My 130 Amp Clarke mig welder.

admin

First off I know it's not the greatest welder in the world, prolly the exact opposite but I needed one back in 01 and didn't have the cash to layout on a high dollar mig unit. First off I'm going to say for the 400 something bux I paid for it it works and welds. I bought an off road car, a Drakart Formula Cross that the builder did something weird with the cage. Not sure if it was too thin, cheap, brittle or Chinese tubing but it starting cracking all over the car. I bought the welder and gusseted the whole entire car. I needed something 120 volt and portable to take on riding trips with me just in case. I used it a few times but my gusset repair job did the trick on the frame.Fast forward to now. The only real bad part about this welder (That I can tell!) is that the gas lines leak. Some sort of a slow leak but it flows fine through the hand piece. It works fine but leave the cylinder open and a day later a whole brand new filled tank will be empty. Ask me how I know. I have always wanted to fix it but really was too lazy to take the whole unit apart. It is not like the Hobart's and Lincolns that have a detachable hose. This one is non-removable. Now that Clarke went out of business I guess it's just the way it will stay.On to my point.I just built myself a cage for my 2010 Polaris RZR-S just for fun. http://www.minibuggy.net/forum/utv-a...age-build.html Being the first time I really did a lot of welding on tube from scratch and all the way around it I found it to be harder that I thought it would or should have been. I am certified stick or was some 25 yrs ago but mig I started up in 01 as mentioned before and just don't have much time on it. The local weld shop recommended using .030 for the cage project when I went to fill my argon tank up. I bought a spool but still had some .023 in the machine. I ended up welding 90% of the cage with the .023 on power setting 3 and wire speed of about 8 1/2. After running out I spooled the .030 up and I find I need power setting on 4 but was able to turn the wire speed down to about 5 1/2. With the .023 I had to move so fast and had a hard time around the tubes. The .030 was slower and I seem to have much better control and going around the tube slower made for a much better looking weld.So I guess the few things I would like to know are,1) With a name brand 120 volt Mig welder could I actually tell a difference in my welds and the quality of them? Or is it a splitting hair scenario? Often in life it's more a preference thing than a true fact. I just don't want to make a 600 to 800 dollar lateral move when I could buy some other cool shop tool.2) Is it desirable to run the largest wire when welding or was this just a fluke? I have seen recommendations of .023 for lighter gauge and .030 for heavier gauges but my experience makes me believe something else.3) Do the name brand welders gas lines leak at all or is it just showing the lack of quality that Clarke had?4) Anything else you think I would find helpful.I ended up having to grind down some of the welds and then decided to touch them all up for a unified look. Painted up I think the cage will look almost perfect, I just don't want to have to grind them in the future. The last welds that were made with the .030 wire were actually pleasant looking to the point of looking semi professional so I feel confident in future endeavors the grinder can stay in the drawer.Thoughts?Tom Attached ImagesLast edited by litespeed; 03-25-2010 at 10:55 AM.
Reply:There's been several guys recently who have upgraded to Miller's MM211 that have commented on how much nicer they weld compared to their previous machines. Part of the issues with cheap imports are often quality control just isn't good. 1 out of 10 machines may be great, 2 horrible and the rest so so, or it might be any combination. The whole idea is to make a machine that sticks metal together for a cheap price.Skill will have a lot to do with it as well. A great welder can compensate for some machine deficeincies. Someone who's learning may have a difficult time seperating their errors for that of the machine. Fluctuating output power, erratic wire feed speed are not uncommon with these small machines and can play havoc on getting a good weld for even the best welders.You've already found one of the big issues with these machines, you can't get parts. All machines will break. It's only a question of when. Quality machines are designed with this in mind. When something wears out or fails it's designed to be simple to replace. I've had simialr issues with the 1st mig I bought years ago. I found out the hard way what happens when things break and can't be easily obtained or replaced. I've had minor issues with my Miller that replaced it over the years, but all were simple fixes that just required a new simple to replace, easily avialable part. Heck I've got some stuff thats almost as old as I am and I can still get parts to repair it if need be.As far as gas leaks... TURN OFF THE TANK WHEN DONE!  Seriously, I shut down my cylinders religiously, having had that same issue in the past. My regs will show holding output pressure even a week later with the valve off. That tells my my solenoid and lines are tight. IF I notice that they are at zero, often it's because I swapped cylinders and the reg seat at the valve is leaking slightly due to a buggered valve seat. Usually a good snug with the big wrench will solve that issue for me. Thats true with my tig, mig and suitcase feeders.You might talk to your LWS and see whan they may have an open house or the reps might be doing demo's. That's the whole point of these things. It's an opertunity for guys like you to take machines for a test drive and compare them to what you may be using now. I've found the reps from Miller, Lincoln, Hypertherm and Thermadyne to all be quite helpful. After all it's thier job to sell you on thier equipment and show you best how to use it. Sometimes unfortunately they may have an exact comparable model to what you are using and you may have to try a machine thats bigger or smaller than what you are curently working with. The Miller rep was that way when I was talking to him about some issues with my spoolgun. I'm runing a MM185 and the closest he had was the MM180 thats slightly under what my machine can do. It turned out in my instance my issue was machine settings. The Hypetherm rep had a much smaller machine on demo than my Powermax 1000, yet he was able to show me part of the issues I was having cutting SS with my machine.Lastly you can always look for someone near you who might be willing to let you try their machine. Besides guys here, you can always ask local shops or posibly even at a local tech school (although getting into most schools now days is harder than getting in to see some one in prison.). When looking for a new hood, I asked anyone I saw if I might try theirs to see what it was like. Most were happy to take a minute to show off their toys. Often I'll ask what someone thinks of their machine and how it performs making small talk and they'll offer to let me run a couple of beads or comment on good or bad points with it. You might want to take a minute to add your location to your User CP in the top left sio we know where you are at. Several guys here have offered to help out or let others near by test their toys..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Wow what a fantastic response. I feel like I won the lotto......I always turn the gas off....I just forgot once on a almost full tank......I won't forget again.I will check on the demo at the local weld shop. Some of the guys are awesome....some are not as far as being helpful. Might be as simple as a good day/bad day thing and I only go in every once in a while. I will see about a demo because if my machine is limiting me I will change it out. If I am limiting me.....I'll practice more.....If I kick me out I prolly won't come back, I'm kinda stubborn that way. Thanks for your time,Tom AKA litespeed from St. Charles Missouri
Reply:That looks great. Do you go to St Joe state park? Im in Ofallon Mo we go there all the time.
Reply:Yes I do go to St. Joes. I'm actually really close to you, I actually live in Weldon Springs, right at hwy 40 and hwy 94. What are you and "we" riding at St. Joes?What are you welding with and maybe I could get some pointers.Tom
Reply:My girlfriend and i have a vw sandrail and 2 utility four wheelers. I live at hwy K and Ofallon Rd. Im just a newb my self just trying to put my way trough it.
Reply:I actually live at Ofallon road and hwy 94. Did you build the sand rail?Tom
Reply:Just for your information... Clarke isn't out of business... Clarke of North America shut down,but Clarke in England is still in operation and you can get almost anything you want. There are still a handful of welding supply places in the US that can also get Clarke repair parts.You can contact Clarke support at [email protected] by email and there is a UK website too. http://www.clarkeservice.co.uk/HTP has parts too..(from an earlier post)If you would like to order parts for a Clarke welder call 1-800-USA-WELD to place an order (800-872-9353).Jeff NolandHTP America, Inc.1-800-USA-WELD Since you have it...It's nice to know your resources in case something goes haywire..
Reply:That is some awesome info and great news for me. At this moment I really don't need anything but it's nice to know if and when I do it's available. I'll save this info on my computer for the future.Thanks again for posting this. I appreciate you going out of your way to spread the info.Tom
Reply:You know I can understand you wanting to buy a new welder,but if you want to save money and fix it why you don't pull the covers off remove the lines from the barbs or solenoid and replace the hose from the hardware store,along with new clamps, alot of it is cheap clear hose, maybe buy enough hose to run from the diffuser to a jar of water and you will know if the solenoid leaks.
Reply:Wasn't that big a deal really...I bought a used Clarke 95 last year at the same time Clarke USA went 'poof' and it needed some parts... It became a mission to find a source for parts... There is a thread on WW from last year that discussed this and I just went back to it and pasted the information... Hope it's helpful for anyone with a Clarke machine. HTP is a good source in the US,but I found the service department in the UK to be helpful also.That little Clarke 95 I bought weighs 1/2 what my Hobarts do and even though it has an always 'hot' tip I found it to be a servicable unit for simple repairs. It's lightweight makes it great for tossing in the truck and going to fix something...the 120v plug ain't too bad either. I wouldn't want to build a trailer with it,but It works fine to do minor repairs to one. It burns hot and the penetration seemed fine on light materials.I've been pleased with my under a $100 purchase.. It had a crappy spool of unknown wire in it when purchased and welded crappy... I put some Hobart wire in it and it was a different story..wire does matter. It's just a tool,and while it isn't a top line machine...I bet it's better than a HF unit. I'd buy another Clarke if I needed another welder to fill the spot this one fills.