I have a dead MIG welder, anyone know if there fixable, worth fixing, or should I just trash it and buy a new one.

 

Kind of depends upon what is wrong with it. As far as help on fixing it I don't know if anybody here would know how but you never know. There may be a few service people here.

I can usually find out what is wrong with a piece of equipment like that if it is sitting in front of me and I have my tools, instruments, and time. Unfortunately I don't know anything specific about MIG welders.

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Thanks for your input Torque1st. I took the cover off, no noticably burnt wires, the light comes on when the master switch is turned on, just no wire feed when the trigger is pulled. I don't have a wireing diagram, but it seems to be getting power to all the right spots. May be the wire fed motor is shot, if so it should be replacable. thanks again, I will look for a repair shop.

 

Track down the trigger switch connections. The gunswitch may be bad or a wire broken. You can get replacement parts for those.

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>I have a dead MIG welder, anyone know if there fixable,
>worth fixing

It would help to know what brand and model of welder you have. Also how old it is and what it was doing the last time it worked or what it was doing when it died.

 

did it just happen? or has it kinda acted up a bit? starting and stoping every now and then??

we tend to have to replace our whip every 3 or 4 years on our miller, the trigger switch will burn out, or a wire will break due to the whip being flexed so much.

take your machine to where you bought it, or a welding supply shop and ask them to take a quick look at it. they are the one's who fix them and should be able to give you advice.

 

Thanks for input. The front says' GEM dual MIG 120 made in Italy, other than that I have no other info on it. I dug it out of a garbage dumpster. It looked to good to leave there. Do you know what the voltage at the feed motor should be? I'm getting about 12.5 volts but think there should be more. Will keep you advised of any progress.

 

Is there any identification on the feed motor? Maybe you can find specs on it. How about contacting the manufacturer of the welder? Usually the user's manual will have a wiring diagram. Maybe you can find the local distributor or retailer and get a manual.

Try disconnecting a wire from the feed motor, and measure the resistance. It could be worth taking the motor apart and looking for what failed (might be something simple, like a thermal breaker), or take it into a shop that repairs welders: maybe they can supply a replacement.

If the feed thang turns out to be hopeless (like more expensive than the welder is worth), you could always use it as a stick welder.

 

Iv'e tried to find the manufacturer with no luck. I tried "Google" search, with both "MIG welders" and "GEM welders", nothing comes up. Any advice.

 

I've seen "Clarke" brand welders that were stamped "Made in Italy", I wonder if it might be the same unit under a different name.

A quick search located a entire page of them, do any of these look the same?


http://doityourself.com/store/clarke_vp.htm

 

How about calling every welding supplier or repair shop in town, and ask if they recognize it?

If it was my problem, I'd have a go at drawing my own schematic diagram. Once I figured out how it was supposed to work, finding the problem wouldn't be too hard.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 28-Nov-02 AT 10:34 PM (EST)]Well I took my welder to a repair shop in Edmonton to have an estimate done on repairing it. They wanted $125.00 just to look at it, so I brought it back home. I'll put it on my bench, get my trusty volt meter and start tracing the wiring out. There is a board with a bunch of resisters and diodes on it that might give me some trouble, don't know what their supposed to do or voltage on them. Worst case, I'll salvage all the copper out of it, can get about $1.00 per pound for it. Thanks for all your input, it was very informative and helpful.