Digital Mig torches?

[henry Kadzielski]

^^^ Comeon Hood you know you want it, give it a go I dare you
I don't want to be the only monkey spending up big. By the way I have just got over the SHOCK recently after getting 'Fransis'
Time for some more toys. Got a pipe knotching sander 3 phase and today took delivery of a 'draw bender machine'.

 

[Hood]

Oh Henry I do want to give it a go, there is no doubt about that
I will get Jim to forward his bank account details to you and you can transfer the money to his account and then I will arrange for Jim to send it to me

 

[Jim Davey]

I can offer you similar credit terms to Nev, but now pay never...

 

[Hood]

Sounds good but I will do a better deal for you, I will promise to pay in 30 years time

 

[Richard.]

Bottom line if you ain’t got the cash you ain’t got the cash.
I absolutely agree with brad that if you have the work to feed the machine the machine pays for itself in no time but you need the initial layout to begin with. What about stepping down for now. Get the ewm fixed if possible and sell it privately for the best price you can along with anything else you may not need of some value and raise some funds. You’ll probably find once you do you’ve got most of the funds for an S3 compact with a good deal through Matt. Then your nano feeder should just go straight on. I’m sure if that ewm could be sorted out and sold with some other tasty bits you could have 65% of an s3 compact ready to go.
Do you need 6 pairs of coolant proof mitutoyos?
I guess it’s about priorities. I’d imagine in your line of work if the welder blows up you may as well close the doors. So If I was in your shoes I’d be looking to go and get one that does exactly what you want. As you’ve got a lorch feeder and you like those German machines I’d say lorch is a good place to start.

 

[Brad93]

Bottom line if you ain’t got the cash you ain’t got the cash.
I absolutely agree with brad that if you have the work to feed the machine the machine pays for itself in no time but you need the initial layout to begin with. What about stepping down for now. Get the ewm fixed if possible and sell it privately for the best price you can along with anything else you may not need of some value and raise some funds. You’ll probably find once you do you’ve got most of the funds for an S3 compact with a good deal through Matt. Then your nano feeder should just go straight on. I’m sure if that ewm could be sorted out and sold with some other tasty bits you could have 65% of an s3 compact ready to go.
Do you need 6 pairs of coolant proof mitutoyos?
I guess it’s about priorities. I’d imagine in your line of work if the welder blows up you may as well close the doors. So If I was in your shoes I’d be looking to go and get one that does exactly what you want. As you’ve got a lorch feeder and you like those German machines I’d say lorch is a good place to start.

I mean Lorch or EWM, they’re both top notch machines but I notice EWM dont make a compact Double Pulse Mig. That’s why I suggested the Lorch s3 Mobil and you already have a nano feeder ready to drop straight on.

 

[Richard.]

I mean Lorch or EWM, they’re both top notch machines but I notice EWM dont make a compact Double Pulse Mig. That’s why I suggested the Lorch s3 Mobil and you already have a nano feeder ready to drop straight on.

He would be better off with lorch imo. If he goes with ewm he’s only got to get shot of the nano feeder and buy an ewm push pull system.
At least if he buys a little set like yours that’s all he needs to buy. A power source only. He’s got everything to go straight on and get cracking. I’m sure at a later date when funds allow he would want the digital torch to go on it but not needed to start off.

 

[Jim Davey]

They do Brad, it’s called a Phoenix 355.

 

[Brad93]

They do Brad, it’s called a Phoenix 355.

Ah right I clicked on portable on their website and all that came up was the PicoMigs

 

[Hood]

Not been able to reply as there were account problems and all I could do was read posts.

So to answer some questions.
Don't have the money and unlikely to have any for a while. I have the R-Tech, which I was using today. It does the job ok so won't be closing the door because the EWM is dead, obviously it is not so nice to use as a synergic pulse Mig especially one as nice as the EWM but I have been welding Alu with Mig for 30 plus years and it has only been the last 11 months that I have had a pulse Mig.


This past 12-14 months I have had a lot of Alu to weld, much much more than normal but that is unlikely to continue as people will not be buying new boats every year. I am currently fitting out my Nephews Cat and there are another 2 coming later in the year but after that I will then be back to 70% machining and 30% welding like normal.

I am going to call EWM on Monday and see if they can offer any advice as to fault finding but from what I have done so far (with the help of Jim) it seems to be pointing to a PCB level issue.

 

[Jim Davey]

Ah right I clicked on portable on their website and all that came up was the PicoMigs

Ah right I clicked on portable on their website and all that came up was the PicoMigs

The Phoenix 355 and the Picomig 355 share the same casing but the Phoenix has all the extra JOBs and functionality.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

^^^ New toys are lovely in the things they do, but when things go wrong they can be costly. Hate to think what it would cost if 'Fransis' would develop a fault.
Secondly 'Fransis' hasen't been used for several months. I have pulled out of retirement the old Essetti machines to do steel on the playground equipment and they are working fine. I now know what is going to happen, at least one will go BANG. I have one setup with 1.2mm wire for the thicker plates and one with .9mm for thinnerI have a single phase 3 in 1 inverter with .8mm as it is very light compared to the three phase machines and a single phase step mig 250amp, which is what I started out with, all of which still work. I have always been of the opinion that you need a spare or plan 'B' if things go wrong

 

[Hood]

You are a bad man @Jim Davey , imagine posting a pic of that when I am suffering the pain and heartache of a dead friend of 11months

 

[Hood]

^^^ New toys are lovely in the things they do, but when things go wrong they can be costly. Hate to think what it would cost if 'Fransis' would develop a fault.
Secondly 'Fransis' hasen't been used for several months. I have pulled out of retirement the old Essetti machines to do steel on the playground equipment and they are working fine. I now know what is going to happen, at least one will go BANG. I have one setup with 1.2mm wire for the thicker plates and one with .9mm for thinnerI have a single phase 3 in 1 inverter with .8mm as it is very light compared to the three phase machines and a single phase step mig 250amp, which is what I started out with, all of which still work. I have always been of the opinion that you need a spare or plan 'B' if things go wrong

Yes, was going to flog both the Esab and the R-Tech but thankfully I decided to keep the R-Tech just in case and sadly the "just in case" happened

 

[Jim Davey]

I’m sure the EWM won’t be terminal, you’ll have her melting bits of Aluminium together again soon.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

The Phoenix 355 and the Picomig 355 share the same casing but the Phoenix has all the extra JOBs and functionality.

View attachment 137686

I had one of those and seemed to be quite logical to setup and operate, shame about the support. One weld I did for a job was to weld .9mm S/S to 12mm steel plate (exhaust bellows crack) was spectacular in the result using .9mm steel wire. The root setting are good, set the material thickness and wire diameter and press the trigger. First positional weld even done was perfect

 

[Jim Davey]

The support here in Europe is good, you’ve only got BOC in Aus for EWM and they don’t seem to go much on customer service.

 

[Brad93]

The Phoenix 355 and the Picomig 355 share the same casing but the Phoenix has all the extra JOBs and functionality.

View attachment 137686

Right okay that makes sense.

 

[henry Kadzielski]

The support here in Europe is good, you’ve only got BOC in Aus for EWM and they don’t seem to go much on customer service.

Once you buy the machine and they want you to get it through the online system, please note that 'make sure you don't let the door hit you in the **** when you are leaving' thankyou please call again.

 

[Jim Davey]

Once you buy the machine and they want you to get it through the online system, please note that 'make sure you don't let the door hit you in the **** when you are leaving' thankyou please call again.

Lincoln Electric are going the same way. My spend with them has now plummeted.