- Thread starter Henrik
- Start date
Unfortunately I've been too busy with other work, so haven't even played with ac/dc apart from laying some test beads on an old sump 
It seemed to lay the beads well enough in ac mode, but I'm a beginner, and I don't really know what I'm looking for, sorry.
As for longevity, don't know about this either, haven't turned the welder on in almost a year
It seemed to lay the beads well enough in ac mode, but I'm a beginner, and I don't really know what I'm looking for, sorry.
As for longevity, don't know about this either, haven't turned the welder on in almost a year
I have had this welder for just over a year now for home hobby welding. Mostly light steel, a bit of stainless. I have done some test welds with bit of aluminium but no project builds. So far its been a positive experience.
I quickly changed the supplied torch to a lighter wp-9 air cooled torch with flexible head and also got the stahlwerk foot pedal.
The supplied torch has a fixed head and is a large wp26, its really only good for heavy duty stuff towards to 200A range. the lack of flexible head makes it too chunky for delicate work.
I have a compressor in the garage and have used the plasma cutter a few times, seems to work as expected though I have no experience with other plasmas. It really needs a stand-off adaptor of some kind as it constantly glues itself to the base material if you are not perfectly steady. That could be me though.
problems so far:
once the spark gap oxidised a bit over the winter and I had to hold the pedal down for ages to get an ark, it cleard after a few goes though.
The tail-off where the current is reduced when using the torch switch does not appear to work, the arc extingishes as soon as you let go of the switch
and I now have an issue with the foot pedal, the weld current seems a bit high even on the lowest setting. After dismantling the pedal and checking the potentiometers they don't seem to be showing their correct ratings. I have contacted stahlwerk via email but the response was a non-tech fob-off. They did suggest I return the pedal for inspection.
I quickly changed the supplied torch to a lighter wp-9 air cooled torch with flexible head and also got the stahlwerk foot pedal.
The supplied torch has a fixed head and is a large wp26, its really only good for heavy duty stuff towards to 200A range. the lack of flexible head makes it too chunky for delicate work.
I have a compressor in the garage and have used the plasma cutter a few times, seems to work as expected though I have no experience with other plasmas. It really needs a stand-off adaptor of some kind as it constantly glues itself to the base material if you are not perfectly steady. That could be me though.
problems so far:
once the spark gap oxidised a bit over the winter and I had to hold the pedal down for ages to get an ark, it cleard after a few goes though.
The tail-off where the current is reduced when using the torch switch does not appear to work, the arc extingishes as soon as you let go of the switch
and I now have an issue with the foot pedal, the weld current seems a bit high even on the lowest setting. After dismantling the pedal and checking the potentiometers they don't seem to be showing their correct ratings. I have contacted stahlwerk via email but the response was a non-tech fob-off. They did suggest I return the pedal for inspection.
there is something wrong though, I was able to put small beads down on 1mm sheet steel but now its blowing right through. The pots in the pedal are not showing their rated values, not even close so im going to do some testing with that and see what I can come up with.
Stahlwerk customer services advised:
"The welding current is 30 A in DC mode and 40 A in AC mode. " but im sure ive got lower out of it in the past. How do you measure the weld current? clamp meter?
Stahlwerk customer services advised:
"The welding current is 30 A in DC mode and 40 A in AC mode. " but im sure ive got lower out of it in the past. How do you measure the weld current? clamp meter?
Hi Nick,
I have the same welder and am experiencing similar issues with not being able to reduce the current low enough (i'm blowing through 1mm stainless) I got hold of a clamp amp meter and measured the current, the lowest I can set the welder to is approx 40A, did you get anywhere with solving your issue?
I have the same welder and am experiencing similar issues with not being able to reduce the current low enough (i'm blowing through 1mm stainless) I got hold of a clamp amp meter and measured the current, the lowest I can set the welder to is approx 40A, did you get anywhere with solving your issue?
