thermal arc 175se

[sardine]

I just got one of these, they're only 215 quid, ( united welding ) and i'm well impressed with the quality, it's also a smaller package which means some thought has gone into it's design, other cheap inverters are mostly air space inside. Lets hope the electrickery components are decent quality too.

2 year warranty, which has got some kind of backing behind it too.

The only problem iv'e found is the anti stick cutting in on thin sheet, blowing holes, if you've got a solution to that let me know.

 

[keith19]

How thin is your thin metal?

Have you tried starting off on a bit of scrap clamped to the job, then moving across onto the job?

I can see how you might have problems trying to tack thin stuff if the anti-stick cuts in when you arc up. It would literally be a drag if you had to light up on scrap for every tack along a seam.

 

[matt1978]

I think your mistaking hot start for anti stick

 

[keith19]

Matt, I've just been looking at the spec pdf, doesn't mention either hot start or anti-stick for this model. Are one/both of these expected to be standard on a MMA inverter?

 

[sardine]

can't find that either

that's weird i though it had both, but i was testing out a 1.6, on very low amps on some 1.6 and 2mm mild steel sheet, with a copper backing bar, and i assumed it was that, something was cutting in and boosting it for a second.

 

[keith19]

Interesting, I thought most arc welding inverters had them as standard too.
We should be talking about hot start, as Matt mentions.

For the definitions of Hot Start and Anti-stick, Dai has a neat post here:
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=20681

Going on (long) past experience, a higher voltage (ocv) output should help the arc to strike, and help to maintain the arc, but I don't think it should initially blast the metal on strike up, even if it's thin metal. At least it didn't seem to on ac arc, using the 80vac setting on oil-cooled Oxfords and the like. We used to be able to do 2mm (14 gauge then) quite comfortably with a 1.6 rod on shortish runs, and even go down to 1.6mm (16 gauge) for short runs.

Whether dc arc behaves any different I don't know, but if anything I would expect it to be better.

 

[PTvor]

I thought these were all standard features on just about any inverter as well, so much so that it's assumed they have them.

Hot start boosts the current, but it's only for a fraction of a second to start the arc..

With my inverter, I'm sure the anti-stick/stuck rod drops the current to 35 amps which is low and the inverter can keep up indefinitely. It doesn't say what happens if you are welding at less than 35 amps. I don't know why 35 amps, not 10.

What current are you running these rods at? Trying to weld 2 mm steel is always tricky with arc.

I'd be inclined to phone Thermadyne customer support and see what they have to say as regards using 1.6mm rods, arc force and anti-stick.

 

[matt1978]

I thought most arc welding inverters had them as standard

.

I think most have, or atleast claim that they have.

In any case, HotStart nor Anti-Stick should cause the problem that he decsribes, if I understand him right, it blows holes during welding, not exclusively on Ignition, which would point to the Hotstart being set to high.

It sounds to me that the actual welding current is fluctuating during welding, which would cause it to blow holes, unless the actual current selected is a little high and its a build up of residual heat in the plate which is causing the hole to appear