Yeswelder can't buy replacement parts

[ozark]

I purchased a Yeswelder Mig 205DS for home/hobby use. Nice little welder for the money. Yesterday the knob that sets tension on the feed roller broke. I contacted Yeswelder and it turns out that the welder is out of warranty and they do not sell replacement parts. How can a company that sells so many welders not support them. Just throw them away when something breaks ?????

[G-ManBart]

Unfortunately, you answered your own question. At that price point it's almost a certainty that components and suppliers change all the time and there's no way to keep up with parts. That's part of why buying from the big names costs so much more.

[Meltedmetal]

I'd just make my own new knob. It may be metric but that doesn't bother me either.

[Shootr]

I had the exact same scenario last year. Call them again - it's a good bet that another agent will help you out. I didn't have to provide date of purchase, just serial number. They sent out a new one free. (took a couple weeks.)

As mentioned above - make your own is an option. Screw, Washers, nuts - it's doable. Got me through the waiting for the replacement to come.

Word of advice to anyone that buys like we do - buy an extended warranty from Assurion or the like. Mine gave up the ghost 18 months after purchase - got every penny back with a phone call - no shipping it back or other nonsense.

EDIT: Yes welder still has them in stock on their website, Amazon also has them in stock. I think you got a dud customer service rep. I know they have replacement parts since I got one.

[Shootr]

I am pretty sure the knob is fairly generic.



These look like possibilities:

https://www.airgas.com/product/Weldi...RoCeD4QAvD_BwE

My Forney - pretty much the same as well.



Ebay has the entire frame including the knob for cheap.

Worse comes to worse, at least one of these may get you back up and running. I liked mine as well - no issues until I smoked running stick at full power too long.

[ozark]

Thanks everyone for the replies and information. I did make my own adjuster. Just soldered original brass "nut" to a wingnut, added a washer, works great. A service rep never called me back. Got the reply about no repair parts from an email request. It just griped me that they don't service their machines. Get what you pay for I guess.

Thanks again

[Sberry]

You can stock every replacement part for it.

[smithdoor]

I just make part and keep going.
I found most equipment it is hard to get parts and fast to make one.

Dave

I purchased a Yeswelder Mig 205DS for home/hobby use. Nice little welder for the money. Yesterday the knob that sets tension on the feed roller broke. I contacted Yeswelder and it turns out that the welder is out of warranty and they do not sell replacement parts. How can a company that sells so many welders not support them. Just throw them away when something breaks ?????

[crockett]

Their warehouse is in CA while they have an office in CO. I bet a few bucks that they do fulfillment only, right out of CA. A container with welders arrives from China at the LA port and gets trucked to a fulfillment center. The fulfillment center ships all Amazon and website orders out. Those fulfillment centers are almost always not equipped to do repairs, do any technical customer service or ship any replacement parts. Often they don't even handle returns which explains why they just send out new machines if things go sideways. A damaged knob may not be enough reason for them to send a new machine.

That's the throwaway society that we have created by demand, by buying cheap crap made in China.

[ozark]

I got an email from customer service that they don't sell replacement parts. Yesterday I received a package with a new tension assembly complete with knob, spring, etc.
Thanks YESWELDER.

[Shootr]

I got an email from customer service that they don't sell replacement parts. Yesterday I received a package with a new tension assembly complete with knob, spring, etc.
Thanks YESWELDER.

I'm still of the firm belief that Yeswelder will turn out to be an anomaly - one that will rise above the swamp of throw-away chinese boxes to be worthy of consideration to newbies, hobbyists, and folks looking for a third or fourth "quickie" machine. Their biggest issue now is documentation and customer service. They need better use manuals and CS rep training to effectively communicate with their customers. They're not going away.

PS: Did it come wrapped in a ridiculous amount of bubble wrap?!?

[barrytm]

Shootr, I agree with you. I am no expert, my only other machine was a Hobart 140 , but I have had the Yeswelder Mig 205 ds for about a year and have used it with stick, flux, Mig, and Tig, and so far, I have been pretty pleased with it. I didn't like it with flux, but I didn't like using flux with the Hobart either.

[California]

Word of advice to anyone that buys like we do - buy an extended warranty from Assurion or the like. Mine gave up the ghost 18 months after purchase - got every penny back with a phone call - no shipping it back or other nonsense.

YES!!! Buy from Amazon or anyone that also offers a third-party 4 year warranty for maybe $50!

I just bought an even cheaper Amico 130A, flux only, $149. The only cheap flux-wire welder that accepts 240V as well as 120V, so I expect this model is closer to honest 130 amps if I plug it into my big welder's 240V outlet.

Amazon offers no-hassle return on EVERYTHING until after Christmas, 1/31/2022, and also a month to decide on a third-party Assurion warranty, four years for $30.

I screwed up and followed the manual literally. It says stretch the gun cable out straight and pull the trigger to load the wire. What I didn't see from 8 ft away, was the wire hit a nasty shoulder a couple of inches into where I had started the wire. The actual liner starts beyond the hollow mini-Dinse that connects the gun to the chassis. Pressing the trigger pushed a loop out the side by the feed motor then quit.

My prior wire welders have the liner starting right at the feed motor so I thought getting a couple of inches of wire started by hand was all this needed. Nope. That stall fried the relay that accepts signal from the trigger. The gun tested good but jumpering the trigger-connector on the chassis wouldn't feed wire. Pure operator error.

I sent it back Monday, It arrived in LA Wednesday and Amico sent the replacement that afternoon, and it showed out for delivery to me by Friday 4am. (Then FedEx kept it on the truck overnight and delivered early Saturday). No warranty hassle at all, just tell Amazon 'died after a moment' and no-cost exchange.

With free refund or exchange until 1/31 and 3 weeks now to buy the Assurion extended warranty, hopefully this will be a keeper and I'll get four years use out of this one or an Assurion replacement.

I like this little unit so far. It will be far easier to move around (18 lbs) than my three other bulky welders, and hopefully sufficient for many of my occasional farm repairs. It's definitely hobby-grade but that's all I need. I bough it instead of the presently-unobtainable HF Titanium 125 Flux, but assuming equal quality I now like this better. I see some replacement parts for it on Ebay, hope I never need them.

Summary - Buying an inexpensive welder, a no-hassle replacement warranty is the most important feature!