Clarke 90en Wire Feed / Power Problem / Volatge Output

[Lanky_Streak_OP]

Hi All,

I am a newbie, I have been reading this forum for ages but this is the first
time I have needed to post. I have searched for the answers to my questions
but to no avail.

I have a Clarke 90en which gets very little usage, (to give a rough idea of
how much I have used it I am still on my first spool of wire and fourth mini
gas bottle) and that's in over a year of ownership - from new.

Last week, whilst welding away, the wire started feeding in spurts rather than
in a nice smooth fashion. This is not a good thing and certainly not conducive
to a good weld. It was at this point I realised that I had run out of gas so I
assumed that this was the reason. After replacing the gas I practiced on a
scrap piece of metal and all seemed OK for one weld. It then started mis-
feeding again. I also noticed the the wire wasn't melting properly it was just
glowing and melting rather than it's normal 'explosive' manner. I then tried
changing both the wire feed and power to various settings and it was when I
had it set to Max 2 (max power) that I noticed the smoke coming from the
back of the welder - Never a good sign !

After removing the cover I found the main transformer to be extremely hot.
I measured the rectifier diodes and they seemed OK so I suspect the
transformer has 'gone for a Burton'.

If this is the case then I assume it is not worth replacing as the cost would
probably be prohibitive.

So... (after that long drawn out explanation) my questions are :-

1) Does anyone have the internal voltages for the Clarke 90en so that I can
definitely confirm the transformer is faulty ?

2) How much would a replacement transformer cost and where can I get one ?

3) What is the voltage range for the feed to the wire motor (should it peak at 12v) ?

Thanks for reading, any advice welcome.

Cheers,

Martin.

 

[R Kraft]

The welder transformer will get hot enough to boil water, even if it is good.
And bad diodes will some times test ok under no load conditions.
Either way the overload should cut out.
If you unhook the diode pack from the transformer and trigger the welder , like you were welding, the transformer should probably stay cool if it is good.
Or someone could watch the internals with the cover off to located the smoker, while you tried to weld.
The wire drive motor should run fine from 12v if you wanted to try running it from a car battery, with it unhooked from the welder.
Robert

 

[droopsnoot]

I had the "glowing and melting" thing on my 90EN, turned out to be bad connections where the two cables join to the front of the welder. In a conversation with weldequip he also mentioned checking the state of the various earth connections inside the machine.