Faulty regulator question

[4dabird]

Hi,

I have a Clarke En125 MIG welder. I bought the Clarke regulator for the Co2/Argon bottle last year. I have gone thru 2 bottles and the regulator has been sitting for about 6-8 months without use.

Recently I went to install a new bottle with this regulator and found instant pressure which blew off the hose at the welder. It seems the regulator is stuck in the open position.

Is this common? Is this a lousy regulator? Is there anything that can unstick this or just buy another one. If I do buy another one, what brand to buy. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Country Joe]

Maybe - I would think if you don't turn off at the cylinder tap, as well as at the regulator, then it might leak out a bit all the time.
If it's a small/non-refillable cylinder you're talking about, I wouldn't even leave the regulator on it overnight - the miniscule amount of gas, combined with those shonky mini regulators, would probably have it empty within a few hours. Maybe I'm just a pessimist, though!
Just noticed you're from over the pond, so any recommendation from me would most likely be useless.
Shenion, on this forum, is from your neck of the woods - a most knowledgeable & helpful fellow - bet he'll be along soon!

Hope this helps,
CJ

 

[4dabird]

Found the issue. I unscrewed the regulator from the base. There is a convex button for the lack of a better word that is under the knob. this is what puts pressure to the spring. The keeper broke away from this button, hence it is now useless.

 

[shenion]

I had a Clare reg and it worked fine but did seem a bit cheaply made.

I now have several regs that are name brands, Smith, Weldit (Lincoln Electric). They work well.

Country Joe: The disposables are not available in the US, so it makes it easier to telll it is a regular reg.

I think Northern Tools sells either Hobart or WeldIt regs. I picked up mine off ebay, some good, one bad. Since you have to get a new one, you might look at getting one with a real flowmeter (one that gas a floataing ball to measure flow.)

BTW, welcome to the forums , good group here.

 

[Country Joe]

Country Joe: The disposables are not available in the US, so it makes it easier to telll it is a regular reg.

Quite right too! - they shouldn't be available anywhere. A bit like buying petrol for £1 a cup!
CJ

 

[4dabird]

Thanks. I see the floating ball type, but I was not sure those are ok for mig welding? Just don't know enough about these.

Are they more accurate? Is seems silly that I have to buy a whole new regulator for the broken 30 cent part... are there repair parts sold anywhere?

Tell me more about the one gage and plastic flow type regs if you don't mind.

Thanks.

 

[shenion]

The Clarke regulator has just a pressure gauge on the output.

My Weldit Gauge is similar. Gauge is calibrated in LPM/SCFM. On the gauge it actually says "calibrated for a 0.029" orifice." The output fitting has the small orifice.

I measured it, 10LPM is about 25 PSI. The problem is it assumes no further restrictions on the flow. So it may not be accurate. Usually it is close. The Clarke reg has a similar orifice in its output fitting

The floating ball type actually measures the volume of gas flowing through it. So it is always accurate.

I found the orifice type work fine for MIG. When I started doing TIG, I wanted the floating ball type as I wanted more accurate flow and i have about 40' of hose for it to go through.

I'd look for whatever you are willing to spend money on. There are cheap Chinese flowmeters sold on ebay, i got one and the flowmeter broke as it did not fit well (poor machining.) Stick with a name brand (if the ebay seller does not say the brand it its probably a cheap Chinese one.)

You can always add a floating ball type flowmeter later. I have a simple reg with the orifice removed. There is 30' of hose to my wire feeder (bottles on wall, feeder on cart.) The flowmeter is mounted to the back of the wire feeder. That lets me adjust the flow at the feeder.

For DIY use, any decent reg will work. Adjust it to get the results you want. MIG on steel is not real critical on gas flow.

The Clarke reg has worked fine for 2 years. You must have gotten a rare bad one. They are repairable anymore as they all have different parts and due to the high pressures involved, noone will accept the liability of selling repair parts

 

[4dabird]

Thanks for the feedback. I decided to buy a floating ball type.