back without any very good results and I'm not sure whether it's to do with learning mig welding or the welder or what but I was able to put down fairly respectable beads straight out of the box, also got a box of the siftrode 6013s from them at the same time which seem to get an okay rating and seem fine with my limited experience.
Bill Edwards
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I think the cheapest from Weldequip is the Parweld at around £200 with delivery.
Yes, it's a good unit and I think the warranty is two years, I've been tempted to get one myself.
As to the cheap eBay offerings, i've also been tempted by those for what they cost, but you've less comeback (or certainly a shorter timespan) if it goes bang.
Anything can go wrong - my decent make £700 inverter went wrong a few days ago, it happens.
Yes, it's a good unit and I think the warranty is two years, I've been tempted to get one myself.
As to the cheap eBay offerings, i've also been tempted by those for what they cost, but you've less comeback (or certainly a shorter timespan) if it goes bang.
Anything can go wrong - my decent make £700 inverter went wrong a few days ago, it happens.
brightspark
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if u cant weld with them u never will weld
Richard.
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Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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Out of interest I might get the brother in law who lays nice straight welds to try this cheapo one out. I don't know if it's the case that it could start to weld well then "drop off"? As in it's ok for 2 / 3" but then needs to cool off or start again or something...............might just cut my losses and keep it as the postage won't be cheap.
Kent
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None of these welds pass muster, it could be user error or plant even rods though. All the advice in the world wont help until we start the process of illumination (basic fault finding). A good welder could illuminate or prove "user error" its here I suggest you start. It could even be the three conspiring
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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Morning, spoke to trueshoppinguk and tbh they couldn't have been more helpful. I just said I was concerned the welder was maybe not that good a product after taking advice etc. They said to box up and send back and they would process the refund.
Are you going to shine a bright light on it to illuminate the problem, or did you want to ELIMINATE it
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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Are you going to shine a bright light on it to illuminate the problem, or did you want to ELIMINATE it
Like I said I'll get the BiL to have a go and see what he thinks.
octo0072000
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another question pardon me if it's been said before but what mask are you using
is it a decent auto one or not
is it a decent auto one or not
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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Cheers. I'm also going to try it direct on a 16A breaker via a 16A socket rather than the 13A plugtop at the mo. Even if it's better it wouldn't do much for it's portability being tethered to a particular socket.
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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The cr@ppy hand held thing that came with the welder.
Barely usable and quite delicate. Also fixed shade.
You'd notice a big difference with an auto-dark helmet. You can see what you are doing to strike the arc, less chance of being flashed and you have a spare hand, so either two hands on the tongs and hence steadier, or a hand on the work to steady yourself. Not having to manipulate a hand held mask is also one less thing to think about when you've already got enough.
A lot of people on here have had good results with the £25 to £30 autodark helmets off ebay. I'm sure you can find the threads with a search.
octo0072000
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well that's half of your problem to start with
plenty of masks have a look at weldequips
one here or even a non auto one but a helmet type then you can see better and also steady your hand with the free hand a bright light on the work helps as well
you need to see what you are welding to other than the weld pool
all the best
http://www.weldequip.com/swp-3037-helmet.htm
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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From looking on eBay £25 - 30 seems expensive! There's ones on there like this for <£20:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brand-new...174?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item486cf6c9de
In fact 3 that look the same apart from the last letters: #7 PK, #7 SP & #7 BG, what's that all about? Cheers.
octo0072000
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helmets can cost over £300 the one i linked too is not dear maybe better lens than the ebay ones
letters could refer to shades delay factor gringing setting etc
letters could refer to shades delay factor gringing setting etc
