Clarke 150TE Stuttering after welding on max for a period

[Gareth J]

If I do a lot of welding on max with this welder after a while the weld starts to "stutter". It's like the wire feed become erratic and makes it borderline impossible to continue.

Am I just reaching the limits of the welder - its getting too hot and failing to feed properly, or should it be capable of welding all day long at maximum power?

I'd like to know if it is potentially a component on the way out so I can either fix or take it easy with this little welder and get a bigger one for the bigger jobs.

I have no idea about its duty cycling spec as I dont have the manual for it but I haven't managed to hit the thermal overload or blow fuses.

any opinions appreciated!

thanks

 

[Wozzaaah]

Sounds like it's getting too hot. I had similar symptoms on my old welder and ended up blowing a capacitor as the thermal cutout didn't errr.. cut out.
If you're often running it flat out then you should look at getting something considerably bigger.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Very few machines can weld all day on full power and you are doing well not to have the thermal protection cutting in, does the swan neck area get very hot? could be tightening on the wire.

I had a similar problem years ago on an old machine, think that was a Clarke too, I ran a drill through the tip to enlargen it a little, if I remember right it worked, may have had the wrong size tip in of course, it was a mates set.

 

[Wozzaaah]

I'd expect a machine like that to cut out fairly quickly if doing long runs on full power though as it still works it could be that you're operating it at just under it's limit. Not ideal though.

 

[Gareth J]

Thanks for the replies guys. yea the swan neck gets pretty warm, gets to a point where the black rubber starts to smell a bit too. but I dont think its that as it'll feed wire smooth as you like right after if you take it away from the work (as in dont weld, just let the wire feed on its own)

Well, this welder has served me well and I'd rather not blow it up so I'll stop being lazy and get our stick welder out for the bigger jobs!

cheers!

 

[shenion]

Mine had similar problems. Turns out the swan neck liner had distorted.

I know I overheated it by running at max and too short a torch/work gap.

New swan neck liner fixed it.

 

[keith19]

My 151EN starts making scouring noises if I try to run it too hard for any length of time, as if 'hunting' for more power. I take it as a warning and ease up before it trips out. Remember these little hobby machines have a low duty cycle at the top end, it's easy to forget this if you're busy, or in a hurry to get done.