Inverter stick welders

[xjrob]

Steve, now you have finished doing your front bar with the new FIRE welder.

How did it go, with the up to 6mm, but also have you tried it on thin metal as well.

It still seems like the best value unit to me if it is performing, the best recommendation is someone you know is using it and then requiring the welds to work - i.e. a winch bar.

By the way Bar looks great, not that anyone seeing any of your other fabrication would have expected any less.

[Steve F]

The welder worked well, I should have had a bit of practice before I started as it's been a while so I had to redo some welds but that was my fault. The best thing about it was I could weld all day without hitting the duty cycle, it had no problems with the 6mm or 4mm and you can see the heat marks on the back of the pieces showing decent penetration.

If you look half way down the front face you can see where I had done some stitches of the 6mm winch plate to the 4mm face, when I'd done the whole thing you could see all the weld lines on all pieces



I ran it on some 3mm as well but haven't gone any thinner, I'll see if I get a chance to try it on some real thin stuff this weekend.

Cheers
Steve

[xjrob]

Thanks Steve, i am doing an arc welding course, just 2 Saturday's 4 hours each, just a beginners course, but i want to make some sliders and weld my JKS steering box reinforcement on to chassis.

I think value for money it will be hard to go past the FIRE welder

[XJKEE]

Been looking at a 130A Boc welder, looks ok and has 10a plug. Had an electrician out to the new place yesterday and asked him about a 15A outlet. He said it needed to be on a separate circuit as it would be 4mm wire instead of 2.5mm. About $300 for the job. (need it for my MIG)

[junglejuice]

I myself have a 200a inverter arc welder from Tradetools, it's a Renegade brand with a 60% duty cycle at 200a, higher % at lower currents and it makes welding a breeze, definitely worth the money.
Inverters work by rectifing the AC supply and then this DC is then chopped at a much higher frequency into a square wave AC which has it's pulse width controlled to regulate the output, ie the higher the current required the wider the pulse etc.
This can then be rectified into DC again or left as AC depending on the unit and the intended usage.
The reason for all this electrickery is that when the frequency is doubled the transformer size can be halved (roughly) so by running a much higher frenquency the transformer is much smaller and of course much lighter hence these small light welders that you can lift with one finger as opposed to the older choke style units that weigh a tonne....
With the 15a outlets as mentioned before the only difference is that it is usually a seperate supply so if it trips it won't affect anything else and the earth pin is larger due to the chance of earth return currents is much greater with welders which also means that having them running through RCD's (residual current devices or earth leakage breakers or safety switches or what ever you want to call them) is not a good idea as it will very likely trip regularly....

[josh9465]

Originally Posted by junglejuice

With the 15a outlets as mentioned before the only difference is that it is usually a seperate supply so if it trips it won't affect anything else and the earth pin is larger due to the chance of earth return currents is much greater with welders which also means that having them running through RCD's (residual current devices or earth leakage breakers or safety switches or what ever you want to call them) is not a good idea as it will very likely trip regularly....

i have a welder (actually selling it http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...ad.php?t=83310)

its has a 15amp plug but ive run it in a 10amp with some creative filing. i have welded a few things in the past and never tripped my RCD. maybe i was lucky.

[junglejuice]

Originally Posted by josh9465

i have a welder (actually selling it http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...ad.php?t=83310)

its has a 15amp plug but ive run it in a 10amp with some creative filing. i have welded a few things in the past and never tripped my RCD. maybe i was lucky.

A modded earth pin and an RCD, you do like to push your luck.....