MIG 155T as first welder?

[jejoenje]

Hi all,

New here, and new -potentially- to welding...

I've been keeping a lookout for good deals on a decent welder to start practicing with. Main aim would be (after a lot of aforementioned practicing) to weld in some simple repair patches on car body work.

Just spotted a Clarke 155T for sale quite locally to me.

I realise this is quite an old model now, actually had some trouble finding information on it. Is it still worth it buying one of these second hand (provided its in decent nick, of course), for a newbie?
I've had a look around the forum of course but I can't find any specific comments on quality/suitability of this model - but perhaps I have missed it...

Thanks very much for the advice,

Jeroen

 

[Badbusboy]

I would if it was a good price. How much?

 

[T0rnado69]

same one i have.

the old blue one and ive had it about. wow 16 years or so.




i bent the handle up, and also did the earth lead mod to dinse..

 

[jejoenje]

Thanks for the quick replies, much appreciated.
It's up for sale for £80. Theres almost no info I have on it, so I know very little other than that it looks in decent nick from two photos. But no photos of the torch and I've not even seen it yet... I also assume it comes with no gas so probably wouldn't be able to test that part at all.
Are the torches that came with these ok (assuming it hasn't had an upgrade)?

 

[T0rnado69]

if its in good nick then thats a good price.

i see one on ebay the other day and it was rusty as hell...
your need gas to weld, but it doesnt stop you switching it on and pulling the trigger
and see if the wire feeds ok.
ive had no issues with my torch,
i thought about doing a euro conversion, but ive been looking for its big brother for a while now.
but finding one is like hens teeth.
when i do find one, il use that for mild steel and stick a roll of Ssteel i have in this 155t.

edit- il grab a pic of my torch, when i get back and post it up.


here we go..

 

[Memmeddu]

same one i have.

the old blue one and ive had it about. wow 16 years or so.


View attachment 153050

i bent the handle up, and also did the earth lead mod to dinse..

Next step, euro torch connector, and pos dinse socket on the pannel

 

[jejoenje]

Thanks all for this. I am hoping to have a look at it today and will report back.

 

[Cobbler]

As it's elderly, you may well find a new torch liner beneficial if it's never been changed. The older ones had a plastic liner & the wire doesn't feed so well. A metal liner is about a fiver & will take about 1/2 an hour to fit. It won't weld without gas as Tornado says, but it will make sparks to test out.

 

[jejoenje]

Success! I am now the new owner of this venerable (and surprisingly bulky!) beast.
As per the photos, to my untrained eye it is in really quite decent nick. I will try to post some photos tomorrow, as its a bit dark now.
Wire feed (and different speeds) works as it should and from what I've seen doesn't stutter or "jump". There's quite a large spool on it currently, with quite a bit left, but it starting to look a little bit rusty. There's a bunch of spare tips. It sparks properly, but as said no regulator or gas so haven't been able to test the gas flow yet.

Other than just assessing how smoothly the wire feeds, is there any way

Now, could anyone advise on the following two things -
(1) The shroud appears to be loose on the torch, as in it just falls off the torch if its pointing downwards. I assume this is not intended. Its not a screw thread inside the shroud, and what looks like quite a big "thread" on the tip. Am I right in thinking that the tip may be missing a sort of retaining spring?? As above, I'll try to upload a photo tomorrow.
(2) As for the gas connection, this is where I need a bit more help I think - at the moment the gas hose coming out of the back of the back of the machine is just that, an open ended rubber hose. I've measured it, and the outside dia of the hose is about 10mm. I'm planning to get a regulator which fits Hobbyweld 5 bottles, could anyone suggest a suitable one and what I would need to connect it to the hose?

Many thanks in advance for all the help and advice, I really hope it does work properly with all the gas hooked up, and look forward to having a first go!

 

[T0rnado69]

there is a wire that goes around the torch part.
and the shroud goes over that.

and per the pic..




this is the original reg that came with the 155T when brand new.





this type you cant connect a flow meter too.
and the gauge shows bottle contents.

im in the process of buying a new reg and flowmeter for the mig.
and was supposed to measure the I.D of the pipe with a vernier today.
but memory = zero...
reminder set for tomorrow....

remember its the I.D size your need.
to make sure it fits the tail on the new reg.

 

[jejoenje]

Thank you Stuart that's hugely helpful - yes I think it's that wire spring that's missing off the top. This one?
https://www.weldequip.com/products/eurotorch-spring-large.jpg

If you are measuring them anyway, I'd be really grateful if you could let me know the ID and OD of your gas hose.
I assume the end of it just has a hose tail like this that screws on to the regulator?

Thanks so much for your help! Loving this forum already...

 

[T0rnado69]

yup the spring is like that.
best to ask weldequip what the correct one is for your torch.
you dont want to be ordering wrong bits.

yes i will do the hose tomorrow and get the sizes.

the hose tail my mig hose is connected to, it part of the reg and not removable.

but if your getting a new reg that has a threaded end.
you can either fit the hose to the reg via a female tail.

or fit a flowmeter to the reg.. then the hose connects to the flowmeter via a female tail.


if the pipe is indeed 10mm O.D then i would think the I.D will be 6mm.
but il check on it tomorrow.

your welcome and welcome to the forum.
a wealth of information and lots of helpful members

 

[T0rnado69]

right my black pipe is 10.5mm O.D and 5.8mm I.D

 

[jejoenje]

Uh oh. Have I already broken it?
This evening, after taking some photos as promised (below), I decided to try the spark again... just to make sure (ahem - for fun).
So, found a bit of scrap, earthed it as before, set everything to "low" and pressed the trigger - single (loud!) spark and then nothing. Appeared the wire got somewhat attached to the tip, got it off, tried again, no spark. Wire feed's still ok, fan still ok, but whatever I do I can now not get it to spark at all, on any setting...
Any suggestions as to what I could try?

Thanks Stuart, for those pipe measurements - that's pretty much the same as mine.

Here's photos of the (hopefully not broken...) beastie:

 

[jejoenje]

Just to add to the above, I did move the earth clamp around and tried different bits of metal, no luck...

 

[T0rnado69]

looks a clean machine. apart from the black liner on top.
but that would be easy to sort with some contact adhesive.

hmmm strange.

so machine powers on, fan is on.. when you pull trigger it feeds wire.

and its new tip ?

try another new tip and see, if still same.

you might have to take panel off and see if you can see any signs of broken or loose wires.
anything burnt out on PCB's

 

[jejoenje]

Aye I did have a look at the PCB, looks fine - and nothing seemed to go madly wrong in terms of burning anything out.
Turns out (as per here) I think the welding wire may be shorting inside the valve block, due to a torn liner. If I get everything lined up just right, I can get sparks out - but only just. I'm planning to replace the liner and wire and see how I get on - will report back.

So, um, if you are replacing a regulator, does that mean you're looking to sell your old one, by any chance...?

Thanks again...

 

[T0rnado69]

aww i see. that would make sense, if its shorting out inside the block..

as i said my reg is the original one that came with the mig when i got it new.
about 16 years ago and it works fine .
im only getting a new reg as i want a flowmeter too..
as i got a new SE reg for my tig, and also getting a flowmeter to fit on that too.

but yer i guess if your interested in it.. il put up a sale ad once i got my new reg.

 

[jejoenje]

aww i see. that would make sense, if its shorting out inside the block..

as i said my reg is the original one that came with the mig when i got it new.
about 16 years ago and it works fine .
im only getting a new reg as i want a flowmeter too..
as i got a new SE reg for my tig, and also getting a flowmeter to fit on that too.

but yer i guess if your interested in it.. il put up a sale ad once i got my new reg.

Cool. Give me a shout if/when you do.

 

[T0rnado69]

you decided on what gas cylinder/supplier your going to use ?