Another old toy is getting new life

[stanbester]

About two years ago I bought Cebora tig welder. Came with side panels and top missing, bit of dirt and rust here and there, no earth or electrode holder leads. It was designed to be powered by two phases 440v so first thing I did was to convert it to 240v as I haven't got three phase power supply and it works perfect. Next step was taking it apart then cleaning, redoing all vital connections. Now everything is back together, meanwhile had new panels made and just waiting for them to be powdercoated.
Here's a few photos

 

[stanbester]

About two years ago I bought Cebora tig welder. Came with side panels and top missing, bit of dirt and rust here and there, no earth or electrode holder leads. It was designed to be powered by two phases 440v so first thing I did was to convert it to 240v as I haven't got three phase power supply and it works perfect. Next step was taking it apart then cleaning, redoing all vital connections. Now everything is back together, meanwhile had new panels made and just waiting for them to be powdercoated.
Here's a few photos View attachment 196373

 

[Pete.]

Well done Stan. I had one of those as my first TIG welder. You have to carefully set the points gap to 8 thou I think. Also there's no real need to 'convert' it to 240v - it has the facility right there on the terminal block. You just move the jumper wire and you're done. It's limited to about 100amps on 240v though.

 

[stanbester]

I know what you mean by moving jumper wire but apart from that I also counted turns of windings of main transformer, calculated ratio then made extra tapping on primary coil so I have full power on 240v.

 

[frank horton]

Nice job,
Can I ask how much u paid for the tin work....
Have something in mind and b good to have an idea....
Ta

 

[stanbester]

Nice job,
Can I ask how much u paid for the tin work....
Have something in mind and b good to have an idea....
Ta

If by tin work you mean panels and top I had them made at my workplace (courtesy of mate from cnc depot), powder coating also at work. Can't tell the price as we do favours to each other so no money involved

 

[Pete.]

I know what you mean by moving jumper wire but apart from that I also counted turns of windings of main transformer, calculated ratio then made extra tapping on primary coil so I have full power on 240v.

Nicely done, I wish I had thought of that approach myself. If you're able to share that bit of knowledge with some more detail I'm sure it would be appreciated as these are tough old boxes and there are still a good few of them knocking about.

 

[arther dailey]

Stan , as ever evious of these jobs you do, last one I liked was the oxford(?) mig which you stripped down and rebuilt , superb . are you still using that ? Arther or was it migatronic??

 

[stanbester]

Yes it was migatronic, still got it and not planning to part with.

 

[stanbester]

Nicely done, I wish I had thought of that approach myself. If you're able to share that bit of knowledge with some more detail I'm sure it would be appreciated as these are tough old boxes and there are still a good few of them knocking about.

I'll do it, no problem

 

[stanbester]

As promised I'm posting description of the way of converting my Cebora to single phase. First two steps are well known to most people interested in the topic.
Step 1:
As you look at terminal block on top of the auxiliary transformer first three connectors from right to left should be marked 0/220/440, move wires from 440 to 220
.If second connector is marked 230 or 240
Instead of 220 it doesn't matter it is still connector that takes wires from 440 one

 

[stanbester]

Step 2:
Take cover off of grey device called,, FART " (I know...) you will see jumper lead that you can slide from 440 to 220, after loosening screws of course and don't forget to tighten them.

 

[stanbester]

Step 3:
You need to know number of turns of primary coil of main transformer. I can't remember exactly what it was but they are fairly easy to count without unwinding coil. Let say that nr is X then divide it by 1.83 that should give you nr Y this is the nr of turns needed for transformer to run from 240V with same power output as if it was run from 440V.
Because I didn't want to unwind coil to get access to exact turn I just picked closest possible (rather higher than lower) turn(wire) that was easily accessible and gently pulled out a bit big enough to let me solder extra lead (wire), this is our 240V connection. So starting from bottom of the coil wire nr 1 stays connected as it was, wire nr2(new one 240V) goes in the place of wire nr 3(440V) which MUST be insulated, never leave it loose and not insulated. Good way is to put both in marked connector block so they would be easy to swap back in future if needed.

 

[stanbester]

This extra soldered wire MUST be insulated after soldering, don't try to push it back in to coil, no need. Just bring it back close as possible but tiny gap left.

 

[stanbester]

Step4:
Don't forget to change plug on power supply lead. I put 32A Single Phase on mine.
I just thought this actually should be step 1

 

[stanbester]

Now I think I should start this description with reminder or warning :
Your machine MUST be unplugged from power supply during this process
And if you don't feel confident let do it someone who is
HIGH VOLTAGE !!!

 

[Pete.]

Nice one Stan. So obvious when you point it out, tapping half way through the windings. Thanks for the follow-up.