Flossie
Well-Known Member
- Posts
- 11,051
- Location
- Shropshire
I've actually had it about 15 yrs, got it off eBay from a local welding supplies place, said it was a non working part exchange which they had repaired and it was all good. Knew nowt about Tig but with a couple of classic cars to restore and mig not being suitable for some jobs on them and oxy/acet bottles getting harder to (cough) get, Tig seemed ideal. First saw them being used on the tv show, orange county choppers ,welding thin stuff to thin stuff , like gas but minimal heat.
So, anyway...got this Tig, migatronic DC only (won't weld aluminium, don't care about that) and stuck it in the garage where it's stayed, unused for various reasons until yesterday.
Got it on the bench, very heavy btw, and took the panels off to give it a blow out, loads of dust inside and the cooling fan was jammed. Bit of tinkering and that was freed off.
Plugged it in and the fan worked and power on light illuminated.
Read up online how they work and also downloaded the user manual for it, borrowed a bottle of gas and had a go.
Lots of little sparks from the tip but no arc but then it did arc but only for a few seconds before back to little sparks and no go.
Whilst playing with the torch I wriggled the external torch connections on the front panel and got an electric shock off the cabinet where my upper arm was touching it.
Lots of investigation and I found the problem, poor insulation on one of the wires going to the torch trigger/gas solenoid .
The cutout in the front panel that the wires passed through was a bit snug and the bottom wire insulation was pulled up as it was being pushed through. So fixed that and it appears to run good now to my inexperienced eye.
Trying to source some 1.2mm steel sheet at the mo so I can practice stuff and sort out my own gas bottle and get some new tungsten tips and stuff as the one in it is too thick.
stuck fan.
last pat test 2004 which I think is when I got it.
So, anyway...got this Tig, migatronic DC only (won't weld aluminium, don't care about that) and stuck it in the garage where it's stayed, unused for various reasons until yesterday.
Got it on the bench, very heavy btw, and took the panels off to give it a blow out, loads of dust inside and the cooling fan was jammed. Bit of tinkering and that was freed off.
Plugged it in and the fan worked and power on light illuminated.
Read up online how they work and also downloaded the user manual for it, borrowed a bottle of gas and had a go.
Lots of little sparks from the tip but no arc but then it did arc but only for a few seconds before back to little sparks and no go.
Whilst playing with the torch I wriggled the external torch connections on the front panel and got an electric shock off the cabinet where my upper arm was touching it.
Lots of investigation and I found the problem, poor insulation on one of the wires going to the torch trigger/gas solenoid .
The cutout in the front panel that the wires passed through was a bit snug and the bottom wire insulation was pulled up as it was being pushed through. So fixed that and it appears to run good now to my inexperienced eye.
Trying to source some 1.2mm steel sheet at the mo so I can practice stuff and sort out my own gas bottle and get some new tungsten tips and stuff as the one in it is too thick.
