[TheForge] help! welder advice

[Paul Sperbeck]

Hi list,

I have one of these welders, and while I don't have more than a few 
hours of total use with it to date, it performs well within it's stated 
limits. When using 3/32 rod, 6011 as i couldn't find 6010 in this size 
locally, it has about a 30% duty cycle. It will shut down before it 
harms it self from over use, and the internal fan will cool it down and 
when the overheat light turns off get busy again.

I purchased the welder primarily for light gauge heliarc. On light gauge 
metal the current that I usually weld at is about 30 to 40 amps which 
will yield an acceptable duty cycle.

One curious but evident in hindsight problem that I experienced was when 
I took it into work ( got a day job...) and tried to weld a piece of 
structural tube to a piece of 1-1/4" steel pipe. The welder tripped the 
ground fault repeatedly. I never had this problem at home in my shop 
cause there aren't any ground fault breakers in the shop. The pipe that 
I needed to weld to was bolted onto a concrete floor, and even though 
the resistance of the concrete is quite high, there is sufficient return 
path for the ground fault breaker to do its duty. Good idea, but I 
decided that it was easier to drill and tap a couple of holes than to 
try to by pass  the problem any other way.

Regardless of the aforementioned problem, no other problems with it that 
it can be held liable for.

Regarding the Chicago Electric syndrome, and bearing in mind that I have 
not ripped the case off as of yet...

(a) Many of the parts in more expensive machines as regards the 
electronic components are most likely made in the eastern rim anyhow.

(b) I, as a ham radio and electronics hobbyist, think that inverter 
welders are grossly overpriced anyway. This one is closer to reality.

(c) Chicago Electric makes a TIG rig/stick welder with higher output for 
a hundred bucks or so more. Just buy the extended warranty. I realize 
that if you are out-of-country that warrenty won't help much, But no 
matter how much you pay, if something breaks far from home or repair 
shop, your back in the stone age anyway.


good luck

paul

My Grandfather was a blacksmith,
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Gladish Family wrote:

>My brother-in-law is off to Costa Rica to facilitate a build-your-own
>windmill power generator workshop at a community way up in the hills. They
>have LOTS of current but it's all 120 vac.
>He's on a brutally tight budget and was looking at this, on Harbor Freight:
>www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=91110
>It claims power features that I'm not familiar with, but I'd hate to be the
>one who has to use it to weld 1/4 or 3/8" steel...many passes, I guess. I'm
>also concerned that they'll be depending on it (Chicago Electric?!?) in a
>remote place.
>Anybody have any guesses or info that I can pass on?
>I'm also thinking of letting him use my Hobart 135 with a couple spools of
>flux core wire, now that I have a real MIG.
>Any info, anecdotes or opinions would be most welcome!
>Thanks,
>Andy Gladish
>Guemes Island, WA
>
>
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-- 
 
Paul C. Sperbeck 

My Grandfather was a blacksmith,
...and It didn't do me one damn bit of good.

Pieces of seven,  pieces of seven - A parroty error.

The information in this transmission is intended to be totally worthless and devoid of any benefit to anyone with the exception of, possibly, the intended recipient. If you received this communication in error or if you accidentally read it when it wasn't addressed to you, then please immediately delete all of your saved game files and email addresses and then energetically beat yourself about the head and shoulders with a recent technology publication of your choice. All other more intelligent actions taken in response to this information are prohibited, so there. 
 
"To err is human...to really f*** things up requires the root password."
 
The following added for automatic email harvesters!
abuse at worldatt.net abuse at prodigy.net abuse at bellsouth.net abuse at yahoo.com
UCE at FTC.GOV abuse at tesco.net abuse at freeserve.net




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