ebay special -oops- speedway series

[buggyboy_2006]

Ok, well long story short, I've never owned a welder up until 6 months ago, and have very limited welding experience, and even less welding education. So I figured, start with the basics. I bought a speedway series welder off ebay for 50 bucks/free shipping. It almost looked used out of the box because it was so cheap, but hey 50 bucks right? Well, I had to modify it unfortunately to get the feed motor to sit correctly in the gear reduction unit (a lot like a pellet stove motor, so it was somewhat familiar to me lol, I fix pellet stoves for work) so that it didnt bind up. Got that working, and had to lube/modify the tensioner for the feeder to make it so the thing fed correctly at that point as well. I got it working, after 5 hours total of modification/re-engineering. Well, game on. I managed to keep it working for 6 months or just less than that, practicing away going off of bits and pieces of info I absorbed off the web when one day, no more wire, but plenty of spool. The wire somehow siezed inside the liner, and broke off right at the tensioner before it feeds into the liner. I can not pull it out for the life of me. Can I buy a new gun/liner and use it in place of the old one? Is it brand specific? To ship it back to the seller to get a new one would cost me $25, and the guy said he'd have to charge me shipping to get the new one to me under warranty, thus meaning I paid twice for one unit, and as cheap as this welder is, not worth another 50 bucks imo. I do plan on buying a quality welder, Im enrolled in welding class starting in a few months, but wouldn't mind still having this little piece of junk to play with until then. It is a non gas 175 amp flux unit, plugs into a standard outlet, and is cheaper than any tool I've ever seen. How thick of material could one expect to weld with flux and 175 amps with a quality unit and education? I plan on doing a lot of chassis fab for 4x4 applications (way down the road, but a goal), and I should stop now, I'm going to class for this, and shouldnt drown you guys in questions that will be answered for me when the course begins. Sorry, long post.

[elvergon]

175 amps will do 3/16 if i´m correct while migging....if using fluxcore I think the limit was 3/8 single pass... if you´re building chassis fab, you will be using MIG mostly cause fluxcore is normally messy and not reliable (IMO, some people think it works great thou).

BTW 175 as far as I know requires 220 v, not "standard 110 v outlet" if that was what you meant. And if you buy a red, white or blue 175 amp machine you won´t regret it. Today it was the first day I ran my pro mig at it´s higher setting with .035 wire and straight CO2,....man that was some serious power I didn´t think that my machine had...

Good luck at course

[David R]

All you can get out of a 110 volt outlet is 15 or 20 amps, which equals 80 to 100 welding amps. No more.

David

[buggyboy_2006]

yeah, I know, I made a poor choice when buying this thing. That I already knew, I was completely mislead about the product, (just telling you guys what it said on the box and in the ad) but i honestly was just looking for a practice toy, and the price was right, even if it is a piece of crap, and it was unpredictable when working, and was rather weak, it would still weld. I wouldn't mind it working, there is no chance on earth or elsewhere the tip of this welder is touching my 4runner, or anyone elses vehicle, but it is still a good thing to practice with. If I could get it working by replacing a liner or gun, it wouldn't kill me, I've seen them used for not many $$ because someone had a broken machine. I plan on getting efficent with mig and stick before I ever touch a vehicle someone is going to drive. Edited to mention, the box says it could take 30 or 35 flux, so I bought 35, and it was hard to feed from the get go, a lot of resistance, not sure if you lube the hose?? dont think so but, no manual. I think if I can get the wire out (yeah good luck tugged on it with channel locks a few times breaking the wire, must be stuck good), Ill try 30 wire and see what happens.

[jamlit]

yeah, I know, I made a poor choice when buying this thing. That I already knew, I was completely mislead about the product, (just telling you guys what it said on the box and in the ad) but i honestly was just looking for a practice toy, and the price was right, even if it is a piece of crap, and it was unpredictable when working, and was rather weak, it would still weld. I wouldn't mind it working, there is no chance on earth or elsewhere the tip of this welder is touching my 4runner, or anyone elses vehicle, but it is still a good thing to practice with. If I could get it working by replacing a liner or gun, it wouldn't kill me, I've seen them used for not many $$ because someone had a broken machine. I plan on getting efficent with mig and stick before I ever touch a vehicle someone is going to drive. Edited to mention, the box says it could take 30 or 35 flux, so I bought 35, and it was hard to feed from the get go, a lot of resistance, not sure if you lube the hose?? dont think so but, no manual. I think if I can get the wire out (yeah good luck tugged on it with channel locks a few times breaking the wire, must be stuck good), Ill try 30 wire and see what happens.


Do not lube the liner. You can remove the liner and take it down to your local welding supplier and see what he can find for you. I would think you should be able to find something that will work without spending allot of money.

I never heard of a 110 unit with 175 amp capacity. 110 units are 130 amp if its any good at all and 90 amps or so if not. If its a 220, then 175 amps would be right. either way they both should run .035 flux core wire. If their was a problem with the liner in the first place then I would keep the .035 wire you have to try in the new liner. Make sure your tip is the right size for the wire.

[jamlit]

All you can get out of a 110 volt outlet is 15 or 20 amps, which equals 80 to 100 welding amps. No more.

David

I do not know much about electricity but I asked the miller dealer about my welder. I asked what the max amp out put would be for my welder on a 110 volt circuit with a 20 amp breaker. They said it would put out the 130 amps the machine was rated for. They also said all their welders would put out their rated amps with the designed input and if it didn't to get it fixed.

If what you are saying is correct, than how can a company like miller claim different. it would be fraud. I am not saying you are wrong but I am very confused. :confused:

[buggyboy_2006]

Well, quite honestly, this thing almost seems like a fraud in every way. I didn't even bother to return it like I said. But if I can get it fixed by buying a new liner, or a new gun for less than 100 bucks, and have something to play with, it's fine by me. It was cheaply hacked together, almost looked like someone bought a real welder, gutted the feed system, and replaced it with some stupid throwtogether out of the chinese parts section of a grainger catalogue. That's the only way I can explain it. The holes didn't even mount up to the drivebox correctly, and the motor was pinched against the housing. It wouldn't even run right out of the box until I modified it.

I need a better one, don't buy one of these.