Fimer 250A

[Memmeddu]

Hi everyone ,as mentioned before a friend of mine has an old transformer based Fimer 250A arc welder
He said me that he would like to sell it or give it with all the shop equipment
Anyway I asked how much he wants if I take it .
He said me that it has lack of power so he doesn't want to sell it to a friend ,if he doesn't sell it ,he will give it to me for free or almost .
I would solve the problem with power so the question is what could go wrong with a unit like this?
My first thought is rectifier bridge , maybe a broken diode
2 wire connections
3 switch contacts
4 hopefully not that transformer baked up

What I should do buy it broken, repair so my friend can sell it better to another one ,check it just to confirm my doubts?

Thanks in advance

Ps the machine in the pictures is not the buddy one , it's an exact same one

 

[Rig Pig]

Good old-fashioned set but do you have enough power to run it? My old 180A stick welder will pop a 30A single phase house mcb on start-up, runs ok after that.

 

[Memmeddu]

Good old-fashioned set but do you have enough power to run it? My old 180A stick welder will pop a 30A single phase house mcb on start-up, runs ok after that.

It's a good question , my power supply can give 3.3kW full time 4kW for 3hours 6kW for 2minutes
I run all my welders through an RCD switch ,no MCB at moment on this circuit
When I will make the homeshop I will use a 40A RCD and 40A MCB to protect the dedicated welder circuit
The start up shouldn't be enough to make trip the RCD switch so no problems I think.
If I take this welder I will use it for arc air,carbon torches , and 6010
Using smaller size rods that requires 150A only

 

[eddie49]

What I should do buy it broken, repair so my friend can sell it better to another one ,check it just to confirm my doubts?

For me, I would take the cover off, look around inside, check with an Ohmmeter, power it up, check with a voltmeter, then decide which option to take.

The start up shouldn't be enough to make trip the RCD switch so no problems I think.

The RCD will trip if the current draw in Live and Neutral gets out-of-balance. I assume that without an MCB, at the moment you are using fuses, and these will be more tolerant of the inrush current surge of a large transformer.

 

[Memmeddu]

For me, I would take the cover off, look around inside, check with an Ohmmeter, power it up, check with a voltmeter, then decide which option to take.



The RCD will trip if the current draw in Live and Neutral gets out-of-balance. I assume that without an MCB, at the moment you are using fuses, and these will be more tolerant of the inrush current surge of a large transformer.

Thanks for your advice
I think I will probably just check it with the diode tester part of my DMM on the output side if it has continuity both sides the rectifier is faulty
That's for quick troubleshooting it
After doing that , surely I will look inside and check all the connections

 

[mtt.tr]

Rcd others no overcurrent protection definitely not safe

 

[Memmeddu]

Rcd others no overcurrent protection definitely not safe

Agree with you but it's a necessity ,the first switch on the circuit is a 63A MCB on the power meter