Eland MIG 230 Bought

[MollyNomad]

Just joined the forum thought I’d intro myself.

My name is Malcolm (60) and live in south Fife, in the sticks. Love old cars and machinery etc. Definitely NOT a welder although I have repaired some metal work on a few cars, welding included. That was all done on a flux cored ‘Lidl Special’ which has served me well.. despite its failings(and mine)

Been looking for a replacement for a fair few years and today didn’t achieve that at all. I bought a welder but one that can’t really compare to a Lidl item. I spied in Marketplace a couple of days ago so sent a msg. The seller replied early this miring so organised to drive and collect it. I’m glad I did. On arrival the seller was a pleasant dude who obviously had ‘dirty hands’ from honest work.. a quick meet and we drive a short distance to his workshop. Thinking I was buying the welder alone I had the pleasant surprise to find out that a full bottle of argon/CO2 and a 2/3 roll of 15kg wire was also included. It needs a new torch. The seller helped me load the welder etc into my car.. I hadalready been surprised by the size of the welder and Gad a bigger surprise regards it weight. Hobby welders are mere toys in that regards. Anyhoo once it and the bottle were secured monies were exchanged as well as pleasantries and I made my way home. Now other than turning the unit on (the torch was broken so no test of welding was done) and hearing the fan working etc. I don’t really have a great idea if all is okay. The word speed know just spins ATM but the other knobs do ‘click’ on and off etc. Having read some posts regards these items I am assuming that all is not lost etc. I face thd unit s quick once over when back at my ‘gaff’ and it has been stored under my workbench for the time being. Other than putting fuel into the car the whole ‘package’ cost me £80.

I intend to get stuck into the machine and a bit more heavy duty fabrication as soon as I can.

Best

Malcolm

 

[waddycall]

Those are really nice migs. We used to have some at work. If you have any problems with the circuit board then technical arc in York can fix them.

 

[MollyNomad]

Great many thanks.

 

[Barking Mat]

Welcome to the forum.

Big transformer based mig.

Probably last a lifetime.

 

[MollyNomad]

Thanks

Just searching for parts or parts that will word. Wire feed ‘knob’ ‘POT’ is broken so looking for one of those, found a resistor when I opened the main housing(it fell onto the floor) have ordered and Lance and new euro connector, regulator and flow valve…clean up the mechanicals on the wire feed/wheel a wee bit of corrosion other than that and X amount of years in a big barn seems to be okay..

Best
Malcolm

 

[eddie49]

Very nice! Those diodes look serious, and it has a proper wirefeed assembly, with a geared pressure roller.

That wirewound high-wattage resistor is the bleed resistor for the capacitor bank. It is attached directly to the NC contacts of the contactor. The constant movement and vibration when it operates leads to fracture of the solid copper resistor wires, so the resistor is often found lying on the floor of the welder.
See:

Murex tradesmig 160

Having removed the cover panels on the welder today to give it a bit of a clean out I found this only connected at one end? Im not sure what I need to look for as a replacement. Any help would be appreciated. Ive attached a picture of offending item Thanks

www.mig-welding.co.uk

 

[MollyNomad]

Just been reading the forum and found these two problems mentioned EXACTLY as I found them today.. I will be ordering the or substitute parts when I can find them..

 

[eddie49]

If you buy a finned aluminium-cased version of the 24 or 27 Ohm 15- to 25-Watt resistor, it could be mounted firmly on the chassis and then wired to the contactor with flexible wire, avoiding a repeat of the problem of solid wires fracturing.

 

[MollyNomad]

Just ordered the same one. Also 10k linear POT switch. Hopefully I got that right

 

[Monkeypeas]

Welcome to the 230 club, i have one if you need me to rummage around in it for any reason to check anything, if you've searched for threads on this machine you'd have probably seen it, its by far the highest quality machine i've ever had my hands on in terms of build quality, even the paint and everything is good quality, which means you can clean the machine properly without it all falling off, chances are it'll look great all cleaned up.

Congrats on getting one, a very smart buy for that money.

 

[MollyNomad]

Thanks I’m still pinching myself I must admit.

Have taken delivery of a bleed resistor, new torch and a ‘POT’ as my wire feed knob is possibly broken. Just awaiting a new Euro socket to arrive then I can start fixing/replacing stuff in earnest… must admit it’s built like the proverbial tank.

Will keep updating as things progress or not..

Regards

Malcolm

 

[MollyNomad]

UPDATE:

Finally took delivery of a new Euro connector for my Eland Mig 230. Began replacing the old socket last night. As the new one is ‘generic’ I had a bit of a fiddle getting it together but finally achieved the physical mounting of the damn thing. Now I’m wondering what the electrical connections would be from the welder to the Euro connector. The machines wires are a brown and a white wire, the Euro connector comes with a red and a black wire.

I am assuming() that the machines wires are:

Brown = LIVE
White = EARTH

The Euro connectors are:

Red = Live
Black = Earth

Any sage advice would be appreciated.

Best

Malcolm

 

[eddie49]

Those thin wires at the Euro connector are for the trigger switch in the torch. The red and black wires will go to the two tiny sockets for the pins on the Euro plug. The brown and white machine wires are a low voltage circuit, connecting to logic on the control board ( not mains ). None of these wires are "Earthed" ( i.e. connected to the chassis/case ), they are fully-floating, and the trigger switch is just a simple On/Off, so the red & black can be connected to the brown and white either way round.
( Note that the brass lump of the socket is "live" with the positive of the welding voltage, i.e. 15 to 35 v DC, so it must always be isolated from the front panel and chassis.)

 

[MollyNomad]

Thanks for the information. Yep that whole part of the euro connector is floating it took me some time to get it ‘just so’. Noted the plastic separator below the wire feed assembly and also the clamp/bolt which fixes to the rear of the euro plug atop the drilled section that the wire tube resides in.

 

[MollyNomad]

In the process of sorting out the bleed resistor just soldering some wires onto the resistor ‘terminals’ ….soldering.. like welding and most things is not my ‘strong suit’..

 

[MollyNomad]

Okay after ‘dinner’ (chicken, Leek and smoked bacon Pie, new boiled potatoes and green beans) I returned to the garage and tidied up a bit before fixing the bleed resistor to the inside of the rear panel using some thermal paste and…. Painters tape. The wire ends fixed into the switch gear where the bleed resistor used to reside. As I was mounting the resistor I noticed the small print stating that the thermal paste ‘NEVER’ cures.. DOH! Hence the tape.. so I will be securing it with something better there soon.. and then mounted the wires from the euro connector to the two hard wired wires in the welder that control. Now when I collected the welder I was told it was broken. That’s not the case up to and including the connector and its ability to feed wire on the switch. Very pleased with that. The earth wire requires a bit of help and a new clamp(I have one I can use) . Decided to make a video of the initial start up and ‘wire feed’ from the welder case to the tip of the nozzle.. my editing skills that good that only a tiny bit of footage exists.. so it will remain in my phone.. tomorrow earth strap stuff and maybe some sparks..

 

[MollyNomad]

Okay tried the welder out this morning after sorting out the earth cable and clamp etc. The welder functions and welds… although I still can’t. There are some amount of inconsistencies in the wire speed which needs looking at not sure if it’s the torch liner feed roller etc but thinking that the more it’s used the better it might work(or not) and the greater chance I have of finding the issues. My ‘full bottle unfortunately isn’t so for the time being there will be no more welding as such. Now to find a gas supplier or just get in touch with the company that supplied the current bottle. I go back to work on Sunday so will take it from the next time I get paid. Up to now
Many thanks for everyone’s advice