my brothers got the bug

[BrokenBiker]

a few weeks ago my brother asked me if I could show him how to weld. all he wanted to do was run a few beads to see what it was like and what it involved so i gathered some scrap and let him have a go with the arc welder. after a while he got the hang of it and quite enjoyed it.

last ngiht he rang me and asked if i could install a 32A supply in his garage because he ahs bought a welder...because of the supply i thought he had gone out and bought a huge mig or something like a top end portamig...no. he has bought this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250-AMP-A...840?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5d33ed5ae0

now given that it has silverline written on it, how long is it likely to last? he bought it from his mate for 40 quid as he couldn't afford to have the 32A supply put in so bought a smaller welder to replace it.

as far as i know it hasn't been used at all yet.

 

[cumbriasteve]

It will just be branded Silverline, not actually made by them.

A similar machine I owned lasted over 30 years and was still working perfectly when I sold it for a few quid more than I bought new at the time.

As we know a buzz box is not the ideal machine to learn on but I did and it made that much stuff, gates, trailers etc that it must have paid for itself a zillion times over.

 

[Wallace]

If it has a 32A plug knock up a 13A plug to 32A socket adaptor so he can run it at the lower currents and when he's bored let him have a go on your Mig welder and see what he buys then!

 

[bigegg]

+1 to what wallace said - doesn't need a 32A supply. will weld 6mm steel all day on a 13A supply.

I'm not familiar with that particular model, but I've had a couple of chaiwanese arc welders over the years.
They work - is about all there is to say about them. There's not a lot to go wrong, it's simply a big transformer with a screw through the middle to vary output.
The things that usually break, in my experience, are the cable connectors - the cables fray, then they get hot, then they burn off the rust-proofing, then the connectors rust away, or the plastic insulation crumbles.
Having said that - the picture you've put up doesn't show any cable connectors - this means that changing cables is going to be a PAIN - or not, and it might mean that the machine is better for being dragged around by the cables.

 

[BrokenBiker]

well, I hadn't checked this post since posting it but was out yesterday to sort him out with it. it already has a 32A plug on it, so I made a short lead with a 13A plug on one end and a 32A socket on the other. plugged it in and it wouldn't switch on. bit of testing showed that there was a dodgy connection in the plug that was already on it. sorted that and it turned on. fan didn't work though. not a major issue, I just wanted to see if it would weld, so I put a 2.5mm rod in and it did ok. nothing special and not the easiest thing to start but it does weld and gave fairly good penetration too.

haven't looked at the fan yet but as mentioned above its a simple machine so I doubt its going to be anything other than a dodgy connection or a bad cable. machine itself is brand new, not even any dust in it yet lol

If it has a 32A plug knock up a 13A plug to 32A socket adaptor so he can run it at the lower currents and when he's bored let him have a go on your Mig welder and see what he buys then!

I took my little mightymig with me and a reel of gasless wire. he had a go but didn't think much of it. I think that is mainly due to the wire though. will be giving him a go with solid wire and some co2 on the weekend to see what he thinks of that.

if he is lucky I might even put the tig torch on the inverter and let him play with that too depending on how much argon I have left