Old guy here, welding 50+ years. Typically sheet metal welding using an arc welder is not done below about 50~60 amps, so the original 45 was maybe OK ... The deposition and burn-through are handled by the rod angle. Using say 308 SS rod of 2.5mm you can lay the rod almost flat and the high Ni content allows it to flow into the joint. Sheet metal is welded in short spot welds so the base metal does not accumulate too much heat and warp. Touch, go, lift. Move down the joint 25mm and do it again, and again .... Come back when the whole "seem" is spotted. Now "spot" the joint between the first round of welds. Repeat until the whole joint is tied together. Time consuming and finicky. Not the real province of an arc welder. Only do it when there are no other options like TIG, or an Oxy Acetylene torch with small tip.
Very nice mods. It's a pity that the welder is no longer available anywhere at a decent price. Have you considered doing a similar upgrade for ZX7-250? That one seems to be an upgrade, it's relatively similar AND it's available for a quite decent price (on BG for example).
The inverter probably is an foward smps, so the choke is needed, because It works like a buck Converter, It s hard to explain, but the energy is transfered from primary to secondry, some of the energy is stored on the inductor, by adding this inductor you are increasing the stability and power of the welder, Hope you understand It.
Very nice mods. I think one more flaws with those welders - and that might be harder to fix - is that the open-current voltage is quite low, especially at low current settings. This causes two problems. First, it's practically impossible to use 6010 type rods (not a big deal for an amateur welder). Second, the arc is still quite unstable at the lowest settings, hard to start and hard to sustain. I think the better models of stick welders have a feature where they temporarily boost the voltage when there is no arc - however, I never got into the exact details. Maybe there are schematics or discussions online to illustrate it, or maybe you can just reason it out of basic principles. When welding thin sheet metal, there are many tricks that can be used. One is using a backing piece of copper or aluminium as a heatsink, to draw away the heat and protect the sheet metal from being burned through. You can also experiment with polarity and rod angles. Intermittent welds are a thing too. Or you can add a TIG torch (either with a manual valve or a solenoid valve ran from a DIY circuit) and a gas bottle, which makes things much easier, but also quite costly. But it works, even with those cheap inverters. Scratch start only, but that's still usable. You can also find welding rods smaller than 2mm, but they're quite exotic and perhaps too flexible to use comfortably.
Add Lift Start Tig or High Frequency Start Tig Modification please... I always awe by your works & videos, It's soo usefull. With such modification (Lift Start/HF Start) on regular welders would enable us to Tig Weld with better results & outcomes.
Thank you very much for sharing this information with us, my observations on the comments,,,,sometimes peoples do not appreciate things others do or make to better the systems or prevent disasters and damages to equipment and or damage to oneself or others..... Have a question , how safe are the home made welding equipment or machine as we called it on UA-cam ? please reply thanks.
I want to make a fluxcore machine from one of these inverters, but I'm just starting to study Power Electronics. I am a welder with 40 years experience. Harbor Freight wire drives are identical on their 220v & 110v fluxcore & operate at 24 volts, the output of the 110v welder & available on eBay from China. The 220v machine has a 36 volt high setting. Ideally, a tiny 110v wirefeed fluxcore using 0.030" wire would perform well, since 220v is a special case in the US.
The overall function of the machine is as a current regulator. Converting it to a regulated voltage would require a seperate circuit after the output terminals. It's possible, but other power supplies would work better.
Are 2 relays in parallel going to last? the mechanical nature surely means there will be some variation in switching time meaning one may momentarily carry the entire load.
By the time the relays turn on the primary cap's charge current has already been reduced to a very low value. So this provides a safe condition even if the relays are not synchronize. The combined 30A contacts will be needed during welding, but that is long after the soft start has ended.
Did someone see that the unit lacks of protective earth connection? Even tho the label on the welder states that the unit must be grounded, it only comes with two conductor lead. Also there is a place on the PCB for a PTC resistor but its unpopulated and seems like the tracks bypass it completely.
Today´s version of this product has a protective earth connection... machine costed me 30bucks, and I wasn´t really expecting that it has a protective earth connection, cause of all the older reviews that I´ve seen, where a protective earth connection was always lacking... But still lacks a built-in softstart till today (although it can also be implemented by a 2-stage-"on"-switch and an, admittedly expensive, power resistor, so, much simpler than shown here. In this kind of soft start, you have to manually isolate/disconnect the power-resistor, a couple of seconds after turning on the machine, so, not automatic, but consists only of a resistor and an "on"-switch)...
Older guy here , change angle all you want , you still burn through thin sheet , thin is below 0.5mm , ..0.6mm you may get away .. arc welding not done below 50 amp ? can go to 1 amp and still make hole on tin can , thats with tiny 1mm rod , yes there is such thing as 1mm stick rod
Is it possible to buy the ready made soft starter unit on line? I do not have possibility to buy parts and cannot build one. Thanks beforehand for any reply.
Îf u don´t need the soft-start to automaticaly shut-off, but can bear doing it manualy, then just solder 2 leads on the 2 sides of the main-switch. Then connect a bulb-socket and a switch to those 2 leads. Then screw in a bulb in that has 20-30ohm initial resistance... online calculators can tell xou, how long you have to wait for the capacitor to be loaded through the bulb. Each time you wanna turn the welder on, turn first the bulb-switch on, and wait for some seconds (the online calculator can tell you how many seconds). After those few seconds have past, turn-on the main-welder-switch, and then, turn-off the bulb-switch. That´s a manual soft-start, it´s extremely easy to build (leads, socket, incandescent oldschool bulb, switch), and the only disadvantage is, that it´s manual instead of being automatic. But beware: Bulbs have 2 values for their resistance: A low one, for when very low currents run through them, and so, stay dark, and a high one, for when they are lighten-up. The minimum-resistance value you need is 20-30ohm, and the bulb you choose should fullfill that anyway, cause the initial current-rush is gonna face this lower bulb-resistance-value at first, which, nevertheless, has to still be high enough (20-30ohm). But when the bulb is lighten-up (0,1 seconds after you turn-on the bulb-switch, and I dont think that 0,1sec is long enough to fully load the capacitor yet), the resistance is much higher, and this will delay the capacitor-loading a lot. Still, for capacitor-loading, you have to use the high-bulb-resistance-value, in order to calculate the waiting-time, cause you want to use the soft-start until the capacitor is fully loaded, after all... The 2 resistance-values have a spread of around 13 times, that means, if an expensive soft-start-power-resistor (of the same resistance-value of 20-30ohm) needs 1 second to load the capacitor, a cheap soft-start-bulb will need 13 seconds of waiting-time. Of yource, it can be, that the capacitor is already half- or quarter-loaded (during the bulb´s low-resistance-phase) before the bulb-resistance reaches its high-value, so, you surely have to wait way less than 13-times-longer (maybe 5 instead of 1 seconds, but surely not that long as 13 instead of 1 seconds. seconds-values are examples), but you have to find that out for yourself... Of course, you can always use a power-resistor in the same way, instead of a bulb, and get a much faster soft-start (1sec vs. 13sec of waiting-time as an example): leads, socket, power-resistor, switch = manual soft-start.
You have enough knowledge on welding inverter. My welder Einhell BT-IW 100 gone dead. No led no fan sound. Fuses are ok. Voltage after rectifier is present about 300V I found a zener diode burnout at 15V power supply. I replaced but no sound. Have UC3845 and L6386 chip I replaced UC3845 Also no sound. I will replaced and Lxxx but cant find. What will be the problem
can you make an upgrade for this inverter so that it will start an arc With High frequency arc. like TIG welding machine. High voltage High Frequency so that it will start an arc without touching the electrod to the base metal.
hello kasyan,,please next video must be,the african inverter 250w/500w which is available lazada or amazon online.. whats inside and how to increase its wattage,and it says the inverter is modified sine wave,,is there any possible to make it pure sine wave?? please kasyan,, best regards from philippines..god bless.
@@d.t.4523 I found out long after asking this that you can use one but you need to introduce an air gap since the magnetic permeability of a ferrite core is too high and it will saturate at too low a current, but its not hard to break one in half after scribing it and then use some tape or something for the air gap.
Asep Saepudin hey I hope that you are not complaining? It’s not her fault that she doesn’t use hand conditioner or have her nails done in a salon. She’s offering a service in what can be done to the most smallest welder, I’m grateful for that, are you?
as far as the "in-rush" current is concerned, fearing that it may destroy the recifier diodes - is NOT going to happen, These rectifier diodes are quite capable of handling the SHORT IN-RUSH currents! Besides, if no relay is present, the circuit will have a NTC to allow for slower "in-rush" current, as as for adding a choke on the output is quite unnecessary - As Broc(comments below) indicated, its up to the Welder's skill, rod type, rod angle, heat applied, etc...as far as im concerned, the Welding Machine is FINE by design as is !!! You will be surprised how Welders work around these challenges - NONE will feel the need to "modify" the machine, ONLY their SKILL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the ways of showing schematics I have seen on UA-cam yet!
Great voice over, cute accent.
Old guy here, welding 50+ years. Typically sheet metal welding using an arc welder is not done below about 50~60 amps, so the original 45 was maybe OK ... The deposition and burn-through are handled by the rod angle. Using say 308 SS rod of 2.5mm you can lay the rod almost flat and the high Ni content allows it to flow into the joint. Sheet metal is welded in short spot welds so the base metal does not accumulate too much heat and warp. Touch, go, lift. Move down the joint 25mm and do it again, and again .... Come back when the whole "seem" is spotted. Now "spot" the joint between the first round of welds. Repeat until the whole joint is tied together. Time consuming and finicky. Not the real province of an arc welder. Only do it when there are no other options like TIG, or an Oxy Acetylene torch with small tip.
Very nice mods. It's a pity that the welder is no longer available anywhere at a decent price. Have you considered doing a similar upgrade for ZX7-250? That one seems to be an upgrade, it's relatively similar AND it's available for a quite decent price (on BG for example).
Thank you. You are professional.
You should have shown how the softstart is conected in the inverter
Pretty interesting, dude! And it's really useful, thanks! 😃
I'd like to have more explanation about the choke: how does it enhance the arc start?
yes
@@overbuiltautomotive1299 how does the choke enhance the arc start?
It reduces the spark starting current. Like a series resister, or like the soft start circuit he added to the main input circuit.
The inverter probably is an foward smps, so the choke is needed, because It works like a buck Converter, It s hard to explain, but the energy is transfered from primary to secondry, some of the energy is stored on the inductor, by adding this inductor you are increasing the stability and power of the welder, Hope you understand It.
Very nice mods.
I think one more flaws with those welders - and that might be harder to fix - is that the open-current voltage is quite low, especially at low current settings. This causes two problems. First, it's practically impossible to use 6010 type rods (not a big deal for an amateur welder). Second, the arc is still quite unstable at the lowest settings, hard to start and hard to sustain.
I think the better models of stick welders have a feature where they temporarily boost the voltage when there is no arc - however, I never got into the exact details. Maybe there are schematics or discussions online to illustrate it, or maybe you can just reason it out of basic principles.
When welding thin sheet metal, there are many tricks that can be used. One is using a backing piece of copper or aluminium as a heatsink, to draw away the heat and protect the sheet metal from being burned through. You can also experiment with polarity and rod angles. Intermittent welds are a thing too. Or you can add a TIG torch (either with a manual valve or a solenoid valve ran from a DIY circuit) and a gas bottle, which makes things much easier, but also quite costly. But it works, even with those cheap inverters. Scratch start only, but that's still usable.
You can also find welding rods smaller than 2mm, but they're quite exotic and perhaps too flexible to use comfortably.
Very nice mods, very needed. Any chance of design files for that pcb?
Add Lift Start Tig or High Frequency Start Tig Modification please... I always awe by your works & videos, It's soo usefull. With such modification (Lift Start/HF Start) on regular welders would enable us to Tig Weld with better results & outcomes.
and what about maximum power? how does it handle with that choke?
can you upgrade with non-stick feature ,which is only over current cut off , am i correct ?
Thank you very much for sharing this information with us, my observations on the comments,,,,sometimes peoples do not appreciate things others do or make to better the systems or prevent disasters and damages to equipment and or damage to oneself or others.....
Have a question , how safe are the home made welding equipment or machine as we called it on UA-cam ?
please reply thanks.
I want to make a fluxcore machine from one of these inverters, but I'm just starting to study Power Electronics.
I am a welder with 40 years experience.
Harbor Freight wire drives are identical on their 220v & 110v fluxcore & operate at 24 volts, the output of the 110v welder & available on eBay from China. The 220v machine has a 36 volt high setting.
Ideally, a tiny 110v wirefeed fluxcore using 0.030" wire would perform well, since 220v is a special case in the US.
No point Just get mig welder ...cud try the spool gun tho 🙂👍
hey..i have the same machine and i am wondering if i can adjust the output voltage that i want for a project. do i have to adjust some potentiometer?
The overall function of the machine is as a current regulator. Converting it to a regulated voltage would require a seperate circuit after the output terminals. It's possible, but other power supplies would work better.
Excellent
thanks for video
فتبارک الله احسن اخالقین یا اخی
Could you tell me please on which radiator should I put a thermoswich for the cooler?
Nice piece of machine
Very good job, clear tutorial. Thx u.
hello, can I convert the welder welder
(zx7 250) 220v to 110v?
Are 2 relays in parallel going to last? the mechanical nature surely means there will be some variation in switching time meaning one may momentarily carry the entire load.
By the time the relays turn on the primary cap's charge current has already been reduced to a very low value. So this provides a safe condition even if the relays are not synchronize. The combined 30A contacts will be needed during welding, but that is long after the soft start has ended.
It' s nice. but why can't connect the output choke in parallel with more turns not series. Then inductance is high and spark gap is very high
this really is excellent! Can I suggest trying to optimize for TIG welding?
very impressed with your improvements
Did someone see that the unit lacks of protective earth connection? Even tho the label on the welder states that the unit must be grounded, it only comes with two conductor lead. Also there is a place on the PCB for a PTC resistor but its unpopulated and seems like the tracks bypass it completely.
I wondered what the failure mode would be if you happen to be touching the case of the inverter..... no ground is a bad deal
@@en2oh Get a ground fault circuit breaker if you are afraid - you know the welders output voltage is 25 to 70 so you could get zapped by that.
Today´s version of this product has a protective earth connection... machine costed me 30bucks, and I wasn´t really expecting that it has a protective earth connection, cause of all the older reviews that I´ve seen, where a protective earth connection was always lacking... But still lacks a built-in softstart till today (although it can also be implemented by a 2-stage-"on"-switch and an, admittedly expensive, power resistor, so, much simpler than shown here. In this kind of soft start, you have to manually isolate/disconnect the power-resistor, a couple of seconds after turning on the machine, so, not automatic, but consists only of a resistor and an "on"-switch)...
Older guy here , change angle all you want , you still burn through thin sheet , thin is below 0.5mm , ..0.6mm you may get away .. arc welding not done below 50 amp ? can go to 1 amp and still make hole on tin can , thats with tiny 1mm rod , yes there is such thing as 1mm stick rod
Is it possible to buy the ready made soft starter unit on line? I do not have possibility to buy parts and cannot build one. Thanks beforehand for any reply.
Îf u don´t need the soft-start to automaticaly shut-off, but can bear doing it manualy, then just solder 2 leads on the 2 sides of the main-switch. Then connect a bulb-socket and a switch to those 2 leads. Then screw in a bulb in that has 20-30ohm initial resistance... online calculators can tell xou, how long you have to wait for the capacitor to be loaded through the bulb. Each time you wanna turn the welder on, turn first the bulb-switch on, and wait for some seconds (the online calculator can tell you how many seconds). After those few seconds have past, turn-on the main-welder-switch, and then, turn-off the bulb-switch. That´s a manual soft-start, it´s extremely easy to build (leads, socket, incandescent oldschool bulb, switch), and the only disadvantage is, that it´s manual instead of being automatic.
But beware: Bulbs have 2 values for their resistance: A low one, for when very low currents run through them, and so, stay dark, and a high one, for when they are lighten-up. The minimum-resistance value you need is 20-30ohm, and the bulb you choose should fullfill that anyway, cause the initial current-rush is gonna face this lower bulb-resistance-value at first, which, nevertheless, has to still be high enough (20-30ohm). But when the bulb is lighten-up (0,1 seconds after you turn-on the bulb-switch, and I dont think that 0,1sec is long enough to fully load the capacitor yet), the resistance is much higher, and this will delay the capacitor-loading a lot. Still, for capacitor-loading, you have to use the high-bulb-resistance-value, in order to calculate the waiting-time, cause you want to use the soft-start until the capacitor is fully loaded, after all... The 2 resistance-values have a spread of around 13 times, that means, if an expensive soft-start-power-resistor (of the same resistance-value of 20-30ohm) needs 1 second to load the capacitor, a cheap soft-start-bulb will need 13 seconds of waiting-time. Of yource, it can be, that the capacitor is already half- or quarter-loaded (during the bulb´s low-resistance-phase) before the bulb-resistance reaches its high-value, so, you surely have to wait way less than 13-times-longer (maybe 5 instead of 1 seconds, but surely not that long as 13 instead of 1 seconds. seconds-values are examples), but you have to find that out for yourself...
Of course, you can always use a power-resistor in the same way, instead of a bulb, and get a much faster soft-start (1sec vs. 13sec of waiting-time as an example): leads, socket, power-resistor, switch = manual soft-start.
Informative video, with good presentation. Thanks for the information
You have enough knowledge on welding inverter.
My welder Einhell BT-IW 100 gone dead. No led no fan sound. Fuses are ok. Voltage after rectifier is present about 300V
I found a zener diode burnout at 15V power supply. I replaced but no sound.
Have UC3845 and L6386 chip
I replaced UC3845
Also no sound. I will replaced and Lxxx but cant find.
What will be the problem
now its time to take that DC output and invert it to AC with balance and frequency adjustment
How?
I need this pcb plz
Can you send me the link
Is it possible to make micro arc argon welding machine for jewelry welding from this welding inverter?
that thing just a little toy, don't expected too much.
Hi. Welder with hot start feature doesn't have Soft start system ?
you have manly hands
if i install a 30A/1ohm - NTC on the 220z input, will this welder work or would i have problems
How do you add Earth connection?
welldone
hi how much your inverter welding
so 18 windings on that choke?
I think a PTC is enough to eliminate in rush current.
very nice
can you make an upgrade for this inverter so that it will start an arc With High frequency arc. like TIG welding machine. High voltage High Frequency so that it will start an arc without touching the electrod to the base metal.
Where can we download the soft start circuit,
What for she showed it on video lol
Were can we download the soft start circuit and PCB artwork?
Very knowledgeable video
Nice mods!
that green ring choke has in every inverter board
How many rolls of solder have you got on that circuit board ?
I'd say about 3 !
@@scottrich976 BRILLIANT.
Good video but most rod burners are not electronic builders
hello kasyan,,please next video must be,the african inverter 250w/500w which is available lazada or amazon online.. whats inside and how to increase its wattage,and it says the inverter is modified sine wave,,is there any possible to make it pure sine wave??
please kasyan,,
best regards from philippines..god bless.
Like and kisses ...can we by any means convert any of the sort to spot welding gear???.?????
If anyone comes across a Chinese seller that incorporated these changes - please let me know :)
Good
could i purchase a soft start from you
Awesome !!!
But no thanks . . . .I'LL BUY A BETTER ONE!!!!!!!!
Would a ferrite core work as a choke?
No. A ferrite choke is for ac circuits.
@@d.t.4523 I found out long after asking this that you can use one but you need to introduce an air gap since the magnetic permeability of a ferrite core is too high and it will saturate at too low a current, but its not hard to break one in half after scribing it and then use some tape or something for the air gap.
@@sidewinderam9m Great. I'm glad to hear you weren't waiting for my reply. Seven months could get boring without an engineering degree. 👍 😂
@@d.t.4523 Lol. Thanks for the reply. I always appreciate when someone takes the time to do it.
@@sidewinderam9m You're welcome. Better late than never, eh! Have fun even if you don't build your own.
👍👏
the narrator is Louise Belcher?
Why use Lay6 file when the PCB manufacturer wants gerber? Lay6 requires user to purchase a license.
Mans hand,voice of woman😁
Asep Saepudin hey I hope that you are not complaining? It’s not her fault that she doesn’t use hand conditioner or have her nails done in a salon. She’s offering a service in what can be done to the most smallest welder, I’m grateful for that, are you?
@@theonlybuzz1969 nope
Electronically altered voice.
From what I can gather, the man speaks in Russian in his original videos. Then a woman translates the voice into English.
as far as the "in-rush" current is concerned, fearing that it may destroy the recifier diodes - is NOT going to happen, These rectifier diodes are quite capable of handling the SHORT IN-RUSH currents! Besides, if no relay is present, the circuit will have a NTC to allow for slower "in-rush" current, as as for adding a choke on the output is quite unnecessary - As Broc(comments below) indicated, its up to the Welder's skill, rod type, rod angle, heat applied, etc...as far as im concerned, the Welding Machine is FINE by design as is !!! You will be surprised how Welders work around these challenges - NONE will feel the need to "modify" the machine, ONLY their SKILL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It says 4 comments but i only see 3 comments