Friday 26 October 2012

Just a shorty for the watchers.


My budd Tom picked up his mig the otherday so I'm down to 6 migs
2 fully functional- awaiting sale
1 being repaired- keeping this one
1 awaiting repairs- for sale
1 missing a lot of parts, switches etc. will have to see how we go
and 1 hasnt made it all the way into the workshop.
these should all keep me out of trouble for a while. hopefully i can get you fellers some blog fodder!
Thanks

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Welder Maintenance

In my "Day job" I am a maintenance electrician. Basically I am sad enough to fix things at work and at home
While stripping and repairing the mass-o-migs I have, I found this.


The pitting was caused by the nuts being loose on the stud. The nuts were holding the lug supplying current to the mig gun.
A bad joint here has caused arcing and damage to the threads.

Best result of this is a loss of weld quality. Worst case- fire

I have been sanding all contacts smooth and tightening them to effing tight.
These connections are usually in a location that the user can get to and check.
A little care and they will last a lot longer. I can't help but wonder if this was part of the reason these welders were offloaded in the first place.
by the end of today one more will be functioning. Resurrected
thanks

Tuesday 25 September 2012

1 down 6 to go

now have the Safmig sorted. it was a blown bridge rectifier on the wire feed circuit
attached is a video that helped me work the feller out


and a shot of the ugly but functional welder

thanks

Saturday 15 September 2012

mig deliverys!

just had 5 more migs dropped off tp the shop making 7 n total in the workshop. none working
my old Safmig 180 has a minor issue that needs sorting before i sell it.
the hobart seems to need a new pot then it's cooking.
ive got 4 porta mig 300's that are a little sorry. will be a real hunt to fix them up
and a mig-o-mag 300A in unknown condition.
things have been slow as far as Blog fodder but these migs need fixin and sellin so i'd better yank my finger right out

rollin off Toms truck!

Monday 28 May 2012

hobart rc300 mig welder

Just recieved a Hobart rc300 mig with remote feeder in rough condition
Guy i bought it off has never used it but says the guy who gave it to him said it had a wire feed prob
Well, we eat wire feed probs for breakfast here in paradise!
pics to come, like i said, she's rough. this might take a while

Sunday 6 May 2012

Pillar drill and Bench Grinder

I got both my 16 speed pillar drill and my 8 inch bench grinder the same way. They didn't work and were heading to the bin.

The drill press also had a broken casting where the work table clamps to the mast but that will be repaired for a different blog. The drill press was old and unloved and the company had bought a new one. The cost to get the bench grinder repaired professionally was 95% of its replacement cost. Love our throw-away society.

Both had the same electrical problem. Flick the switch and..... a hum a wobble but they spin up to full whack when spun by hand.
They both needed the Capacitor changed. The price of a new cap is maybe 10% of a new motor so even if the motor is knackered still, its worth trying the cap.

Tru Tool 16 speed. Made in Australia

abbot & ashby 8"


Most bench grinders are of similar construction. All the electrics are in the base with the switch. Be sure its unplugged, mains voltages can kill. Lay it on its back. With the base off it may look a little like this.

Switch at the top and capacitor at the bottom

The white cylinder is the capacitor. It may be grey black or blue but they are all cylindrical. With luck it will still be legible. A lot of the time it will have burst with the top or bottom expanded out the end. If you've been ignoring it for a while it may be burned to a crisp.

not healthy

The grinder had the rating quite clearly on the side so i replaced it with like but the drill had been used for years with the cap out so it was crispy.
Capacitors must be correctly Sized for the motor. Also the may be cap start/run or just cap start.
Grinders are always cap start/run and the caps must be rated correctly for that duty.

My drill is cap start only. I determined this buy powering up the motor, spinning the chuck by hand to start is and then turning off the power. There was an audible "click" from the motor, that's the centrifugal switch operating. This means that you motor switches in and out the cap as required. no click may mean the switch is knackered but most likely is Cap start/run.
As i had no rating to guide me i used the following table to find the appropriate size  for the motor.

single phase 240v chart 1hp=0.75kw


Don't fret if you cant get the exact replacement rating, as close as possible is ok. The cap on a pillar drill is usually in a housing on the side of the drill. Again, mine was missing but here's an example from my smaller press.

rounded "box" is the cap housing


Once you've installed the new cap, put it all together and fire it up. Be careful though.remember not to spin the chuck anymore!!!!!

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Just a brief one today. If you haven't already checkout weldingtipsandtricks.com
Taught myself to weld using his youtube videos
more tech to come

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Cigweld Transmig 130 twin- Repair

I picked this mig up for a song but was really after the other trinkets it came with.
Previous owner said it simply "stopped" and needed a new "card."
This is the burned component that fell off the card.

I googled about and found the AUD90 (!!!!!) replacement card. when i stood back up i had a re-google and saw that the burned component was the only part that ever failed. It was very consistently asked about on welding forums.It is a wire-wound resister, they fail quite commonly in a lot of DC-DC power supplies
I used a Jewellers eyepiece to read the rating (3.3ohms and 7watts)and was ecstatic to find that the component was locally available for AUD1.80. A nice little saving.


I actually got a 10watt as it takes more heat. The repaired card (below) was whacked into the mig and now sweeps through its range and at all power settings.

A little note, even the higher wattage resister is getting too hot to touch while welding, it obviously is heavily loaded so I can see why the original would burn with prolonged welding. Allowing it to cool between short welds would be prudent.
Most of the smaller "hobby" migs are very similar inside. The resister is a different rating from make to make but the principals are the same.
Hope this helps somebody, in all I've got about an hours repair time in it and a couple of hours search time. Thanks to Lilly, my assistant

Saturday 14 April 2012

G'day

G'day and welcome to Bodger's Paradise
That's the name given to my backyard workshop where i do my thing.
Inspired by the plethora of blogs and websites made by amateurs and professionals, Ii have decided to share the things i have learnt and hopefully help others like i have been helped.
I am an Australian and hope that any international visitors to my Blog will understand that laws and practises vary from country to country.
I am an Electrician by Trade and have experience in both maintenance and installation work, domestic, commercial and industrial.
Most of what i post will be me fixing things that others have deemed too far gone. Usually when an appliance or tool has stopped working it is considered (often correctly) that it is too expensive to have it professionally repaired. i have been lucky to have received a few quality tools that have stopped working and were on there way to the bin.
I'll update this blog from time to time with tool repairs or upgrades and also a few automotive projects that i am involved in.
Hope you enjoy my ranting and attempts and infotainment!
Triker_Chewie