cooperman435
New Member
- Messages
- 1
- Location
- Riddlesden, West Yorkshire, UK
Hi all
I'm new so please be patient if there are any mistakes, I'm a mechanical guy so I do hope not!
Anyway, I've owned this machine from new some 10+ years ago, it worked "ok" when new though even back then the wire feed was poor, Its had numerous new drive wheels but as Clarke don't do v grooved ones, only a 0.6mm and 0.8mm u groove with knurling which aren't hardened steel either, I was always up against it.
The main problem was always that when the groove knurling wears smooth there is very little grip, by tightening the adjustment knob you gain traction but then begin over stressing the motor before its even been asked to push the wire!
Ive run 1mm steel wire through it for a long time with better results as the grove manages to get some grip, but still had to fairly crank down the tensioner, it has worked "ok" again for a long time but you can audibly hear the motor changing pitch on each revolution and the feed was not what you would refer to as "silky smooth", the torch was replaced with a euro a few weeks back but as the motor and everything else has aged this problem has gotten worse and worse until the new 4m torch has been terminal for the wire feed completely.
I could cope no more, I started searching the net and found you guys and the threads on replacing power supply to the drive motor, which is what I am part way through as well as replacing the whole wire feed unit for good measure as I have a lot of work coming up for it.
This post is a "part done" update as I've found very good results so far before I've even replaced the actual wire feed unit and as if anyone out there has the same 190t welder its really hard to find the circuit diagrams for it!
So far I've already installed a euro torch (and universal base for it) which wasnt too hard, it all works but the added length of the torch just adds a tad too much friction to get the wire through as it was.
I started by making my own wiring diagram from just tracking the wiring loom inside and cross referencing similar machines diagrams from the net:
this is 90% based on tracing the wires and partially on this schematic I found:
Ive a few things yet to circuit test to be sure things that are connected in the 160en are not the same in mine (ie the 160 has a feed from the + feed of the torch to the trigger and the pcb, mine doesnt but has just a closed loop from the board and back or it seems to anyway, and also that the 160 shows - from the welding feed going through the PCB and a diode to the motor neg,)
any obvious mistakes please do say so!
anyway I've already wired in a 240v ac relay in parallel to the control feed for the gas and contactor circuit coming out of the board, this is to enable the new PSU output to be switched via the relay contacts rather than physically turned on and off which kills PSUs. My new 24v PSU was still on order but I did have a 12v PC PSU which I use in the shop for all sorts as they are free (find an old pc, take it out, yellow is +12v and black is 0v) and powerful, along with a 12v cheapo Ebay motor speed controller, so I wired it in just to see how it fared.
Wow! even at 12v the completely stand alone wire feed system is a HUGE improvement, no struggling to drive the wire even with the tension cranked on to get grip on the wire and so much smother than its ever been, the controller uses sine wave to alter the speed rather than the standard one which changes the voltage and therefore also the torque of the motor also so it has almost full power at low speeds now.
This is the altered schematic now (with 24v written wrongly as it as actually a 12v for now):
For anyone wanting to try this its a doddle to do with just £20 of bits from ebay!
I'm new so please be patient if there are any mistakes, I'm a mechanical guy so I do hope not!
Anyway, I've owned this machine from new some 10+ years ago, it worked "ok" when new though even back then the wire feed was poor, Its had numerous new drive wheels but as Clarke don't do v grooved ones, only a 0.6mm and 0.8mm u groove with knurling which aren't hardened steel either, I was always up against it.
The main problem was always that when the groove knurling wears smooth there is very little grip, by tightening the adjustment knob you gain traction but then begin over stressing the motor before its even been asked to push the wire!
Ive run 1mm steel wire through it for a long time with better results as the grove manages to get some grip, but still had to fairly crank down the tensioner, it has worked "ok" again for a long time but you can audibly hear the motor changing pitch on each revolution and the feed was not what you would refer to as "silky smooth", the torch was replaced with a euro a few weeks back but as the motor and everything else has aged this problem has gotten worse and worse until the new 4m torch has been terminal for the wire feed completely.
I could cope no more, I started searching the net and found you guys and the threads on replacing power supply to the drive motor, which is what I am part way through as well as replacing the whole wire feed unit for good measure as I have a lot of work coming up for it.
This post is a "part done" update as I've found very good results so far before I've even replaced the actual wire feed unit and as if anyone out there has the same 190t welder its really hard to find the circuit diagrams for it!
So far I've already installed a euro torch (and universal base for it) which wasnt too hard, it all works but the added length of the torch just adds a tad too much friction to get the wire through as it was.
I started by making my own wiring diagram from just tracking the wiring loom inside and cross referencing similar machines diagrams from the net:
this is 90% based on tracing the wires and partially on this schematic I found:
Ive a few things yet to circuit test to be sure things that are connected in the 160en are not the same in mine (ie the 160 has a feed from the + feed of the torch to the trigger and the pcb, mine doesnt but has just a closed loop from the board and back or it seems to anyway, and also that the 160 shows - from the welding feed going through the PCB and a diode to the motor neg,)
any obvious mistakes please do say so!
anyway I've already wired in a 240v ac relay in parallel to the control feed for the gas and contactor circuit coming out of the board, this is to enable the new PSU output to be switched via the relay contacts rather than physically turned on and off which kills PSUs. My new 24v PSU was still on order but I did have a 12v PC PSU which I use in the shop for all sorts as they are free (find an old pc, take it out, yellow is +12v and black is 0v) and powerful, along with a 12v cheapo Ebay motor speed controller, so I wired it in just to see how it fared.
Wow! even at 12v the completely stand alone wire feed system is a HUGE improvement, no struggling to drive the wire even with the tension cranked on to get grip on the wire and so much smother than its ever been, the controller uses sine wave to alter the speed rather than the standard one which changes the voltage and therefore also the torque of the motor also so it has almost full power at low speeds now.
This is the altered schematic now (with 24v written wrongly as it as actually a 12v for now):
For anyone wanting to try this its a doddle to do with just £20 of bits from ebay!