New roll, amazing!

[arther dailey]

Yes, the Alu would i think be occasional stuff, possibly more stainless but still mostly mild steel. 5mm is plenty for my market, don't have the power supply for more anyway.

in the videos the Esab did look very competent at both Mig and Lift-Tig, i was most impressed with guy that did a very respectable weld bead at the bottom of a sharp "V" joint using the sMig setting and 1-1/4" stickout !! No twiddling, no messing just set and weld.

I think the EWM would be good if i were doing it 8 hours a day 5 days a week, but for a home-shop mini-business its going to be very much under-used for the money.

Think i'm leaning towards the Rebel, but as i said i'll get the R-Tech on an RTB as i can't sell it like it is, might order myself an Esab in the mean-time though

Thanks for the offers of loaners etc, much appreciated.

Any chance of sticking the video of esab being used with long stick out on here? thanks

 

[Davek0974]

Any chance of sticking the video of esab being used with long stick out on here? thanks

Its here

about 3mins in, just noticed its a Rebel 235 not 215 but i guess the sMig function is the same across the range.

 

[arther dailey]

Interesting,wonder if the other synergic machines would do the same? like ev200,gys etc. certainly makes life simpler to just get a job done.Thankyou for that Davek

 

[henry Kadzielski]

Just my two cents worth. I have had a few machines in the past and all have worked, however overall German stuff is pretty good. They just don't have a sense of humor about technical stuff, their stuff generally just works as intended. Don't know where the Essab comes from and some of their stuff is just rebranded, which may or may not be so good. I always buy upmarket and future proof myself, this also limits problems, generally the only problem I have is 'a faulty operator unit'.

 

[Davek0974]

Just my two cents worth. I have had a few machines in the past and all have worked, however overall German stuff is pretty good. They just don't have a sense of humor about technical stuff, their stuff generally just works as intended. Don't know where the Essab comes from and some of their stuff is just rebranded, which may or may not be so good. I always buy upmarket and future proof myself, this also limits problems, generally the only problem I have is 'a faulty operator unit'.

I would have thought that stuff in this price range to be fairly 'upmarket', not top of the range though - the Rebel is rated as fab shop, repairs, educational and not for 24/7 use - this fits in well with my work. They are a swedish company and from what i can see the units are made in Europe.

I can't find a bad review on Esab, Miller or Lincoln.

 

[normspanners]

could you try bolting the earth to the job, I know it is extreme but I was struggling once and the earth clamp seemingly had taken the full load though the spring and it had weakened it slightly it was fine on a thick job but when on thin it didnt make the trip through the clamp.
or you could video the clamp and watch for any arcing .

 

[Davek0974]

I can do that, give us a short while.....

 

[Davek0974]

Here we go, cant get much closer to the work lead

Did some tacks first probably 60/40 bad/good then run a bead - bad start and spatter to die for. This is hard spatter too - needs a grinder to remove it, won't chip off.

 

[normspanners]

did you try the choke just try wrapping the earth lead around a lump of steel 1" round for a few 10 maybe turns and try it.

 

[Davek0974]

Give us a minute, will go try it....

 

[octo0072000]

have you removed the covers on the dinse plugs and tightened up the little allen screws may not be making full contact

 

[Davek0974]

have you removed the covers on the dinse plugs and tightened up the little allen screws may not be making full contact

Yep, been through everything inside and out, can see nothing wrong.

Here's a vid taken a minute ago with the work lead wrapped around some iron...

Sounds like a machine gun!

 

[daedalusminos]

Have you checked all incoming (mains side) connections?

 

[Davek0974]

Yes, been through it from the fuse box to the torch tip.

 

[Hood]

Yep, been through everything inside and out, can see nothing wrong.

Here's a vid taken a minute ago with the work lead wrapped around some iron...

Sounds like a machine gun!

Well that seems to have made things a lot worse, either that or it was just coincidence that this run was especially bad?
Either way it would suggest a power issue with the welder itself.

 

[Davek0974]

Thats what i reckon too.

 

[normspanners]

how did the choke work out ?

 

[Hood]

how did the choke work out ?

Look two post 232

 

[normspanners]

Look two post 232

Yeah I hadnt refreshed the page thanks
Ah well worth a shot.

 

[addjunkie]

That machine gun sound sounded like my last one when my spot weld timer had a dodgey switch, that was sometimes on and sometimes off.