Mig welder repairs

[Hoggle]

Hi



I’ve recently purchased a mig welder it’s a kende 150r mag welder. I bought this untested for £20 and have been gradually identifying its faults and attempting to rectify them. I’ve never mig welded before and don’t know an awful lot about the machines but I’m eager to learn. My research on this machine suggests that it used to be stocked at screwfix and isn’t the best but it was cheap and I think a good introduction machine.



I’ve identified the following issues -



Trigger Intermittent - fixed dirty contacts

No wire feed - shroud and tip completely blocked buying new consumables when I work out size.

Tumbler switch for power faulty - I’ve read these (although tricky) can be dismantled and realigned. But spare part is available



Biggest issue is that the machine came with no earth cable. I’ve took a gamble and ordered a 10-25 earth cable however this plus doesn’t fit. I know you can order separate plugs and sockets if necessary. The 10-25 appears to have a more rectangular shape where as this one has a semi circle and appears deeper. I’ll attach some images for reference.

 

[Wozzaaah]

"Untested"
Any time I see anything listed as "untested" I know full well it has been tested and doesn't work.
£20 is no money but I wouldn't throw too much money at it.
I wouldn't advise taking the contactor apart either, there's usually lots of bits inside them and you may not find it easy to put them back from whence they came.
The "earth" (return) cable plug will be the same as the one on the lead which is currently inserted in the GAS dinse socket.

 

[Hoggle]

Agreed! But for £20 I thought it’s worth a crack. A new tumbler is £25 so if it arcs I’ll be a bit more prepared to fork out that investment as it’s still better (I think) than the £100 gasless types. I have heard that the tumbler switches have a a tendency to explode into 50 different pieces. But yeh if it ends up going beyond that in cost then I’ll have a think.

Righto I’ll have a look at the return and measure/ take a photo and if that makes it a bit more identifiable.

 

[Hutcho]

Blood things , they all need blowing up , get rid and buy yourself a Clarke to learn - worlds apart

 

[Hoggle]

They definitely have mixed reviews which is probably why screwfix stopped stocking them. Just can’t justify the Clarke price at the moment if I end up loving welding then that may change!

 

[Hoggle]

"Untested"
Any time I see anything listed as "untested" I know full well it has been tested and doesn't work.
£20 is no money but I wouldn't throw too much money at it.
I wouldn't advise taking the contactor apart either, there's usually lots of bits inside them and you may not find it easy to put them back from whence they came.
The "earth" (return) cable plug will be the same as the one on the lead which is currently inserted in the GAS dinse socket.

Wozzah well done you were correct it is the correct plug and this one has measurements on which I’ll look up shortly. States 10 - 16mm

 

[Wozzaaah]

Out of interest, what do you intend to use it for? If it’s car bodywork it will be too powerful as it’s lowest setting looks to be 50 amps.

 

[Hoggle]

Out of interest, what do you intend to use it for? If it’s car bodywork it will be too powerful as it’s lowest setting looks to be 50 amps.

Along the line my original intention was to use it on car panels but that would be a while away. I understand this would be way to high and work better as a plasma cutter on car bodywork. So do it would be mainly box section as for things like knocking together shelving etc.

 

[Hoggle]

Can’t appear to find that sizing so may swap the plug for a 10-25 socket

 

[hotponyshoes]

The plugs don't quite work like that.
There are only 2 common sizes of pin/socket which are 9mm or 13mm.

The 10-16 and 10-25 etc are just the sizes of cable the connector will accept.