Firstly hello to everybody
I'm a Northern Europe based hobbyist, working on cars and sheet metal out of my garage
I'll try to make a long story short. in the late 2013 I woke up noticing cheap plasma cutters flooded into market. Right away I was thinking possibilities it could offer. I hate wheel cutting 8-10mm plates which are sometimes only way to go. I had gut feeling that many of the cheaper ones are unreliable and could potentially fail. Then I noticed these Wellbach products, sold by Expondo.de. Trexus Welbach 50 seemed more nicely finished and had a Trafimet torch with pilot arc. I thought this is the cutter for my purposes. I paid about ~500 euros of it.
Right away as I unit was delivered to me I found out it was not working. No arc, no air. Being new to plasma I thought I did something wrong. After being in contact with Expondo I sent it back to Germany. They repaired it under a warranty. Then it was working for a while and got to enjoy for my hobbies. However this joy was short lived just as 24 month warranty expired the unit started cutting down arc while working. I thought it was ground issues or something. Eventually the arc was dead for good
Air valve + main power is ok.
I was in contact with Expondo.de. They made some points to check and finally offered to make repair. Costs of the shipping would have been right out of my pocket. Total cost would have been more than 50% of the buying price. I checked diodes and transistors with multimeter. My best guess is the controlling IC is toasted. I asked them if they could sell as spare part. They had the only the whole top control board. I said would buy it asking if it had the IC. With my luck the board delivered without the chip!! The only thing I needed!
I'm thinking of possiblities, but I don't want to pay big money over 1000 euros of brand cutters as I'm part time hobbyist. Today I have 0 trust in these China made crap plasma cutters and their support. Before I bought the machine I searched feedback on forums, but didn't find much that time.
I'm not saying don't buy these cheaper cutters, but you have a big change of having scrap sheet metal and fake electric components in your hands. They are infact all printed Toshiba, Omron, Atmel but in these lower Tier products I find those quality "brands" to be only a joke. To my understanding there are only 1-2 manufacturers in China that produce all these lower price cutter units under different brand names and casing styles. Designs are so much alike as well as circuit boards.
I have been very disapointed in this, especially for the fact that the machine fails again and again so repairs are only good for a while. It maybe that I'll wheel cutting from now on.
I'll try to make a long story short. in the late 2013 I woke up noticing cheap plasma cutters flooded into market. Right away I was thinking possibilities it could offer. I hate wheel cutting 8-10mm plates which are sometimes only way to go. I had gut feeling that many of the cheaper ones are unreliable and could potentially fail. Then I noticed these Wellbach products, sold by Expondo.de. Trexus Welbach 50 seemed more nicely finished and had a Trafimet torch with pilot arc. I thought this is the cutter for my purposes. I paid about ~500 euros of it.
Right away as I unit was delivered to me I found out it was not working. No arc, no air. Being new to plasma I thought I did something wrong. After being in contact with Expondo I sent it back to Germany. They repaired it under a warranty. Then it was working for a while and got to enjoy for my hobbies. However this joy was short lived just as 24 month warranty expired the unit started cutting down arc while working. I thought it was ground issues or something. Eventually the arc was dead for good
I was in contact with Expondo.de. They made some points to check and finally offered to make repair. Costs of the shipping would have been right out of my pocket. Total cost would have been more than 50% of the buying price. I checked diodes and transistors with multimeter. My best guess is the controlling IC is toasted. I asked them if they could sell as spare part. They had the only the whole top control board. I said would buy it asking if it had the IC. With my luck the board delivered without the chip!! The only thing I needed!
I'm thinking of possiblities, but I don't want to pay big money over 1000 euros of brand cutters as I'm part time hobbyist. Today I have 0 trust in these China made crap plasma cutters and their support. Before I bought the machine I searched feedback on forums, but didn't find much that time.
I'm not saying don't buy these cheaper cutters, but you have a big change of having scrap sheet metal and fake electric components in your hands. They are infact all printed Toshiba, Omron, Atmel but in these lower Tier products I find those quality "brands" to be only a joke. To my understanding there are only 1-2 manufacturers in China that produce all these lower price cutter units under different brand names and casing styles. Designs are so much alike as well as circuit boards.
I have been very disapointed in this, especially for the fact that the machine fails again and again so repairs are only good for a while. It maybe that I'll wheel cutting from now on.