Pickhill Bantam 180a Refurb

[MattF]

Very similar looking colour.

 

[Turbo]

Thought I should update this.

It was painted in 'Record' blue. The colour choice definitely wasn't just to annoy MattF, it just happened to be the only shade of blue I had enough of!

I used my ebay hydraulic crimper to fit new ends on the longer leads I made up.

Thanks to the board members for giving me the heads up on this, a very useful tool indeed!

Despite my best efforts it produces lovely welds!

Unfortunately the welder has to go so I put it on Gumtree last night.

A guy texted me looking for advice on his welder as it was 'tripping'. I offered to look at it but he was too far away so over several texts I offered advice to change the oil & where to source it. Did I get any thank you text? Of course not!

 

[Dieselman 63]

Thought I should update this.

View attachment 143914

It was painted in 'Record' blue. The colour choice definitely wasn't just to annoy MattF, it just happened to be the only shade of blue I had enough of!

View attachment 143915 View attachment 143916 View attachment 143917 View attachment 143918 View attachment 143919

I used my ebay hydraulic crimper to fit new ends on the longer leads I made up.

View attachment 143920

Thanks to the board members for giving me the heads up on this, a very useful tool indeed!

View attachment 143921

Despite my best efforts it produces lovely welds!

Unfortunately the welder has to go so I put it on Gumtree last night.

A guy texted me looking for advice on his welder as it was 'tripping'. I offered to look at it but he was too far away so over several texts I offered advice to change the oil & where to source it. Did I get any thank you text? Of course not!

Perhaps he was related to the guy who asked me for help deconstructing the (identical only in name) Bantam gearbox. It took me about two months to work it out of evenings tinkering. Never heard from him again

 

[zeppelin builder]

I know a few that can

Especialy them JOCKROACHES!

 

[Turbo]

Drill is now sold to a very nice chap who drove 50 miles to get here. Buying it for his son to make some box section gates. They had bad experiences with 2 crap mig welders, I was able so show him this one working.

Made a nice £140 profit as well. Badly needed as well as my car needs taxed this month!

 

[MattF]

I'm wanting/tempted to like your finished welder post above, but, Record blue....

 

[Adam Marshall]

I have the Oxford Bantom 180 it's a great welder, I picked it up from Peterborough in my wife's ford ka (the 2004 model) with my wife in the front and my two kids in the back. Needless to say I was doing 30 the whole way home. (70 miles away). I still use the welder now and again for heavier welding but now I have a decent mig I use that more.

 

[Sean64]

Hi, I've had the Pickhill Banham for a few years now, work fine until about two yrs ago when it started tripping the power, today I thought I'd give it another go, still the same tripping going on. Going to check out the 240 power lead. Anything else I can check, or is the welder goosed. Photos of said welder. Is it wired correctly for 240 single phase.

Sean

 

[brightspark]

when you say tripping the power do you mean a miniature circuit breaker or the rcd earth trip switch

 

[Sean64]

when you say tripping the power do you mean a miniature circuit breaker or the rcd earth trip switch

Trips the breakerin the house, I have my shed wire directly into house socket. Works my other welder flawlessly.

Thanks for reply
Sean

 

[WorkshopChris]

Trips the breakerin the house, I have my shed wire directly into house socket. Works my other welder flawlessly.

Thanks for reply
Sean

We need to know if it is an MCB or RCD to get an idea of what might be happening.
MCB- works on an overload principle like a fuse.

Or a RCD Detects a possible fault to earth.

 

[brightspark]

if its the breaker what size is it my 180 amp takes out the 32 amp b type break the second i turn it on. realy should be a c type but im 2 lazy to change it

 

[WorkshopChris]

Also, something else to consider if the supply is tapped into a house circuit is what other load does the circuit already have on it?

 

[mtt.tr]

if its the breaker what size is it my 180 amp takes out the 32 amp b type break the second i turn it on. realy should be a c type but im 2 lazy to change it

im quicker than mains frequency hit the zero point perfect

i mean i push the breaker on enough times to saturate the coil

as an aside i would like to put a zero crossing relay on my 110 tranny bit embarrassing when you kill your customers tv, they dont like it!!! wish i was a well kept house wife.

** correction newer information suggests peak voltage turn on is best time to switch and inductive load, which immediately seems odd, but looking the the wave form of volt and current it makes sense**

 

[Sean64]

Think I might found the problem, the hi volt connection was bad inside the welder, as in when I took the leads off the head of the copper bolt broke away inside the welder. Now sorted the bolt (touch wood) welder turns on and welds beautifully.

Thanks all, no doubts you'll hear from me again

Sean

 

[Sean64]

How does the saying go again, involves chickens, welders cut out nd won't fire up again, think I'm beating a dead dog here, real shame because it was laying some lovely welds.... Unless someone on here has any ideas what to look at that might be the problem?

Sean

 

[Sean64]

Any ideas as to why the welder won't even power on guys. I'm not very astute when it come to electrics

Sean

 

[Hood]

There must be an open circuit somewhere. It could be in the incoming supply wiring or it could be the transformer itself has burnt out or a broken connection on the output side.

Only way to find out would be with a meter and if you are not confident with electricity then the best way would be with the welder switched off and use an ohm meter to check for continuity.

 

[Sean64]

There must be an open circuit somewhere. It could be in the incoming supply wiring or it could be the transformer itself has burnt out or a broken connection on the output side.

Only way to find out would be with a meter and if you are not confident with electricity then the best way would be with the welder switched off and use an ohm meter to check for continuity.

Thanks will try that .

Sean

 

[Sean64]

Embarrassed to say it was the 13amp fuse . I've since fitted a 16 amp plug and been welding on and off all morning with no issues . So now I'm on the lookout for a decent auto darkening helmet for around £30 ish .

Sean