clarke 151te help.

[underdog]

hi. im very new to mig welding and bought a used clarke 151 off ebay. iv borrowed a 135te before and got saome decent results with that and welds were getting better. but this 151 is killing me. the welds are very poor. it feels like a bad earth from what i can gather but iv changed clamp, checked wire, stripped open welder and inspected inside. not that i know what im looking at. but im out of ideas. the problem is the welds are mostly swiss cheese no matter what setting or gas flow. also something iv not seen before is the weld pool will bubble up like a small volcano erupting. it stutters and sometimes it doesnt arc as soon as i touch metal. iv gone through everything i can think of with earth including removing cable off clamp and clamping bare wire direct on metal. occaisionally it will run perfect for a short duration and puts good weld but then returns to junk. what my last concern is that its a 15 amp welder but is running a 13amp plug and im on a 10metre extension lead out the shed. would this cause the problems...

thanks for any advice and help


steve

 

[Bsmith]

Sounds more like a gas problem than electric. Is the plate your welding relatively clean? What gas are you using? The extension cable is long, can you try welder somewhere without extension?
If the Clarke 151 does gasless the polarity could be the wrong way.

 

[underdog]

thanks for reply, iv tried 2 different gas bottles both disposables. its mig only so polarity cant be changed. i asumed earth problems because of the stuttered welding and sometimes failing to arc when trigger pressed.

 

[Bsmith]

thanks for reply, iv tried 2 different gas bottles both disposables. its mig only so polarity cant be changed. i asumed earth problems because of the stuttered welding and sometimes failing to arc when trigger pressed.

I see what you mean. If the torch tip is ok and the wire is feeding ok, I would be looking for a dodgy connection inside the torch or inside the welder.

 

[MoreWellie]

did you see it work when you collected it? it may have been sold because it had a fault

does everything look in good condition? is the torch properly put together, correct tip fitted and screwed in properly

DO NOT PUT the TORCH UP TO YOUR EAR but can you hear the gas flowing when you pull the trigger. On mine the gas flows with half a trigger pull before the wire starts feeding but the clarke regulator needs to be turned more than once round the dial to start it flowing

Once started does the wire feed smoothly?

Is the extension lead a heavy 13 amp one? mine worked fine on a 10m 13a cable

I would imagine a blown rectifier might give the symptoms you are describing, with the welder unplugged from the mains do you have sufficient knowledge/test meter to test the rectifier diodes?

 

[underdog]

i bought it blind off ebay. i think it was sold because of problems. i ahd to dismantle the torch straight away to get wire through as it was left jammed in head. looked like previous owner had problems and just sold it on. iv got a multimeter and can find my way around most tasks so im willing to google what a rectifier is and check it out. gas is flowing as iv held it to my ear already lol. have you ever seen the weld puddle bubble up after you stop welding.. it does that a lot. i was trying to tack weld and every tack was erupting aftr i stopped the gun. metal was all grinded clean and gass flowing. realy appreciate help. im on the verge of just binning it and buying a new one from machine mart. big thanks

 

[cumbriasteve]

Are you sure it is just simple plain mild steel you are trying to weld, a lot of stuff has various coatings these days, the difficulty to strike and bubbling sounds like something is there and you may not be grinding totally through it's coating.

 

[Robotstar5]

Are you sure it is just simple plain mild steel you are trying to weld, a lot of stuff has various coatings these days, the difficulty to strike and bubbling sounds like something is there and you may not be grinding totally through it's coating.

It does sound like something in the metal is causing gassing in the weld, have you got some different metal to try it on?.

...and welcome to the forum.

 

[underdog]

iv tried it on 4 different peices of metal. all ground clean and ground clean for earth contact. if id never used another welder id be none the wiser but as i know i could get fairly good welds for begining standard on another clarke 135te it just dont seem right. im not a pro at welding by any means and im right at the bottom of the learning ladder but i can tell the welder is not working as it should. stuttering, failing to arc occaisonlaly and the weld bubbling up never happened on the 135. im thinking of buying a new clarke 135te or possibly the 150te thats on sale for £299. this welder is depressing me lol

 

[underdog]

thank you all for your replies its been a help

 

[underdog]

tomorrow il try and get a pic of some of the weld to show you.

 

[Bsmith]

iv tried it on 4 different peices of metal. all ground clean and ground clean for earth contact. if id never used another welder id be none the wiser but as i know i could get fairly good welds for begining standard on another clarke 135te it just dont seem right. im not a pro at welding by any means and im right at the bottom of the learning ladder but i can tell the welder is not working as it should. stuttering, failing to arc occaisonlaly and the weld bubbling up never happened on the 135. im thinking of buying a new clarke 135te or possibly the 150te thats on sale for £299. this welder is depressing me lol

Depressing it is but repent and do not bin, get an elect to check rectifier (as has been mentioned) and PCB, might be an easy or inexpensive fix, complete pcb's are available

https://www.weldequip.com/clarke-pcb.htm

 

[underdog]

i dont know where to start or where to go to get it examined. is it worth spending on it though.. can i do any checks with a multimeter. sorry i cant put question mark as the button is broke on my pc

 

[Bsmith]

I would check all connections inside the welder visually for burning, corrosion and tightness. Loosen/tighten and you may find the culprit. I had a SIP Autoplus with irratic welding output at one time, the prob was 2 wires connecting to a heavy wire coming off the transformer, all 3 wires had lugs which were connected together by a steel bolt and washers which had overheated for some reason and come loose, cleaned up connections and a new stainless bolt sorted the prob. You would need to ask someone who knows the finer details about checking the pcb, diods etc, there are some knowledgeable members here, maybe if you start a new thread with a title that would attract their interest?

 

[skotl]

Don't think anyone else asked but are you sure that the wire feed tension is correct? Should be hardish to pull through a straight torch lead (think I recall a 2lb bag of sugar equivalent weight?)

 

[underdog]

hi again thanks for all the help. iv opened it up again and examined to the best of my ability.


this is inside



so i done some research on testing resisters on the rectifier. i tested across these here in pics



there are 6 of them and they all were measuring 1 in one direction and about 468 the other way. i assume the 1 means nothing as it was showing 1 while in standby.

i visually checked the pcb board for burnin but looked ok although this dont mean much i suppose.





so this is a pic of the type of welds it is doing






now i suppose you could look at them welds and just think im rubbish as a beginner and that is true but i know i can do better than that. a point il hopefully prove in my next post.

 

[underdog]

i tried beefing up the earth cable and this changed nothing. i put a new tip on it and it slightly improved for a short time. then was naff again. so wednesday i give up and bought a new 135te from MM.

when i set up the 135 the first thing i noticed was the gas was flowing a lot louder than the 151. so i then assumed a gas problem. so i switched the regulaters and it improved again only for a short time.



i started the spot welds on the bottom right then worked up. then the little slugs on the left. so i thinking id found the fault i ran it for some longer welds and it went bad again. splutters and stutters and no consistency to the arc. sorry didnt take pics of this as id given up the will to live with it.

so it has the capability to do occasional good welds but then goes all wrong. im lost as to why.

so on to the 135te. this felt straight away so much better than the 151. nice consistent welding and so much easier to work with, heres some pics of my welds. im hoping you can see they are better than above but would appreciate some advice on what you think if i can improve please.





i welded to and from spot weld in last pic so scruffied it up a bit but this welder is a joy to use.

thanks for all the help and im still hoping i can cheaply save the 151 or its getting sold for spares or repair.

 

[MoreWellie]

looking at the welds from the old welder the sections with holes in look like no gas was flowing and the big differences in amount of metal deposited look like the feed rate was varying.

I did ask before was the feed smooth, if you just crank through a metre of wire does it feed out smoothly or stutter (obviously don't let it touch anything as you do it)

Is there any damage on the torch hose? I am wondering if there any kinking at the torch end that might causing issues as you move your hand

I should say these are all guesses as I haven't seen a welder doing what you are describing

 

[underdog]

i did check the feed. it does appear to be smooth. iv left a few mtrs run out a few times to check., if the feed was stuttering in use would it not start welding to tip maybe..just guessing.to me it feels like an intermittent arc. the heat are at the suggested settings and it looks like a cold bubbly mess on the white metal peice. thats 1.5 mm.

the feeling it gives when your welding is like too much wire speed. you can feel the gun getting pushed back by wire. iv tried all the speeds and its not too much wire feed. its the arc stopping and starting so wire keeps coming no matter. could this only be caused by the rectifier please, and thanks again for replys

 

[mike 109444]

I think you may have several faults on this machine (some maybe from previous owner trying to fix!)
First I would say you have a gas feed issue ref the "bubbling" As the gas valve is in the torch handle there may be an issue within the valve (bit of muck?) or a holed pipe that shows when the torch is moved (when you are welding!) If yo have access to a low pressure air supply you could try feeding low pressure air through while welder is unplugged but pulling trigger (this will save using up your gas) Could be leaking round swan neck. What ever it's drawing in air with the gas.
Second you have a connection/electrical fault. Looking at your pic 3 post 16 The first thick cable, down and to the left of the motor looks a bit cooked on it's sleeving, As this is a high current carrying cable it's not unusual to see some cooking but it does indicate that where it connects to may be a poor contact.
In the same pic what does the relay contacts under the plastic cover look like? (you may see SOME soot on the cover but over time the contacts can burn and so the relay operates but the power does not get across the contacts (can be intermittent).
From your description of the basic test you have done on the diode pack (metal finned device) they seam ok. But if you look at your pic just at the bottom of pic there are some spade connectors that you should pull off and clean and check there crimping. You could also try bypassing the cut out device (blue thing to the right of you screw driver) if this is acting up it may drop out the welding power mid weld. A made up double ended male spade connection lead would do this for testing.
Have you tried the welding wire from your new machine in the old one just to rule that out from any issues.