Great new portamig, awfull tiny handbook

[zardoz]

My new toy came today, the portamig 185 and while it was great to finally get hold of it, the kit was let down by the weediest handbook/manual, since the year dot. A little tip to Portamig, when you have a 10 page manual, its better not to leave 7 of the pages blank! It doesn't fool anyone. Even the nice touch of the hard plastic front page cover was wasted, as im hardly going to be refering to it so much that i need to keep oily splodges and fingers from marring the frontispiece. It was shown up all the more by the manual for the mig torch which came in at 12 pages and four different languages!

Oh and the exceedingly wimpy front tyre came of the wheel and the plastic rim of course could not take the weight of the mig and it broke. i got it back on sort of, but standing next to the Oxford one cant help but notice the arc welders wheels appear to have been machined from a solid billet of steel (now Thats what i call a wheel)

Sorry just ignore my moaning, i was really happy to receive the Portamig. I am just rather peed off that i cant weld with it, as i cant even afford a bottle of gas. After miscalculating the month the car tax and MOT were up ie: last week Coming on top of the new car i was and still am well and truly skint, and now poxy christmas is on the horizon. Oh woe is me, when will i ever get to use the new toy

no gas...mumble mumble..no gas mumble mumble...

Humbug!

 

[irondarren]

I think the old oxford wheels are cast, big fat steel wheels, and yep plastic wheels arent the cleverist invention as without the tyre, they are so feeble.
Need to get some gas, cant you borrow some from anyone? who was you going to get the gas from?

 

[Drains]

Portamigarebuildingdowntoaprice!Portamigarebuildingdowntoaprice!
Portamigarebuildingdowntoaprice!Portamigarebuildingdowntoaprice!
Portamigarebuildingdowntoaprice!

 

[irondarren]

Think its the same for all now days simon, its called remaining competitive.

 

[Drains]

Think its the same for all now days simon, its called remaining competitive.

Mate, complaints about paperwork and cheap wheels are the downfall of firms who have a reputation for quality!

It's the little things that count (that's what the missus says )

 

[rusty69bus]

post pic's

 

[zardoz]

Need to get some gas, cant you borrow some from anyone? who was you going to get the gas from?

I know you guys who have been in the trade or welding for years probably got to know a lot of other folks in the area who also weld. But as a relative newcomer, I dont even know anyone else with a mig welder, except two guys with little hobby migs and disposable bottles, and one of them i only know through my brother. Nobody with a real gas bottle. I was planning to rent from Grahams machinery {an Air products outlet}

I probably wont even get to use it till after Christmas now. The thought is too painful to contemplate. First my Oxford RT300 appears to be 400V (see other thread) only and now the bloody Portamig cant be used either.

Oh woe is me. excuse me while i go into Senna the Soothsayer mode (under forty fives will have no idea who this is) Oh woe to the man who buyeth a welder offeth ebay and not checketh its voltage. And another Woe to the man who buys a £500 welder and then cant afford the bloddy gas to use it. Yes woe betide that stupid man, whoever he is.

 

[irondarren]

True enough about, instructions, ive bought some quality items from time to time and the instruction stink, bought some tut and the instructions have been the best quality part about it

 

[Mikey D]

yea but at least the instruction book was in english not badly translated chinese

 

[irondarren]

Zardoz is it not a 30day account with AP? is with BOC, so if it was the same with AP, they would be demanding money in january for the gas

 

[zardoz]

Zardoz is it not a 30day account with AP? is with BOC, so if it was the same with AP, they would be demanding money in january for the gas

So if i get a bottle this week i wont be charged till January ?Hey ill give anything a go, but im not sure what ill say if they ask me to pay for it. They already told me ill need my 'bank details' and some identity. So if i go in with my card and they do ask for payment, ill have to shamefacedly admit that the (bank) cupboard is bare. It may not bode to well for future dealings. Does anyone who is with Air products know if it works like this. I mean these guys don't know me from Adam ?

 

[irondarren]

Just go down there an speak to them about renting a gas bottle, find out how it all works. If they tell you its a 30day account your fine. if they say well you have to pay for it now, say well i dont want a bottle now i just want to set up the account, so you have all my details when i do want a bottle

 

[MarkMG]

Go down late at night........ no no no stupid idea

 

[snowcat]

Portamigarebuildingdowntoaprice!Portamigarebuildingdowntoaprice!
Portamigarebuildingdowntoaprice!Portamigarebuildingdowntoaprice!
Portamigarebuildingdowntoaprice!

 

[weldequip]

The "Instructions" are p*ss poor agreed, but then again it's not first-timers kit so they shouldn't be needed (+ I'm here if you need help ).
Those wheels are actually good compared to a lot of the competition! not solid steel Oxford quality, but decent enough
weldequip

 

[dcocks]

Hi
You an get a BOC bottle without paying anything for 30 days all they want is your bank details for the DD.
Not sure if that applys to private customers or not but it is certanly the case with a business acount.

Portamig wheels never looked at mine to be honest but not fell of yet will keep my eye on it,
The manual is rubbish but it does say this is a pro machine so spose they think the operator dont need much of a book not much of a excuse to be honest

As i have only had stick welders in the past it would have been nice to have had a bit better book. But they are a very simple machine so did not take much working out did not have to phone Weldequip for any help well not yet .
Cheers David

 

[lexi]

No not much of a booklet........but you won`t need it. The money has been spent inside the machine rather than glossy booklets. You have no gas? I have no garage.lol

Alex

 

[zardoz]

No not much of a booklet........but you won`t need it. The money has been spent inside the machine rather than glossy booklets. You have no gas? I have no garage.lol

Alex

After a small amount of head scratching over feeding the wire into the whatsisname, i eventually got it to work. Yes i got some gas on account (thanks guys) and got it to work. I did some ok welding, though im not sure how much pressure to set it at for yer everyday welding on 0.8 wire. (looks around expectantly for help ) :

PS: point taken about the porta' being for pro's so handbook not really needed (ill bet the bloody Germans have shiny manuals though? ) But the super weedy plastic front wheels are pathetic, and in fact will be replaced as soon as i can find ones to fit it.

PPS: It was sooo great to have the Porta' finaly crackling away in my hand. Although it was on the driveway, as we have "space issues" at the moment. The gardening stuff taking up too much room. I just missed a FREE shed last week, that would have been perfect. Ill have to ask on Freecycler for the wood to build our own i suppose. Aint Freecycler great ? I got a super cool Philips stereo system last week. even though it must have been over 12 years old, it surely had been top of the range back then, as it is still in tip top form, both physically and audio wise, with fantastic booming speakers. the only bad point was the record deck belt had stretched. Oh well i will happily punt out a few quid for a new one, to be able to play my 45's and LP's again (remember them granddads ?)
To salve my conscience, after getting such a great bargain (and lots of shelves as well) i gave away two Yamaha keyboards and tons of computer parts to a guy who builds computers for worthy causes.

ppps: Now i have completely gone off at a tangent i will shutup.

 

[irondarren]

setting the pressure on the wire feeder comes with experience, but try this method.
run a little wire out of the torch enough for you to be able to pinch in your fingers. Now grab hold tight with you fingers (thumb and for finger) and try to stop it coming out of the torch, if you can stop it add a little tention. The idea is to set the wire feed unit up so as it never stops, but if you have it to tight, and it cant pass up the torch it will just buckle the wire, and you end up with the birds nest effect. tension should be set so as it slips just before it birds nests the wire

make sure the welding wire cannot earth whilst your doing this or you will get burned fingers

 

[zardoz]

Will try that darren, thanks