My welder not performing well

[Jazz1]

I rarely use the old Linde,,bought it just for rare occasion as the mig handles most.
PROBLEM Seems to be hard to start a arc and to weld heat has to be MUCH HOTTER than should be necessary. Welds we normally do at 90 amps are requiring 130. Welding 3/8" steel plate and area to be welded is ground clean

any suggestions,,I vote buy new welder with #1 sons credit card

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[Farmerjonathan]

The biggest performance problem my students have from welders is not clamping the ground clamp directly on the piece of metal to be welded. They want to hook anywhere on the steel bench and rely on whatever contact is made to create the ground.

 

[Bondo]

Welds we normally do at 90 amps are requiring 130.

Ayuh,... Turn it up, 'n run it til it pukes,....

 

[Tim37]

Clean all the contact points make sure you have good clean connections if that doesn't work Try some fresh rods out of a sealed container. There isn't much to go wrong on those old welders

 

[michaelf]

Been a welder all my life, as Tim37 said make sure you have GOOD CLEAN connections,99% of problems are poor grounds, its really a electrical circuit and needs to be clean and secure.

 

[duhicky]

Double check your polarity.


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[RagTopTA]

So you guys that are welders, how do you go about grounding to a small work piece? If its a small part, clamp is just way too big usually so I end up grounding to the table. and usually have problems as well when doing so.

 

[larry_g]

So you guys that are welders, how do you go about grounding to a small work piece? If its a small part, clamp is just way too big usually so I end up grounding to the table. and usually have problems as well when doing so.

I see paint and other insulating grunge on your table. Clean and grind a bright spot at least where you are welding. Then use a C clamp or vise grip to hold the piece down to the table. Or you can hold things in the vise and ground to it.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[ssdave]

Ground is almost always it. I had that problem with my welder, finally looked at the wire where it entered the ground clamp, a few frayed wires. Cut it off an inch, re-soldered it in, and went back to working perfectly. I only looked there after a friend had trouble re-certifying because of his welder, and had to do the same before his quality was good enough to pass. He related his story to me, the light bulb went on, I tried it on mine and amazingly enough it worked. I would have never thought that maybe 5% of the strands broken at the ground clamp would make the welder perform this badly.

 

[Jazz1]

Yes it was the ground. I had to ask in case there was some other gremlin I was not aware of. Initially I had cleaned the ground clamp. That helped. Next day I dropped the complete ground cable into my vat of vinegar overnight to clean any corrosion at connections. That was the final step and welder is working like it should. I had soaked a vintage pair of booster cables in vinegar some years ago when they were not passing current the way they should.

 

[rockinacummins]

Grounding is a very vital part of the process. Many people tend to over look it since you typically just clamp and forget it. Clean contact close to the actual welding makes for better welds. Although, it isn't always feasible. Glad you got it fixed!

 

[rockinacummins]

So you guys that are welders, how do you go about grounding to a small work piece? If its a small part, clamp is just way too big usually so I end up grounding to the table. and usually have problems as well when doing so.

I will either lay the clamp on the table and then lay the part on the clamp, or use a grasshopper (aka welders third hand) with my ground attached to that.

 

[trackwelder]

I have switched almost all my machines over to Tweco magnetic grounds. Superior surface contact compared to a clamp.