First MIG setup at home

[polorallydriver]

hi guys hoping to get some advice on my first Mig setup for home use

I'm currently in the process of rebuilding my rally car that's been in storage for a few years, I learnt to weld at college (both Mig and tig) originally as part of my degree so have been accustomed to using other people's equipment but never needed my own until now.

I was given a Clarke 150TE machine and a co2 bottle by a friend but I've never been able to get it to work properly regardless of setting, so I'm just looking to get a machine which gives more reliable results, around 150-180A at a guess for doing body work and general component fabrication.

Any advice greatly appreciated

 

[Tom Orrow L]

What sort of budget you working with?
What's the thickest steel you reckon you'll use?

For car body work you'll need something with a decent low end so as to not burn through. I had a play with a Jasic MIG 160 at work the other day and they're quite nice to weld with, nothing absolutely amazing but it nice for the price. Low end of 10A and can weld up to 0.6MM steel but also welded 6MM plate quite nicely.

There is plenty in the market that will suit your needs for general part making and body work, what you get exactly depends on quality you want and budget to spend.

Plenty of people here who'll be more than happy to help you out too

 

[Cobbler]

Hi there & welcome to the forum,
You should find the Clarke machine ok, their well regarded on here as a good amateur welder, it sounds like there is something wrong with it. Before spending out a lot of money on a new one, put the problems up on here & you should be able to identify the fault. I bet it's something quite simple, rusty wire, knackered liner or something. If it was a freebie it's well worth sorting out.

 

[polorallydriver]

What sort of budget you working with?
What's the thickest steel you reckon you'll use?

For car body work you'll need something with a decent low end so as to not burn through. I had a play with a Jasic MIG 160 at work the other day and they're quite nice to weld with, nothing absolutely amazing but it nice for the price. Low end of 10A and can weld up to 0.6MM steel but also welded 6MM plate quite nicely.

There is plenty in the market that will suit your needs for general part making and body work, what you get exactly depends on quality you want and budget to spend.

Plenty of people here who'll be more than happy to help you out too

Awesome thanks.

The kinda spec you mention is probably about right for me - 0.8 - 5 or 6mm max.

I'm open to suggestion on budget really, it's not the sort of thing I will use lots once I've re-built the car so it will only be for odd jobs from there on

 

[polorallydriver]

Hi there & welcome to the forum,
You should find the Clarke machine ok, their well regarded on here as a good amateur welder, it sounds like there is something wrong with it. Before spending out a lot of money on a new one, put the problems up on here & you should be able to identify the fault. I bet it's something quite simple, rusty wire, knackered liner or something. If it was a freebie it's well worth sorting out.

Yeah I had considered weather I could patch this one up potentially - I have put a new shroud, new wire, new tip into the machine. It seems to feed wire inconsistent and regardless of settings or technique and generally leaves lots of spatter and irregular penetration. I managed to get it to do one seam about 1.5" long earlier and then everything after that was awful, to the point I ground them off again.

I'd considered it probably needs a new liner, and I also found that the end of the torch you screw the tips into is damaged although they actually still screw in OK.

 

[Tom Orrow L]

Awesome thanks.

The kinda spec you mention is probably about right for me - 0.8 - 5 or 6mm max.

I'm open to suggestion on budget really, it's not the sort of thing I will use lots once I've re-built the car so it will only be for odd jobs from there on

No worries, you'll get what you need with a budget of around £500-550.

You could also consider looking for secondhand stuff on eBay.

 

[polorallydriver]

No worries, you'll get what you need with a budget of around £500-550.

You could also consider looking for secondhand stuff on eBay.

Yeah I had guessed £4-600, that jasic machine looks great actually for my setup, I did a quick search on eBay but it's a bit of a mine field!

 

[polorallydriver]

Whats your gas flow like?
What are you using as a CO2 supply?

Seems OK as far as I can tell, it's a CO2 bottle probably of "pub gas" descent it's 100% CO2 with a twin gauge regulator. I did notice there is perhaps some dubious joined hose into the Clarke plastic hose they normally use as the bottle is significantly bigger but it seems to flow from the torch ok.

I also noticed the tip is nearly inline with the shroud when they are both tight, and that if you trim the wire from the torch there's always about 10mm of "slack" you can pull out of the side cutters

 

[Chris Stevens]

Yeah I had considered weather I could patch this one up potentially - I have put a new shroud, new wire, new tip into the machine. It seems to feed wire inconsistent and regardless of settings or technique and generally leaves lots of spatter and irregular penetration. I managed to get it to do one seam about 1.5" long earlier and then everything after that was awful, to the point I ground them off again.

I'd considered it probably needs a new liner, and I also found that the end of the torch you screw the tips into is damaged although they actually still screw in OK.

Feed wire through the torch and try to stop it with a gloved hand. It should just about stop, but continue to feed as soon as you put less pressure on it. If it stops very easily, you have wire feed problems. Try adjusting wire feed roll tension, if that makes no difference, cut the wire and see if you can pull it through the torch with little resistance. If there is a lot of resistance, change the wire liner, but if the machine has had a hard life, it might need a new torch, which is certainly worth a try before spending £500-600 on new.

 

[Cobbler]

One thing not mentioned above, take the wire feed tension off as above, pull the trigger while watching the wire feed roller, also put resistance on it with a gloved hand. Try this as several speeds. This will check the motor & gears out making sure it's all running smoothly. There are a number of posts with old or well used machines, that the grease has gone hard in the gear box stopping the feed running smoothly. When cleaned out & relubricated all was ok. Also wind the wire feed potentiometer back & forth a few times in case the track is dirty & the adjustments jerky.

Being as you were given it, was it because the last owner couldn't get it working? Does the arc strike ok? If not one of the rectifying diodes might have gone, easy check with a multimeter

It's a welder that spares are readily available, so it should be easy to repair & a useful machine fixed.

 

[polorallydriver]

Thanks for the tips, I gave it a bit of a once over with the above comments this morning.

The wire feed seems ok, if I feed wire into a gloved hand it will actually push my hand away unless I actively resist it.

It will strike up ok, it doesn't seem to want to start a puddle going at all though, it seems to spit inconsistently and has little or no penetration on the piece of 3mm scrap I tried.

I did discover the gas regulator was a bit low in terms of flow rate, I reminded that before the test bits I did this morning. It also seems to like to trip the garage circuit out if I have it on one of the higher settings.

I took the torch apart briefly and found the button on the gas valve is unbelievably stiff, so I did a few tests and noticed the torch sometimes won't produce gas when the trigger is depressed.

I wonder if it's perhaps worth buying a complete torch for it for the £70 or so they are before investing in a new machine entirely

 

[Chris Stevens]

The gas valve solenoid on a MIG is inside the machine, but if your gas isnt flowing as it should the set will never work properly. If it has a Euro torch, then why not try and borrow one to check if torch is causing problem?

 

[Chris Stevens]

The gas valve on almost all hobby migs made in the last 20+ years is trigger operated in the torch - NOT a solenoid valve inside the machine.

Also, it's a little clarke - it'll only have a euro if someone's retrofitted one in the past - they have fixed torches.

Shows how much I know about hobby MIGs! Last one I had was about 20 years ago (SIP), and wasnt that great!
Maybe modifying to Euro and internal gas valve is a good idea?

 

[Cobbler]

A bit of wd40 on the gas valve should work wonders to free it up, they can get sticky over time. Not the end of the world, readily available. Have a look at Weldequip's web site on the top bar of the forum. He lists most of the spares & is a helpful guy. All the spares to rebuild the torch are on there. Alternatively Machine Mart keep some spares & can order the rest. Look on the Clarke page of the welders on here, there is the handbook & spares lists at the top.

Is the wire clean? Rusty wire causes allsorts of problems. I bet it's something simple, those machines are pretty robust & foolproof. If it's got a plastic liner up to the torch, think of changing it for a metal one when you get it going, as they are rubbish. The metal ones are not much dearer & cause a lot less resistance to the wire feed.

 

[normspanners]

Are you running off an extension? migs hate them you need at least a 2.5 mm wire for even a short extension, to keep the voltage up, coz as the mains volts drops to the machine, the wire speed is affected and then the whole process starts to droop and can't recover.

 

[Cobbler]

Are you running off an extension? migs hate them you need at least a 2.5 mm wire for even a short extension, to keep the voltage up, coz as the mains volts drops to the machine, the wire speed is affected and then the whole process starts to droop and can't recover.

Good thinking Norm, if I'm welding anything heavier than sheet metal I always use a heavy extension lead direct from the ring main in the house rather than what is effectively a spur to the garage, even though it's 2.5mm.

 

[MoreWellie]

Our clarke 151te was a pleasure to use and got favourable comments from welders that stopped by to give me pointers. I wouldn't use it for anything thicker than 4mm though
the voltage sequence from thin to thicker metal is Min-1, Max-1, Min-2, Max-2, Min-3, Max-3
we usually set the wire speed around 7 but used the range 5 to 9 for fine tuning
a new metal liner and a new swan neck along with new tips should get it working fine
you don't need too much pressure on the roller just enough to stop the wire feed slipping too easily when you grip the wire between finger and thumb (mind it doesn't arc against the return lead whilst testing)
I presume you are using a good roll of wire as a birds nest will vary the feed. Also check for labels on the reel and moulding bits of plastic on the reel which can catch and drag (you can hear the rhythmic change in the feed)
.8 wire works best for higher currents but use the right size for the wire on the feed roller and the tips
check your earth lead and clamp are in good condition
set your gas flow with a pea shooter on the end. If the torch works like ours a half pull on the trigger allowed you to get the gas flowing before the wire runs which is handy for purging the hose and something I miss on the euro torch

 

[normspanners]

Good thinking Norm, if I'm welding anything heavier than sheet metal I always use a heavy extension lead direct from the ring main in the house rather than what is effectively a spur to the garage, even though it's 2.5mm.

It is not really even the hi voltage /amps for thick metal it is the current inrush to the tranny when the trigger is pulled, it is virtually the same for most settings the contactor kicks in and the tranny takes a large gulp of electric into an empty coil, dropping the voltage in the main cable, momentarily that then drops the wire speed, the wire sticks momentarily etc etc usually things get a little better once up and running a bead but it is that initial inrush., that has to be got over.

 

[gaz1]

ive got a clarke 150 te and have welded 5mm using the v method ours will have the 1 and a letter a i think buttons 2 and 3 min and max button and power on button you need to switch to a to get 2 and 3 working on min and max settings otherwise it wont give the higher rating needed for welding thicker stuff



the dial i usually have it around 4-5 on any type of metal

also your switches could have a fault in them

on minimum A 3 you should be able to weld 3mm together

heres your booklet from it comes from this site posted by a member

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/clarke-150te-instructions.877/

direct link to pdf file

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/richard.martin/discovery/MIGPRO90_100E_150TE.pdf