parker welder

[Rob85]

Hi guys
Been looking to get an inverter based welder for a while and was looking at the parweld ones, but after scrolling through amazon i came across parker welders which look a bit cheaper(got 2 young kids so chucking money at my hobbies makes the wife frown)I had a look for their website and they look like a rereasonably good set up offering warranty etc. Just wondering if anybody has any experience of them or know where they are actually manufactured To try and judge how robust they might be before I part with any cash. I have been looking for 2nd hand but where I am doesn't ever throw much up on the 2nd hand market.

 

[octo0072000]

generic cheapanese in what ever colour you want it

 

[cumbriasteve]

^^^^^ as said, you could be lucky and it will work fine and last a reasonable time as many of them do, many also have problems and then you may find the box shifters off Amazon and Ebay are not the best at after sales help regardless of any promises of warranty.

 

[Rob85]

It will be some time in the new year before I get round to parting with some cash, I just thought after having a leaf through their website they looked like they may have been a cut above some of the really bad stuff seeing as they sell from their own website and are offering a 2year warranty. I sent the company an email asking who supplies them the welders as they obviously buy them and brand them. Waiting on a reply at the minute

 

[jk-scotland]

Hi Rob, did you get any reply?

I'm considering the 200A arc welder. 2 year warranty does make it more appealing.

 

[Rob85]

Yep I got a reply from them, as suspected they do buy in from China and brand them as parker, offering a 2 year warranty would suggest they should be ok but again like every brand that comes on the market it's a case of taking a risk on it. I'm trying to hold out to get one of the new parweld units myself....with a young family it's hard to scrape a few hundred notes to splurge on myself!

 

[octo0072000]

have you tried R-tech as they do a credit option and 2 years warranty not sure on NI though you would need to ring them

 

[jk-scotland]

I went for the 180A version... I was initially confused that it had a 60% duty cycle, as I had previously read that it was 30%... turns out I bought the commercial version rather than the home version. For under £140 delivered with 2 year warranty though, I'm pretty happy.

Only tried it once so far, on some old rebar. but so far so good.

 

[Rob85]

Keep us updated on it, would be interesting to see how it goes and a few pics of welds would be nice. Wonder would it run low hydrogen rods?

Was looking at the credit options on a few other welders but after getting bitten bad by the credit crunch back in 2008-2009 my credit rating it thru the floor so I'll be paying cash unfortunately haha

 

[sardine]

If i was buying a cheap welder off an eBay box shifter i would consider the warranty is never going to be honoured because I haven't paid for one.

 

[jk-scotland]

I've had another few practise runs -- but I'm not going pictures yet, because this isn't supposed to be a comedy thread

My first welding of two bits of rebar broke apart when I applied some pressure -- it looked like there was little to no penetration. I upped the current from 75 to around 100, and also went a bit slower along the join. That weld was much stronger. Still not pretty though. There's not much I dislike about the welder so far.

 

[Rob85]

Good stuff, post pics... Best way to get some pointers is for people to get a look at what you're doing. Some of mine isn't pretty either, might shake a little but it doesn't fall off! Glad to hear things are going well with it. Are you running it on a 16 amp supply? I noticed they only come with a plug for that.

 

[jk-scotland]

Yeah, I'll maybe post pics of my next trial. I've got some small rectangles of steel bar to weld to a gas bottle to make the door hinge (for a stove)... that might need some advice if it doesn't go well. Thankfully I've got a couple of spare gas bottles in case I destroy one.
I tried welding on to the side of an oil drum the other night, but it was too thin, and created holes.

On the electrics, I'm just using a 13A to 16A adapter, and being careful not to crank up the welder too high. My sparky friend has told me the supply in the garage is suitable for a 16A socket, so I'll be wiring in one of them soon (he'll be checking it post install for me).

 

[jk-scotland]

Here's a little practice from tonight with the Parker arc welder on an old piece of rail track. 6013 rod... the left bead is at around 105A, the next 80 and the right one is 60A, just to see what would happen.

They all seem pretty messy, but any opinions welcome.

 

[Rob85]

Well that's something to go on, maybe just concentrate on travel speed a bit more, put a wee post up in the arc welding section and more people will be able to give pointers, my own welding is by no means picture perfect,when iI get time I'll be putting some of my handiwork up to get a few pointers. What brand of rods are you using?