100e broken

[bert]

Well it looks like my 26 year old clarke 100E has died

My dad bought it when he retired at 45 and he is now 71 so its had a good innings.

I was using it yesterday restoring my sons Mk1 Fiesta when I noticed it was getting a bit low on power. I was only using the thin metal technique and I thought it was a bit strange that it was hitting the duty cycle and it cut out mid weld.

When I press the trigger I just get a click from the welder and no power or wire feed

Does this sound like a terminal failure for this little one or an easy fix?

Thanks

 

[rtbcomp]

Easy things first, try working the power switch(es) a few times.

 

[keith19]

Worth having a check through, it may only be a worn/corroded switch, as already said. Have a look at the little pcb that powers the wire motor, is the relay, as arrowed below, still clicking over when you press the trigger?

 

[bert]

i tried the power switch a few times and no joy, I can hear a relay clicking when I press the trigger but will take the side off to have a look.

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

sounds like classic power switches are in the middle, my old clark did this but its now ok after a bit of electricl contact cleaner

 

[bert]

Thanks for the responses

I had a quick look last night and it appears to be working again, ive not really tried it but its feeding wire and can produce an arc.

Im guessing its filled up with dust causing it to overheat faster than it should have. Id only really done 40cm of thin metal technique welding over 5 mins so shouldnt have been overloaded. I will open it up later tonight and give it a clean out.

 

[the snooper]

it could also be bad connections that are heating up as you use the welder which causes the resitance to increase and the power to decrease as it getts hotter

 

[bert]

Well looks like I do need to investigate further as saturday it failed again

At a time that I really needed it too, my boys car is barely held together on the passenger sill and it gave up when I was fitting a new inner

Its just got no strength to the weld even on max, tonight I will take the cover off and have a look, hopefully it just needs the contacts cleaning up.