Faulty Thermal Arc 181 on ebay

[garethp]

I've just spotted this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thermal-Arc-181i-Inverter-Mig-tig-arc-3-
In-1/253869203346?hash=item3b1bc89f92:g:AnYAAOSw7E1bmruy

and wondered if it was worth a punt? It doesn't sound like there is much wrong with it and its fairly local. Anyone got a rough idea of what the fault might be and what the fix would cost?

 

[Richard.]

No it’s not worth £350.
For that kinda money you could secure yourself a fully working very nice single phase Cebora or murex
Inverter migs are a nightmare to repair unless you really know your stuff
You could end up throwing more money at it than it would be worth new. Avoid in my opinion

 

[Keith 66]

A mate of mine picked up a pile of dead inverter tig sets recently, My son & i had a look inside a few of them. (He has a masters degree in electronics) Basically they are packed full of complicated high voltage & high amperage micro electronics. They get full of grinding & metal dust & sooner or later some component or another goes pop. Without full diagnostic gear & the knowledge & skill to use it you have absolutely no chance in hell of fixing them. We weighed the lot in. That is all they are worth.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I'd chuck 150 @ it for spares for mine thats about it. Be a gamble buying to fix

 

[garethp]

I'll give it a miss, thanks for the comments

 

[Sean]

Mine now.

new torch ( was cheaper than buying a single Tweco 'fusion' tip!), dressed up a rather damaged Euro socket on the front panel. Blew it out, read through the service manual and re set the dip switches to what they should be.

so far so good

 

[Sean]

Thanks Garethp for the OP
and thanks to the seller (who is also on here)
I love this Forum

 

[zx9]

Mine now.

new torch ( was cheaper than buying a single Tweco 'fusion' tip!), dressed up a rather damaged Euro socket on the front panel. Blew it out, read through the service manual and re set the dip switches to what they should be.

so far so good

Well done, I have to admit to thinking along the lines of @Richard. but happy to be proved wrong.

 

[Sean]

Well done, I have to admit to thinking along the lines of @Richard. but happy to be proved wrong.

It was local so was able to go see it working - it was clear that there was no real big issues - all the hallmarks of a duff liner or dodgy tip. it was powering up and sending out a decent welding current just the wire feed seemed erratic ( no worse than an un modified SIP) Seller had lost patience. Dont think Id have taken the risk un seen, lets you judge the seller too - decent bloke!

 

[Richard.]

Well done, I have to admit to thinking along the lines of @Richard. but happy to be proved wrong.

Me too.
It’s quite rare these things have a happy ending. Usually when people say “easy fix” it means “I’ve tried to have it fixed and it wasn’t cost effective” seems in this case not to be the case.
Well done Sean you took a gamble I wouldn’t of taken but good on ya because it’s paid off. I hope she provides you with many more years of service.

 

[dannyp]

Inverters are never cost effective to fix unless it’s just the plug that’s been cut off.

Got quite a pile of dead inverters never manage to fix one with bits out of another ether . They like to cascade fail