SIP Ideal 180

[tumble909]

Hi all first post coming up.

I was given a SIP ideal 180 a couple of months ago and I have been practising my welding ever since. I have been picking up hints and tips from friends and from off the message boards on here (many thanks!). I have even rewired my garage onto a separate power feed for the 32A blue plugs.

A few weeks ago, a friend said that I was not getting the penetration from the welder that he would be expecting. So i ran some of the tests performed on this forum, i.e. butt weld two bits of 3mm plate together and bash the 'life' out of them. All went well and I split the steel, but in the end the weld did lift and looking at the other side of the weld, there wasn't as much penetration as I would have expected.

Reading other posts my questions are:
1. From a SIP ideal 180, would other users expect to have good penetration from this welder, especially on the test performed
2. The welder is ~ 10years old, should i consider a new welder or refurb it?
3. The project that I have in mind I will be regularly welding 2, 2.5, 3 & 5 mm steel box sections and 5mm flat bar - Is this welder suitable?

I am also using 0.6mm wire and CO2

Many thanks in advance for any comments.

 

[malcolm]

It ought to work well enough at 3mm, though it'll start to need joint prep at 5mm. Might be worth posting some photos of the welds to see if anyone can pick up any problems.

0.6mm wire is a bit thin and would reduce the current a little - it's no good above 2mm sheet. Well worth trying 0.8mm wire. Which power setting were you on?

 

[Jake SS]

It should be fine to weld the plate you mention, yes definitely go up to .8 wire, if it is lacking power have a look at the rectifier to see if there are any broken diode tails, you may not be able to see them broken as one or 2 may be open circuit, also I think this model has power capacitors, they look like cans, have a look at the connections on the top, if you see any "goo" on the caps do not get it on your skin! Just have a good look around at the power section first, plug out of course.
Cheers

 

[tumble909]

Hi,

I have some pictures of the test. This was done on full power, setting 6.

First picture is taken from the welding side


Second picture taken from the back side, does not look like much pentration


Third picture of where the weld is coming away, after much hammering


There was no preperation on the joints, 3mm plate

Any comments welcome,

 

[Wozzaaah]

Sorry fella but those pics are so blurred it's hard to see any detail,I take it they're phone pics?
Can you post some better quality ones for us please?

 

[weldequip]

a friend said that I was not getting the penetration from the welder that he would be expecting.

You won't do on thicker sections with 0.6mm wire...strictly for thin sheet. Stick it on 0.8mm diameter wire & change the gas to Argon/CO2 mixture, you should then see a marked improvement
A machine of that age could well be getting a bit tired. Depending on usage, voltage switches, contactors, connections etc.all deteriorate leading to power loss, but if you try the above first you will get a good idea if the machine is any use or not.
weldequip

 

[migmug]

Page from manual.
Check all welding power connections in the machine, also check the connections on the earth lead and condition of torch and tip.

 

[tumble909]

Thanks guys, i will try and get a better camera today. I have a horrible feeling that the welder is getting a little tired

 

[Zagan]

Hi all first post coming up.

Reading other posts my questions are:
1. From a SIP ideal 180, would other users expect to have good penetration from this welder, especially on the test performed
2. The welder is ~ 10years old, should i consider a new welder or refurb it?
3. The project that I have in mind I will be regularly welding 2, 2.5, 3 & 5 mm steel box sections and 5mm flat bar - Is this welder suitable?

I am also using 0.6mm wire and CO2

Many thanks in advance for any comments.

1- from a 180 welder you'd be able to do 5-6mm thick mild/SS steel but you'd be at the welders lowest duty cycle so you will need to rest the welder after long welds.
2- Only if you were getting problems.

Wire feed motor when they get old or dying they won't feed at the high speeds and generally not able to keep up with sustained welding, by that I mean welding for 2-4+ hours straight welding.

Arcing issues can be caused by the switching gear inside the welding giving up these should be able to be replaced with new units so you should have the option of re-furbing the welder.

3- yes

I have some pictures of the test. This was done on full power, setting 6.

1- picture is taken from the welding side
2- picture taken from the back side, does not look like much pentration
3- picture of where the weld is coming away, after much hammering

There was no preperation on the joints, 3mm plate

I've been looking at pics of this welder try to sus out the corse/fine settings.

Is it 1/2 corse then 1-12 fine, is that correct?

You don't say what wire feed setting you had.

So your settings I take it are corse:2 Fine:6 wire feed:?

Alas the pics are blury but anyway I'll make my comments.

from the pics I'd say the settings you have arn't quite right for you.

The wire feed setting looks too high for the corse/fine settings you have, they might be a tad too fast for you I would suggest to drop to 5 on the fine and also drop the wire feed.

As for penetration it looks ok but while you have a pic of the crack it's not clear as to where the crack is, to me it looks like the crack is under/weld has pealed off the metal which if that's the case then the weld has failed.

 

[ian mcdonald]

its prob the co2 you get much hotter and cleaner weld with the proper gas ,ian

 

[Robotstar5]

He's probably sorted now, the threads over 4 years old

 

[GaryWatson]

I'm no expert but my guess would be that you need to change your gas to a mix of argon and co2. This should help you produce far superior welds.

 

[skotl]

What robot said...