Oxford Oil Cooled Welder problem on low settings

I was messing around with the old Oxford oil cooled arc welder today. I haven't used it much as its not long since I re-wired it after inheriting it from the late father in law. Its wired to run on 2 phase. On the lowest settings, I cant really get it to do much. Earth is good (changed the clamp today), put a rod in and it just sparks but I cant get it to actually create an arc. Whop it up to middle to high settings and it burns right through what I am welding.

I then realised that it has two connections for the stick end... One says low voltage for the higher amps and the other for high voltage for the lower amps. I swapped them over and it worked on some of the low settings but not the lowest (30 and 40 amps). I just cant get a good arc, so it sparks and the rod will stick but there isnt an arc to speak of (not that I can create anyway!)

It says 16G rod on these. The rod i was playing with was 2.5mm. Should this have caused an issue on these lower amp settings?

Any ideas?

 

With a multimeter set to the 200v AC range, measure and note the output voltages from Earth to Stick on all the various settings.

 

not sure u'd weld with a2.5rod at those low settings....
I'd go for a smaller rod....
better still if it's than thin metal use a mig...
my oxford never get used below 125amps....but it's always 3mm min metal...

 

16 Gauge is 1.6 mm so rod too large for setting.

 

Take the top of the welder off and check the contacts on the lower settings, they sometimes need a clean and tweek to tighten them up on the divider/wedge.

Bob

 

no way will it burn a 2.5 rod on 40 amp its even difficult to weld with a 16g

 

Great. Thanks all. It looks like I'm just using the wrong rods! I'm just playing and am OCD about my tools working properly.

My other motive is that i seem to be able to consistently weld much better with arc than mig so wanted to get this machine working fully. I might post another thread about that though!

 

As above 2.5mm is to big for the lowest settings. I have a few 1.6mm rods left dad got a box years back, they must be over 40 years old but they are a great rod to keep in the toolbox for emergenceys when you need to tack or patch a thin pannel and no mig or tig is avaliable.