Hi,
Having reached our 43rd wedding anniversary and with my birthday imminent Bron kindly asked what I would like as a prezzie; I opted for a Parweld XTT 202P Tig welder. I had seen one on Gumtree where a guy had bought the welder brand new but never used it having it stored under his bench for a year so I ended up with a brand new welder at a nice price including delivery.
Once the welder arrived I unboxed it but couldn't try it out because it needed Argon gas as I intended to weld aluminium; eventually I bought the gas and having the welder loose with it's assorted hoses and gas cylinder for safety I made a welding trolley but used my oil filled arc welder to weld the trolley. I bought Tungstens; collets and collet holders for the torch; aluminium welding filler rods were bought as was a gas flow meter; then I bought two large sheets of aluminium; yes TIG welding doesn't come cheap and the cheap TIG welders don't weld aluminium these being DC machines only; the more expensive machines have both AC and DC; AC is needed for aluminium.
Whilst gathering all the kit I was working in the gardens but at last I finally tried TIG welding for the first time with terrible results; I couldn't see the weld puddle so quit to do a bit of research. Whilst browsing for TIG welding helmets on eBay I noticed helmets of the type I already have that I paid £35 for a few years ago; I've seldom used the helmet and only on arc welding where it was fine but I was taught to use a hand shield. What I hadn't realized was that the helmet I already have has adjustable lens and of course with my bad luck it was set at darkest #13 DOOOOOOOOOH.
I'm a member of a MIG welding forum and a member on the forum was stating how brilliant his new welding helmet was; this helmet at around £400 each through eBay is an Oprel Crystal 2.0
https://www.optrel.com/en/eye_protection_helmets/products/show/crystal20/
I collected my new helmet a few days ago but with working in the gardens couldn't play straight away with the welder. At last I had a clear day so I was keen to get into the workshop and have a proper go at TIG welding; WOW what a startling revelation this new helmet proved to be; I can use it for all my welding in future and it's absolutely brilliant. Now I could see the welding puddle but being a novice TIG welder was blowing holes in the aluminium; as I settled more I kept adjusting the welder controls and was finally making positive progress when there was an explosion followed by a dense cloud of smoke. My new welder had blown up big style. I quickly switched everything off and opened the workshop door to let the smoke disperse which was still billowing from the welder; satisfied the welder was now safe and not about to burst into flames it was mug of tea time and a think.
First job check the warranty; typical of my bad luck the warranty isn't transferable which doesn't surprise me at all so now I had expensive scrap and dashed hopes of TIG welding. I'm very used to restoring machinery before I use it but this is a first for me in restoring a brand new machine but as it wasn't covered by warranty out came the tools.
I stripped the welder of its covers and above shows what confronted me; two blown electrolytic capacitors 1200uF 200V.
The small circuit board had to be removed in order to gain access to a mounting screw for the larger board.
The welder as it currently is sitting on the bench; new capacitors are ordered from RS and should arrive within the next few days; as I say nothing but bad luck; it's a bank holiday meaning a delay in receiving the capacitors.
The underside of the circuit board; the two large square items to the left are full wave bridge rectifiers; not wanting to install two new capacitors with risk of blowing them again I've tested the rectifiers and they are in good working order giving readings each of .556V Had I not tested the rectifiers with my luck I'm sure they would have been faulty; when the capacitors arrive I'll install them then put the machine fully back together.
A WORD OF CAUTION: ELECTROLYTIC CAPACITORS ARE DANGEROUS COMPONENTS: THEY ARE PRONE TO BEING FULLY ELECTRICALLY CHARGED EVEN WITH POWER OFF AND ISOLATED FROM THE MAINS SUPPLY ALSO IF DYNAMICALLY TESTING THEY SHOULD NEVER EVER BE VIEWED END ON BECAUSE THEY CAN BLIND IF THEY EXPLODE.
I'm not in the least worried about the welder expiring just putting it down to my continuing bad luck. At first I thought due to my inexperience at TIG welding I had done something wrong to cause the problem but members on the welding forum assure me this is highly unlikely much to my relief.
Welders can be repaired professionally but possibly at high cost; I don't encourage anyone without electrical knowledge to even remove the covers of a machine of this kind; not only can electrolytic capacitors give a nasty shock just by handling a circuit board can cause lots of collateral damage to static sensitive electronic components.
I'm dreaming of TIG welding this new aluminium petrol mower tank I've made; I've seen similar on YouTube but I like to do things the hard way so decided domed ends would look better so I metal spun both domed ends on my Graduate woodturning lathe.
Above is the metal spinning wooden former being turned from hardwood; this is rough turning; it was finished to close tolerance allowing the domed ends to be a tight friction fit. The aluminium round tube I bought as a long length through eBay it's 4" diameter.
I'm only adding this thread for interest because it's unusual and the sort of thing I get up to whilst in my workshop.
Kind regards, Colin.
Having reached our 43rd wedding anniversary and with my birthday imminent Bron kindly asked what I would like as a prezzie; I opted for a Parweld XTT 202P Tig welder. I had seen one on Gumtree where a guy had bought the welder brand new but never used it having it stored under his bench for a year so I ended up with a brand new welder at a nice price including delivery.
Once the welder arrived I unboxed it but couldn't try it out because it needed Argon gas as I intended to weld aluminium; eventually I bought the gas and having the welder loose with it's assorted hoses and gas cylinder for safety I made a welding trolley but used my oil filled arc welder to weld the trolley. I bought Tungstens; collets and collet holders for the torch; aluminium welding filler rods were bought as was a gas flow meter; then I bought two large sheets of aluminium; yes TIG welding doesn't come cheap and the cheap TIG welders don't weld aluminium these being DC machines only; the more expensive machines have both AC and DC; AC is needed for aluminium.
Whilst gathering all the kit I was working in the gardens but at last I finally tried TIG welding for the first time with terrible results; I couldn't see the weld puddle so quit to do a bit of research. Whilst browsing for TIG welding helmets on eBay I noticed helmets of the type I already have that I paid £35 for a few years ago; I've seldom used the helmet and only on arc welding where it was fine but I was taught to use a hand shield. What I hadn't realized was that the helmet I already have has adjustable lens and of course with my bad luck it was set at darkest #13 DOOOOOOOOOH.
I'm a member of a MIG welding forum and a member on the forum was stating how brilliant his new welding helmet was; this helmet at around £400 each through eBay is an Oprel Crystal 2.0
https://www.optrel.com/en/eye_protection_helmets/products/show/crystal20/
I collected my new helmet a few days ago but with working in the gardens couldn't play straight away with the welder. At last I had a clear day so I was keen to get into the workshop and have a proper go at TIG welding; WOW what a startling revelation this new helmet proved to be; I can use it for all my welding in future and it's absolutely brilliant. Now I could see the welding puddle but being a novice TIG welder was blowing holes in the aluminium; as I settled more I kept adjusting the welder controls and was finally making positive progress when there was an explosion followed by a dense cloud of smoke. My new welder had blown up big style. I quickly switched everything off and opened the workshop door to let the smoke disperse which was still billowing from the welder; satisfied the welder was now safe and not about to burst into flames it was mug of tea time and a think.
First job check the warranty; typical of my bad luck the warranty isn't transferable which doesn't surprise me at all so now I had expensive scrap and dashed hopes of TIG welding. I'm very used to restoring machinery before I use it but this is a first for me in restoring a brand new machine but as it wasn't covered by warranty out came the tools.
I stripped the welder of its covers and above shows what confronted me; two blown electrolytic capacitors 1200uF 200V.
The small circuit board had to be removed in order to gain access to a mounting screw for the larger board.
The welder as it currently is sitting on the bench; new capacitors are ordered from RS and should arrive within the next few days; as I say nothing but bad luck; it's a bank holiday meaning a delay in receiving the capacitors.
The underside of the circuit board; the two large square items to the left are full wave bridge rectifiers; not wanting to install two new capacitors with risk of blowing them again I've tested the rectifiers and they are in good working order giving readings each of .556V Had I not tested the rectifiers with my luck I'm sure they would have been faulty; when the capacitors arrive I'll install them then put the machine fully back together.
A WORD OF CAUTION: ELECTROLYTIC CAPACITORS ARE DANGEROUS COMPONENTS: THEY ARE PRONE TO BEING FULLY ELECTRICALLY CHARGED EVEN WITH POWER OFF AND ISOLATED FROM THE MAINS SUPPLY ALSO IF DYNAMICALLY TESTING THEY SHOULD NEVER EVER BE VIEWED END ON BECAUSE THEY CAN BLIND IF THEY EXPLODE.
I'm not in the least worried about the welder expiring just putting it down to my continuing bad luck. At first I thought due to my inexperience at TIG welding I had done something wrong to cause the problem but members on the welding forum assure me this is highly unlikely much to my relief.
Welders can be repaired professionally but possibly at high cost; I don't encourage anyone without electrical knowledge to even remove the covers of a machine of this kind; not only can electrolytic capacitors give a nasty shock just by handling a circuit board can cause lots of collateral damage to static sensitive electronic components.
I'm dreaming of TIG welding this new aluminium petrol mower tank I've made; I've seen similar on YouTube but I like to do things the hard way so decided domed ends would look better so I metal spun both domed ends on my Graduate woodturning lathe.
Above is the metal spinning wooden former being turned from hardwood; this is rough turning; it was finished to close tolerance allowing the domed ends to be a tight friction fit. The aluminium round tube I bought as a long length through eBay it's 4" diameter.
I'm only adding this thread for interest because it's unusual and the sort of thing I get up to whilst in my workshop.
Kind regards, Colin.
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