Swapping to electrode negative

[voipio]

A clamp meter set to AC will measure the current being passed down the wire. You might need an assistant to watch the display whilst you lay down a bead.

 

[aesmith]

Electrically it doesn't matter which lead you put the meter on, but in practice the earth lead is more likely to stay still. You might be able to rig up a camera or phone to record the meter reading.

 

[zeppelin builder]

these buzzboxes are AC
"in and out " so most likely you had a bad connection

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

I decided to on belt and bracers approach. Found some small tye wraps just in case.
I decided to turn a wooden handle out of a oak branch for my chipping hammer to kill a bit of time while the hot glue cured.

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

Electrically it doesn't matter which lead you put the meter on, but in practice the earth lead is more likely to stay still. You might be able to rig up a camera or phone to record the meter reading.

I was just going to set auto lock But camera woul tell the tale ..Good Idea.

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

View attachment 479090
I decided to on belt and bracers approach. Found some small tye wraps just in case.
I decided to turn a wooden handle out of a oak branch for my chipping hammer to kill a bit of time while the hot glue cured.

I used Gurrilla expanding glue to set the hammer into the handle .
Just needs a trim on the grinder.

 

[Farside]

On my ancient buzzbox I fitted an mains 6" aircon fan in the end casing. The thing barely ever reached overheat cut-out after that.

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

these buzzboxes are AC
"in and out " so most likely you had a bad connection

The pos and neg retaining bolts inside the welder casing had 2 seperate nuts,they were only just snug .
I slackened them both off then re tightened each one in turn.
I think this was the reason for the issue .
Ark force is stronger and the same now which ever polarity the stinger is connected to .Giving a much easier strike up. Must have been loosing power due to bad connection

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

I stand corrected. The 6013 is a High titania potassium electrode and Potassium is usually added to stabilise DCEP. Not in the case of 6013 though which cam be used with either polarity.

Sorry about that.

Jack

Good to know.

 

[voipio]

The pos and neg retaining bolts inside the welder casing had 2 seperate nuts,they were only just snug .
I slackened them both off then re tightened each one in turn.
I think this was the reason for the issue .
Ark force is stronger and the same now which ever polarity the stinger is connected to .Giving a much easier strike up. Must have been loosing power due to bad connection

Sounds like a result, then :-) It's a little surprising that the connections to the back of the welder's output terminals didn't show some signs of overheating, but that's probably because the thick copper wires from the transformer would have conducted the heat away from the terminals.

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

New fan enstalled it's working well.
On the yellow part of transformer ?.
I've drawn a Red arrow I think the device it points at Is the over load protection as its linked to the Amber light on front panel.
I stiched it back together and noticed the earth connection was badly frayed at the welder connection .
I managed to re use the copper clamp making a full contact wjth the ccut back cable.
As I prepaired to do the first test weld I realised the rods I had been calling 2.5 mm were in fact 3.7mm with Myconta caliper. so presumably 3.5mm class.
I struck an Ark stuck the rod Blew 13 amp fuse.
Replaced and tried again ran a couple of welds started the 3rd run 10mm in I long arked the rod then still in same spot short Arked back into the weld pool and BLEW A HOLE STRAIGHT THROUGH 5 MM PLATE.
I compared the weld from yesterday that was quite humped to today's 2nd pass .
Big difference see next photo.

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

NOTE BLOW HOLE TOP RIGHT.
NOTE 1ST SKINNY RUN ON LEFT COMPAIRED TO THE WIDER FROM TODAY.
WELDS .
SAME 3.5MM RODS ON ALL WELDS.
ALL WITH WELDER WIDE OPEN TO MAX OF 160 AMPS.
Today's welds are a mixture of stop /start Tac's and long and short ark's far right bottom half short ark normal travel speed.
I tried to over load the welder but the fan kept it cool while I laid 5 x 3.5m. rods @160amps

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

Blow through 5mm plate with 3.5mm rods at 160 amps.
I blew a fuse or 2 today luckily I have a bag full of 13 amp.
THIS A TIP I PICKED UP ON U TUBE TO TEST FOR A BLOWN FUSE USING YOUR MOBIL PHONE IT DOES WORK.
SET YOUR PHONE TO TEXT MESSAGE LIKE THIS POST.
TRY TO TEXT WITH A NEW FUSE AS POINTER WHILE HOLDING ONE END OF THE FUSE I PLACE MY INDEX FINGER ON THE END .
IT WILL WORK EVEN THROUGH SCREEN PROTECTORS .
A BLOWN FUSE WILL NOT WORK.
I TESTED THIS OUT 4 TIMES TODAY.DOH!

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

Frayed earth clamp cable now repaired.
Could this have been loss of current problem?

 

[aesmith]

As I prepaired to do the first test weld I realised the rods I had been calling 2.5 mm were in fact 3.7mm with Myconta caliper. so presumably 3.5mm class.

Hopefully you're measuring the metal, not to the outside of the flux. Just checking because normally they're 3.25mm (or possibly the metric equivalent to 1/8")

 

[Prajna]

I think your bead on the left is skinny more because of travel speed rather than amperage settings. It's great that you've done all this maintenance on your welder and you're giving yourself a much easier time when it comes to welding. However, one thing Greg stresses is consistency and before you can really compare the performance of the various beads you need to be reasonably consistent. Perhaps you would do well to practice that first. (trying to be helpful rather than critical)

 

[voipio]

Always nice to keep forum folk posted on progress, as you have done.

The device pointed to in posting #51 is indeed the thermal switch, which opens its contacts when the transformer windings reach the set temperature.

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

Hopefully you're measuring the metal, not to the outside of the flux. Just checking because normally they're 3.25mm (or possibly the metric equivalent to 1/8")

I tested 8 welding rods and 4 stubs all came out close to this one.

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

I think your bead on the left is skinny more because of travel speed rather than amperage settings. It's great that you've done all this maintenance on your welder and you're giving yourself a much easier time when it comes to welding. However, one thing Greg stresses is consistency and before you can really compare the performance of the various beads you need to be reasonably consistent. Perhaps you would do well to practice that first. (trying to be helpful rather than critical)

I was more concerned about Tring to trip the welder while running full power .
Before the fan install and the earth clamp repair it would trip after 2 rods .I ran 5 today long and short arking .
I am stood at side of vice So not the best possision to weld from .
I wasn't trying for consistency .just pleased to get this welder sorted out .
I have been welding for 50 years on and off .
A lot of back hoe dipper arm cracks ,fisher plates and bucket rebuild work in quarrys.
More the get it back In service work than fabrication.
Mainly Diesel Mobil welders

 

[LOXLEY FORGE]

I set up the clamp meter and phone ready to video .
The clamp has contacts at the top of the clamp that I clamped to the earth cable ran a video but the clamp never registered any results .
Thinking about it perhaps it needs a solid contact rather a. Isalated cable .
I've never used the clamp (NVT? )function.
I will try again with the clamp on the copper cable clamp at the machine connection.
Just thought I think it only works up to 90amps.
I will re read the manual again.