Sticking rods kills machine

[devlin maguire]

Should a welder pack in if the rods make physical contact with the workpiece
P

 

[rtbcomp]

No. I do it all the time with my buzz box.

Not sure about inverter machines, but I would have thought they'd have some protection built in.

 

[Ian James]

Not unless it was on its last legs to start with have you checked the fuse and trip switch on the supply ??

 

[Seadog]

I was using my LIDL inverter last week. Certainly no problems shorting that, which I did frequently

 

[tom 748]

buy cheap ,buy twice lol

 

[brightspark]

would help knowing the make .and when the rod sticks does welder still work ok when you try again ?? could be your technique or amps 2 low or 2 thick a rod

 

[Seadog]

buy cheap ,buy twice lol

You can't get much cheaper than a LIDL Parkside inverter, and that's still working.

 

[Richard.]

My view.
Happy to be corrected here.
It should cause the machine no issues whatsoever. A constant current process will not deliver any more current than that you set on the machine. So if your arc length is 10mm or in your case stuck to the job it’s gonna put the same current down the rod and the machine isn’t gonna know no different.
Your electrode holder on the other hand might not be too pleased about having a glowing red 2.5 in dead short with the job but the Machine should not care. After all if it’s in dead short or welding it’s doing the same thing as far as the unit is concerned. Your joining the circuit.

 

[devlin maguire]

Its a Parweld 162 in fact it the second one as the first died after about 15 seconds, the reply was "your doing something wrong", which is ******** I mean you might do crap welds but the machine wont top itself I can see trading standards getting involved

 

[rtbcomp]

My view.
Happy to be corrected here.
It should cause the machine no issues whatsoever. A constant current process will not deliver any more current than that you set on the machine. So if your arc length is 10mm or in your case stuck to the job it’s gonna put the same current down the rod and the machine isn’t gonna know no different.
Your electrode holder on the other hand might not be too pleased about having a glowing red 2.5 in dead short with the job but the Machine should not care. After all if it’s in dead short or welding it’s doing the same thing as far as the unit is concerned. Your joining the circuit.

My take on this would be a dead short has a lower resistance than an arc so to increase the output to maintain the current might overload the electronics, but as I suggested earlier, they should have some sort of protection built in. Certainly my buzz box hums much louder with a stuck electrode than when actually welding.

 

[devlin maguire]

My take on this would be a dead short has a lower resistance than an arc so to increase the output to maintain the current might overload the electronics, but as I suggested earlier, they should have some sort of protection built in. Certainly my buzz box hums much louder with a stuck electrode than when actually welding.

It is certainly an current overload as it trips my 16A breaker, so it would appear that the "hot start function" is not dealing with it, and taking out something internal down stream that cant deal with it, you would think there would be front end reset ie as the over current is detected this should trip first before it starts chewing into the PCB,s

 

[Sarto]

To avoid an overload on the electronics, the typical inverter machine has a Anti stick function built in.
If I understand it the right way, this function stop the current flow if the machine senses a long short circuit (forgive the pun...).
The 3 I used until now did this.

https://www.lincolnelectric.com/assets/global/Products/K12034-1/STICK-WELDING-Eng.pdf

@devlin maguire the hot start function is a whole another thing.

Hope this help.

SArt0

 

[pedrobedro]

Should a welder pack in if the rods make physical contact with the workpiece
P

You have to make contact to start the arc.

 

[devlin maguire]

I have been told that the machine was tested before it was sent out as I already returned one for the same issue so why it packs in when i use it is anybodies guess but I am caught between the supplier and the manufacturer, I have agreed to return the machine and once I get word back they have it I will make a decision on whether or noi want a refund or replacement but right now I am sick of the whole sorry affair, I may take a refund and buy one the next time I am on the mainland

 

[bwservices]

Im not judging your skill by any means,but its fairly unusual for 2 machines to be at fault like this.extremely unusual

 

[Richard.]

I have to agree there must be something your possibly doing to cause this. 2 sets in quick succession. It could well be 2 faulty sets but not so common. However sticking a rod to a plate whether it does them no good or not shouldn’t cause them to go pop straight away. After all it’s a common thing to happen when learning to MMA weld and parweld are primarily aimed at new comers and hobbyists. The sets should be designed to cope with a few common slip ups.
Hot start isn’t a feature designed to help this sticking. It’s designed to avoid lack of fusion at the start, give strike up stability and most importantly avoid start up porosity by giving your rod a good belt of juice when you first flick it in.
Go for a refund if you’ve lost confidence in the parweld set but do a bit of research on MMA welding before you buy another just to be sure your doing things right by the machine.
You aren’t blocking any of the vents are you?
Make sure you leave the machine running for a good 5 mins after use before turning it off. Let the fans do there thing.
Avoid really dusty activities around it when it’s sucking in air. Usually doing these 3 things will keep an inverter welder set going for a long time.

 

[T0rnado69]

when i first got a welder way way back.
it was a clarke 140 turbo arc welder.

believe me i found out why it was also called stick welding.

because 9 out of 10 times it would stick to the workpiece.

the joys of learning how to arc weld.


but i still have the machine and it still worked before i stopped using it.

because i got a mig welder.

the only thing that went on it was the fan...

so for two machines to die that quick....
if it was me, i would be getting a refund and looking elsewhere.

 

[dobbslc]

Could be a duff batch of machines
I'd get out and ask for a refund.
Worth checking your electrics at home though, bad neutral connction in the socket ring main or to the whole installation could force the current to find it's way back to source via the earthing system, that would fry the electronics...
Are you on an overhead TT supply up there?

 

[Ian James]

@devlin maguire Just a thought have you any mates that can weld if so it may be worth getting one of them to try it before it goes back it may pack more punch with the dealer as well in addition it may be worth trying it on another electric supply

 

[tom 748]

what rods are you using