Sip/cosmo Problems

[SpongeBob]

To all those peaple out there thinking of buying a SIP or Cosmo Mig welder DONT.

My new Cosmo 170 turned up last week new and in A1 condition To date i have not even welded 1 inch of weld and the now tonight the roller that bits into the wire is worn out Complete and utter rubbish and crap. Dont buy them there is a major design fault with them.

I now have to try and send it back to the trader(shop) on ebay and get my money back which will more or lightly be like taking the teeth out of a lions mouth but i will battle on and if need be get them under the sale of goods act 1974,

I have now seen for my own eyes the wire feed problems and its true, but i am so upset that the welder has not even welded 1 Inch of weld from new just how rubbish is that.

Any advice on sending things back to shops and ebay will be greatly listened to.


Sorry guys very upset will calm down by tomorrow

spongebob

 

[Hitch]

How has it worn out then without even being used?

 

[SpongeBob]

The metal roller will not even grib the wire anymore, if you look at the roller in the grove were the wire sits there are little raised grooves that bit into the wire, these have now dissapperd and are flat, so ther is nothing to bit into the cable.

From new the wire feed was a pain and some evening i have been trying to set it up before use, but the wire feed would work very slowly then as the speed is increased the metal roller would slip, i have also noticed when packing it up last night, ther are metal fragments that have come of the metal spool and are lying at the buttom of the welder(they look like little scales).

A complete rubbish design and i might even contact the Tradeing Standards,

 

[Alex]

I had some issues also with my SIP.


If the feed hose to the torch was at a less than almost straight angle it would slow up and loose grip on the wire then ruin any welding you were in the progress of making, which wasn't any good in the first place for me anyway.


I would agree don't buy an SIP or Cosmo you are wasting your money, and I think they give the completely wrong impression of what MIG welding is like to people who have never tried it.


Alex

 

[Robbus]

The grooves in the rollers should be smooth for steel wire, they only have grip ridges for soft stuff like aluminium. What size wire are you using, and are you sure you've got the rollers set the right way around? 0.6mm wire sat in the 0.8mm groove will get you nowhere fast for example.

Despite all the negative talk about SIP/Cosmo, I have to say my 150DP really hasn't given me any major problems, only real issue I had was when the liner came unstuck at the feed end and moved up the torch cable, then the wire kinked and popped out of the side of the cable. That involved a fair bit of swearing to rectify admittedly I agree the wire feed clamp is a bit of crappy design but it seems to at least function on mine.

Cheers,
Rob

 

[Silas (son of Silas)]

No problems here with my SIP 130DP. Very happy with it. It always behaves itself.

 

[Masked Marauder]

My SIP is a 105DP and about 10 years old. I have never done anything to it that you could not describe as routine maintainence. It works fine. Perhaps the quality has gone through the floor recently then.

 

[weldequip]

To all those peaple out there thinking of buying a SIP or Cosmo Mig welder DONT.

My new Cosmo 170 turned up last week new and in A1 condition To date i have not even welded 1 inch of weld and the now tonight the roller that bits into the wire is worn out Complete and utter rubbish and crap. Dont buy them there is a major design fault with them.

I now have to try and send it back to the trader(shop) on ebay and get my money back which will more or lightly be like taking the teeth out of a lions mouth but i will battle on and if need be get them under the sale of goods act 1974,

I have now seen for my own eyes the wire feed problems and its true, but i am so upset that the welder has not even welded 1 Inch of weld from new just how rubbish is that.

Any advice on sending things back to shops and ebay will be greatly listened to.


Sorry guys very upset will calm down by tomorrow

spongebob

As Robbus mentions, the 'knurled' groove on the feed roller is for soft wires such as Aluminium & Flux-Cored. Check that you have got the correct groove set up for the diameter of wire. There is no way the rollers could have worn out without use. The flakey bits of metal are most likely to be the copper coating of the wire, which is quite normal but could indicate that you have the wire feed tension set way too far down.
weldequip

 

[SpongeBob]

Thanks all for your replys

the roller supplied is for use with wire flux coverd 0.8mm, no there is a fault on it, the older machine that some peaple have i would think have a completely different wire feed assy that why they are still going 10 years down the line, Im affraid on this occasion it has had it i will post a photo to show.

have spoken to shop(ebay) and they hve agreed to refund money have a repalcement cosmo 170 or have a drapper 150 amp at £249

As you can see a nice looking welder shame it dosnt work

 

[Hitch]

Did you try turning the roller around to use the smaller grove?

 

[weldequip]

The top wire feed tensioner is all the way down which is not required (although will be through use!). Try slackening it off to half that amount.
weldequip

 

[Robbus]

Exactly the same mechanism as on my 150DP, bit flimsy but still functional after many hours of use.

Best bet I'd say is get your money back and get one of the Clarke models that are recommended on this site.

Cheers,
Rob

 

[rtbcomp]

Have you got the right tip? Fluxed wire tends to be thicker than plain wire so the wrong tip may obstruct the wire feed.

IIRC fluxed wire is 0.9mm, a 0.8mm tip will be too tight, try a 1mm tip.

 

[SpongeBob]

no the other grove is for 0.6 mm wire

 

[SpongeBob]

Im soory to say i have lost faith in SIP, yes the wire is what is supplied with it and the tip is 0.8mm remenber this is new never used more than 10 seconds of welding then it f..k up tried all the adjustements recommended by the site and the shop but the wire just stays fixed and the metal feed roller slips away no matter were the tensioner is fixed.

 

[rtbcomp]

Has the wire welded itself to the tip? Remove the tip and see if it feeds then. I had this problem, fitting a new tip solved it. I guess it was caused by holding the torch too close to the workpiece.

 

[weldequip]

All that glitters is not gold!..

Marketed as "superlative", I'm sorry to say, the posts on this forum are the truth, through use & experience. Send it back, get a refund & buy a Clarke!
weldequip

 

[SpongeBob]

yeh i thought it my be the tip, but i cut the wire just in front of the feed roller and you can pull the wire from the tip as easy as cutting paper so there is no problem with that area, i have to say the metal roller is the problem.

 

[weldequip]

Inherently poor design. Read the posts on the forum.
You may want to try slackening that wire tension right off though & giving it a second chance.
weldequip

 

[SpongeBob]

yeh ive just tried that the wire goes no where the roller just spins and does not bit into the wire to feed it alone.


Ive looked at the prices of clarke weilders i want between 150 amps and 170 amps but for some reasion machine mart show two differnt welders. i think the 160en looks ok but is this model old or new???