Lorch t220 problems on ac

[Cheesie]

I've been having what looks like gas problems for a while I've too many jobs on to be messing about much more the problems are intermittent they look like bad gas I've changed torches torch set up, settings to no end gas company's tungsten looks fine which is one of the things that tell me everything is as it should be, I find it hard to believe its the welder, my next step is regulator although it and the gas lead going into the back of the welder are holding pressure over night 2 bad welds and one recent fusion weld hoping someone has come across this, before I leave it in to get looked at

 

[carbon]

Is the aluminium in the first two pictures anodized?

 

[Cheesie]

No exactly what I use everyday just trued an unused new tungsten no different

 

[Brad93]

Have you got proper leak detector spray? Check your gas connection and pipework inside the machine.

 

[Cheesie]

Have you got proper leak detector spray? Check your gas connection and pipework inside the machine.

It would need to be leaking after the valve as the line between gauge and welder holds pressure overnight, going to see if I can borrow another bottle and a gauge although I'll have to wait until Sunday I have my doubts it's that either, my gauges in work are smashed I go more by sound of gas and tungsten condition plus the line between the welder and gauges leaks bad, I'll have a go on stainless today and see how that looks

 

[Brad93]

It would need to be leaking after the valve as the line between gauge and welder holds pressure overnight, going to see if I can borrow another bottle and a gauge although I'll have to wait until Sunday I have my doubts it's that either, my gauges in work are smashed I go more by sound of gas and tungsten condition plus the line between the welder and gauges leaks bad, I'll have a go on stainless today and see how that looks

Yeah it might be leaking after the solenoid.

Are you sure you haven't got a bad bottle of gas? It's rare but it does happen

 

[Cheesie]

I swapped gas company's because of bad gas and that's what it looks like, if only my good luck was as consistent as my bad luck I'd of won the lottery by now

 

[Jim Davey]

What kind of torch consumables are you using? I won’t mention any names but we have experienced some problems with gas coverage when using unbranded gas lenses. Issue goes away when we swap back to Binzel, Parweld or CK.
We found the brass outer on the gas lens to be much thicker on the no name brand lenses leaving a much lower surface area of the mesh. I’m not sure if that is what causes the turbulence but it was the only difference we could see between the lenses giving problems and the ones that were fine.

 

[Brad93]

What kind of torch consumables are you using? I won’t mention any names but we have experienced some problems with gas coverage when using unbranded gas lenses. Issue goes away when we swap back to Binzel, Parweld or CK.
We found the brass outer on the gas lens to be much thicker on the no name brand lenses leaving a much lower surface area of the mesh. I’m not sure if that is what causes the turbulence but it was the only difference we could see between the lenses giving problems and the ones that were fine.

Always use quality consumables. Saves time and money in the long run.

 

[Cheesie]

3 different set ups tried last night one had a ck gas lenz #5 cup tried from 4-8 lpm on all

 

[Munkul]

my gauges in work are smashed I go more by sound of gas and tungsten condition

That's not a good way to gauge gas flow at all! Get your regulator sorted, get a peashooter flowmeter at the regulator end, and a peashooter to measure flow at the torch, and then decide what the problem is!
TIG welding without a peashooter flow regulator is proper rough, not the sort of thing you'd expect in a shop environment.

Honestly, I had a similar problem, I had a good reg and good flowmeter, but I didn't pay enough attention to the actual numbers. Over time (maybe a year or so?) the sound I expected to hear increased, and I ended up with sub par shielding on stainless.
In the end I got a torch peashooter and played with values until I got the shielding perfect - the flow rate was way less than I thought. Then I marked the peashooter with the value I got. Now I know that that gas lens and cup size will ALWAYS work best with the marked peashooter value.
It ended up saving me a lot of gas as well, i was going through 50l bottles way faster than I should have!

 

[Cheesie]

Not my set up this is mine in work everything is done on the cheap we work of wooden tables he makes money without anything expensive I

 

[Cheesie]

 

[Munkul]

Yeah that 2nd pic is what I'd expect to see on any TIG gas setup. But like I say, you still want a torch peashooter, they're only a few quid on amazon, and even if the scale is way off, you can dial it in to what you know works best and make your own repeatable setpoint.

Is that a 240v to 110v socket flying lead?

 

[Brad93]

It's your twin oxygen valve

 

[Cheesie]

Yeah that 2nd pic is what I'd expect to see on any TIG gas setup. But like I say, you still want a torch peashooter, they're only a few quid on amazon, and even if the scale is way off, you can dial it in to what you know works best and make your own repeatable setpoint.

Is that a 240v to 110v socket flying lead?
Yes I've been meaning to build an extension to my garage for over a year that will have 16amp and 32 amp sockets

 

[Cheesie]

It's your twin oxygen valve

Tried it without it I also tried it without any peashooter

 

[Munkul]

Yes I've been meaning to build an extension to my garage for over a year that will have 16amp and 32 amp sockets

Can i ask, what are you using 110v sockets for when they are being powered by 240v?! That's a really dodgy setup.

 

[Cheesie]

Tried it without it View attachment 328901

Can i ask, what are you using 110v sockets for when they are being powered by 240v?! That's a really dodgy setup.

It's a commando plug colour of the outer wire is erelevant as long as its got 2.5mm cable if you think that's bad I worked in a place with what looked like pre war 3 phase sockets that could not be unplugged as the inners fell out when you did, I've welded lying in sewer water while it's been raining with my 240v welder sitting on a pallet beside me, I've had to do some dodgy **** over the years most times it involved cranes,

 

[Brad93]

Tried it without it View attachment 328901 I also tried it without any peashooter

Damn. Really thought I had it sussed then. I tracked a gas shielding issue back to one of those cheap oxygen splitters for a customer.