Well i think i have finally done it, i've managed to get my SIP turbo150 mig welder to weld nearly as good as some of the more expensive welders, its taken a lot of time which could of been better used and i little bit of cash, but since i already had the welder and dont have a huge amount of cash atm it had to be done.
Now the ideas that i have come up with arent mine and i must thank the others who have taken the time to work things out for me already, but ive just modified them a little.
The first mod i did was the wire feed roller strap mod, now i've got cad so i took a few measuements and made up a drawing(which once i figure how to post it from autocad i will), from there i got a piece of 4mm ally plate i had lying around and made this.
I had a spacer already but i'm sure you can get spacers from electronic suppliers or just use washers behind the plate. This mod made close to the most difference as i was constantly getting the wire burning off in the tip after the mod i still had the problem but i fix it later.
Next mod is a adaption of the steel liner mod. My SIP is over ten yrs old now and originally came with a really cheap torch, the newer ones seem to have a better torch on them so you could just use the steel liner and be fine. Unfortunately the cheaper torch that i had was beyond repair anyway so i ordered a whole new binzel type torch with hardwired fitting on the end(no need for euro fit) its exactly like the original only better. The one i got has a 3m lead, the brand is parweld. You just need to crimp some new fittings on for the wire feed control. COST: $165 AUD I'm sure i could of got a cheaper one but i was in a hurry at the time.
Next was the wire feed motor mod. Now i saw the transformer mod but to me it wasnt such a case of lack of power more the lack of stable power, so i went for a capacitor to smooth things out a little, as what was mentioned in the transformer thread.
I took some measurements from the motor when running and the peak voltage was around 40VDC and the amp rating seemed to be less than 1Amp, but the normal run voltage was around 24vdc and less than 1 amp.
So i went into a Dick Smith's(electronics store in Aus) and got a 25v 1000 micro fared cap and shoved that in the wires to the motor and that seemed to make a little difference so i then went off to RS components and got the following parts.
1x 40V 10000 micro fared screw type cap.
1x 500V 4.5A mosfet
1x 35v 3a diode.
You will also need a couple of piggy back conectors and a spade conector.
Now the - side of the cap gets spliced into to the - side of motor(piggy back conector).
With the mosfet you have three legs, drain, supply, and gate
drain goes to the motors + side
supply gets attached to the capacitor and the diode(both welded on the same leg) and then goes to the board(from the diode input)
The gate gets spliced into the board +wire before the diode.
I actually had a small bit of proto type board laying around so i used it to make it up on. I then drilled some holes in the case and cable tied the cap to it and another to bolt the tag of the mosfet too. All up cost about $25AUD(but that is because i had to buy 10 diodes).
after this mod no more burning back into the tip!!!
I also cut the spring for the wire roll mount as i felt it gave a little too much tension.
Done!! welds like a champ now
Now the ideas that i have come up with arent mine and i must thank the others who have taken the time to work things out for me already, but ive just modified them a little.
The first mod i did was the wire feed roller strap mod, now i've got cad so i took a few measuements and made up a drawing(which once i figure how to post it from autocad i will), from there i got a piece of 4mm ally plate i had lying around and made this.
I had a spacer already but i'm sure you can get spacers from electronic suppliers or just use washers behind the plate. This mod made close to the most difference as i was constantly getting the wire burning off in the tip after the mod i still had the problem but i fix it later.
Next mod is a adaption of the steel liner mod. My SIP is over ten yrs old now and originally came with a really cheap torch, the newer ones seem to have a better torch on them so you could just use the steel liner and be fine. Unfortunately the cheaper torch that i had was beyond repair anyway so i ordered a whole new binzel type torch with hardwired fitting on the end(no need for euro fit) its exactly like the original only better. The one i got has a 3m lead, the brand is parweld. You just need to crimp some new fittings on for the wire feed control. COST: $165 AUD I'm sure i could of got a cheaper one but i was in a hurry at the time.
Next was the wire feed motor mod. Now i saw the transformer mod but to me it wasnt such a case of lack of power more the lack of stable power, so i went for a capacitor to smooth things out a little, as what was mentioned in the transformer thread.
I took some measurements from the motor when running and the peak voltage was around 40VDC and the amp rating seemed to be less than 1Amp, but the normal run voltage was around 24vdc and less than 1 amp.
So i went into a Dick Smith's(electronics store in Aus) and got a 25v 1000 micro fared cap and shoved that in the wires to the motor and that seemed to make a little difference so i then went off to RS components and got the following parts.
1x 40V 10000 micro fared screw type cap.
1x 500V 4.5A mosfet
1x 35v 3a diode.
You will also need a couple of piggy back conectors and a spade conector.
Now the - side of the cap gets spliced into to the - side of motor(piggy back conector).
With the mosfet you have three legs, drain, supply, and gate
drain goes to the motors + side
supply gets attached to the capacitor and the diode(both welded on the same leg) and then goes to the board(from the diode input)
The gate gets spliced into the board +wire before the diode.
I actually had a small bit of proto type board laying around so i used it to make it up on. I then drilled some holes in the case and cable tied the cap to it and another to bolt the tag of the mosfet too. All up cost about $25AUD(but that is because i had to buy 10 diodes).
after this mod no more burning back into the tip!!!
I also cut the spring for the wire roll mount as i felt it gave a little too much tension.
Done!! welds like a champ now