Hi - newbie from Brierley Hill...

[Harpboy]

Hi everyone,

Been interested in welding for years & have been able to do a varying amount of work with loaned kit or over at my mates works.

I've had a Clarke Pro90 sitting around for a while & decided to try & use it. My friend sold me the welder years ago & i only ever used it once and couldn't really get on with it. Didn't matter at the time as i had access to my mates workshop so never had the need.

I've recently had to do work on the chassis of my classic Scimitar for which i decided to try the Clarke out as i had it at home & it was easier than organising the chassis to my mates place plus you don't want a massive chassis choking up a business workshop.

I've had problems - it is irritating to ay the least when you know you can weld to find the equipment is hiding little problems which make the simple tasks hard.

It can weld lovely but then its just like someone has messed with the settings because it plays up. Another friend of mine came up on saturday to check the welder over as he used to overhaul them working for a hire company. He reckons the motor feed is pulsing as a result of the variable wire feed controller being faulty..after that background what i want to know is ...is this a common fault? On low speed the problem is amplified he thought initially that the wire feed motor may be at fault but after metering the feed it seems as those the feed is intermittent. Can i get the spares for these? Is it worth keeping the welder or moving on & up.

Any views & suggestions would be appreciated,

Steve

 

[the snooper]

welcome to the forum

its it the wire speed pulsing or does it simply need a new liner and or tip as that would also cause those symptoms

 

[Harpboy]

Thanks for the reply,

Well he checked everything else for & was happy. Now i would use logic here & say that when we took the wire out the motor still stuttered which was clear on low speed - he said & i reckon hes right that this should be smooth not stuttering. When you turn up the feed the effect is not as noticable but still there. He place a meter on the power feeds to the motor & you could clearly see the power going up & down not what i would expect which would just be a constant speed based on a variable power input.

Does our logic seem reasonable?

Steve

 

[the snooper]

in that case try cleaning all connections and the variable resister that actually alters the wire speed, you can get a spray for it but it will probably be cheaper to go to maplin and replace it if they have one

 

[Harpboy]

Thanks for that, so what i've described sounds reasonable then?

I was thinking i may have to buy the board as a whole - can these be bought from machine mart?

So you can buy these variable resistors - we have a Maplins close by are there any parts references for them that you know of?

I was coming close to throwing it against the wall - frustrating to say the least. I don't mind spending a few quid on new bits as long as it isn't the best part of buying a new or good second hand welder.

3mm steel & thinner is where i do my work so my Pro90 will do me if it can be repaired.

Steve

 

[the snooper]

just take the board out and find the value on the resistor also check the soldered joints while you are at it and the all the joints in the welder especially from the big main transformer, it does sound like a bad connection of some sort

also make sure the new resistor will physically fit

i cant imagine a new board being cheap but the parts on it will be

 

[Harpboy]

Thanks,

Will do as you suggest.

BTW whats the concensus on the low end Clarkes like mine are they generally reliable bits of kit?

 

[the snooper]

clarkes have a good name on here loads have them, and very little trouble is reported so they seem reliable

 

[Harpboy]

Good, i will persevere with mine then, as buying an unknown from ebay is not where i want to go.

Think i will spend on refurbing.

Youv'e been very helpful, thanks - Steve