welder having its time of the month

[Lawnmowerboy]

hi all was welding some bits onto my potato cannon today and i started welding on the same setting i had been using all day and then it decided to not to weld and instead of arcking it was just sort os spitting the wire into a sort of blob that falls off with pliers

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

also ive stripped and reassembled the torch twice and replaced the tip twice

 

[mike 109444]

Have had similar problems in past, turned out to be loose rivet on top of capacitor that holdes the spade terminals onto caps. Suspect you must have a poor connection somewhere if this is an ongoing intermittent fault.

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

yeah, i occasionally get a few seconds of decent weld out of it then back to this

 

[Sparkey]

How did you attach the earth clamp to your workpiece? is it clamped on clean, paintless iron?? (and is the clamp in a good state?)
Sounds like a bad earthing to me...

 

[mike 109444]

This is a pic of what I mean. Not sure what welder you have but a poor/loose connection in the wiring or even the earth clamp and it's socket would cause it could also be discribed as poor penatration and needing to turn power up to get any penatration which was what I was having to do, then connection would be good and so would then burn through!

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

hi thanks, how do i discharge it?, thanks sparks, it is a pretty much new earth clamp and it was on brand new steel and its a clarke 100e

 

[Sparkey]

hi thanks, how do i discharge it?, thanks sparks, it is a pretty much new earth clamp and it was on brand new steel and its a clarke 100e

No probs then! i wanted to rule out all the obvious things first before you started doing something drastic to your kit!

I once saw someone change the wirefeed rollers and whistles and bells and when he was finished he found out the only thing he needed was a new tip!

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

haha!!!

 

[malcolm]

I'd have said bad earth too or a bad connection somewhere. Tips too can cause the trouble especially when it happens after a couple of seconds of welding and when the tips are sourced from unreputable sources (like shops). I was forever having trouble with my old Clarke - they are sensitive to those things. I'm with Sparkey - do report back on the fix.

Could also be something more weird but I'd be having a good look at those things.

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

ok will have a play tomorrow- there genuine clarke ones from machinemart it it important to have the tip wound all the way in as iv found it welds better with the tip slightly protruding the shroud
its a brand new shroud too

 

[Paul.]

ok will have a play tomorrow- there genuine clarke ones from machinemart it it important to have the tip wound all the way in as iv found it welds better with the tip slightly protruding the shroud
its a brand new shroud too

If you are running with the tip loose in the swan neck or tip adaptor, then that may be the cause of the problem, all the welding current is transferred across the threaded connection there, any arcing at that joint will not only cause poor welding but will destroy the threads in the swan neck, it should be nipped tight but don't over do it.

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

it isnt tight or arcking there but it's screwed about half way in as i couldnt be bothered to cut 5mm of the shroud at the time but i will have a mess about tomorrow and see what's what

 

[razie1985]

hi thanks, how do i discharge it?,

You can discharge capacitors by shorting them with a screwdriver but this isn't recommended with high voltage.
The Safe way is to use a light bulb too discharge it, and should only take a second or two.

 

[malcolm]

Screw the tip all the way in and cut the end off the shroud to the length you are happy with.

 

[Iain Westland]

blocked sheath, wire too tight/catching, earth, old tip.

I would check the above, my old Clarke used to throw a wobbler at all of the above, and I would check them all before playing with caps etc...

iain

 

[Sparkey]

it isnt tight or arcking there but it's screwed about half way in as i couldnt be bothered to cut 5mm of the shroud at the time but i will have a mess about tomorrow and see what's what

Haha! see? you shoulden't start thinking the worst and complicated things before you ruled out ALL the obvious problems!!

Hiya Iain, how'r you? long time no see!

 

[Iain Westland]

Not bad thanks, thinking of winding the Garage up as work is a bit slow but apart from that well.

Hows life in the land of Garlic, nice merchandise by the way..

 

[Sparkey]

Not bad thanks, thinking of winding the Garage up as work is a bit slow but apart from that well.

Hows life in the land of Garlic, nice merchandise by the way..

Haha, the land of garlic! i really like that stuff but sjeese, do you smell bad after you ate it or what??
I'm fine, ta!

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

hahaha!!!! u iain have been told!!!!!