Ok, I admit it, I have this bizzare fascination with welders and can't stop buying them, amongst other tools also. This is my latest purchase, a Cigweld 250 Amp Remote Wire Feed Welder. As usual the first thing I have to do is pull the damn thing apart and give it a thorough clean. I can't beleive it was in such a dirty state. It seems it's previous owners failed to respect it.
If you are going to own any tools then it is best to respect them and this is shown by regular cleaning and maintenance. Now the reason I purchased this unit is that it was a great deal. Secondly I was looking around for a remote wire feed model as I generally weld outdoors and get annoyed dragging the MIG outside. The remote unit is easy to carry and it comes with 10 metres of cabling. More than enough length to go outside and weld some stuff.
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I've just bought myself an old CIG Transmig 195 and it may be in need of some spares. I was just wondering if anyone knew where I could get my hands on a manual? Failing a manual, if anyone out there has one of these welder, are you able to take a photo of the drive roll unit, so that I can compare it to mine? Find transmig mig ads. Buy and sell almost anything on Gumtree classifieds. Cigweld W1005185 Transmig 175i 3-in-1 Multi-Process Welding Inverter - Brand new, in box - Includes warranty Comes with: - 175i Power Source - Tweco Professional Fusion 250 MIG Torch, 3m - COMET Professional Argon Regulator/Flowmeter - Feed Rolls: 0.6/0.8mm V Groove (fitted), 1.0/1.2mm U Groove, 0.8/0.9mm V-Knurled - Contact Tips: 0.8mm (fitted), 0.6mm, 0.9mm, 1.0mm - Twist Lock Electrode. Not sure if you're watching this - Went to use my transmig twin last night and she refused to play. The wirefeed works when i pull the trigger, but not seeing/hearing any action on the contactor. I pulled the control board out and probed the resistor you mentioned - the resistor looks pretty crusty but its showing me 3ohm.
Utterly dispicable. Years of neglect. Many welder failures can be avoided by simply cleaning out the dust. |
Would you beleive this is the same machine. A quck blow with the air compressor and then a wipe down with WD-40 and a rag. |
This is the other side. This MIG has filter caps to give a smoother DC waveform when welding. If you do not have filter caps then the waveform ends up looking like a series of pulses. |
Ahhhhh, that is real eye candy. All the innards look like they are new. |
This is a close up shot of the caps and the rectifier. The fan blows a hefty draft and expells rather than suck. |
This is a close up of the voltage selection switches and control contactor. |
This is the remote wire feeder, gear drive side. It wasn't all that bad. I gave it a clean anyway. |
This is the sealed side of the remote wire feeder. It had some weired dust on the bottom. This thing must have been kept in one heck of a bad environment. |
Just like new again. Cleans up easy with a bit of elbow grease. |
This is the base unit re-assembled. Unfortunately the outer casing has some scratches and surface rust. I will need to spray it down the track. |
Now then, this thing in the picture is the end of the welding cable that feeds the gun. This type of connection is known as a TWECO connection. The TWECO connection requires the manual connection of the gun trigger wires to the remote wire feeder. Euro connection torches have the gun trigger connections built in so there are no extra wires to connect after the gun cable is fitted. The Transmig remote wire feeder has adjustable burn back, spot weld timers, dwell timer and continuous welding mode. The wire speed runs between 1 and 17 metres per minute. The welding power source has 4 coarse and 4 fine voltage settings giving a total of 16 voltage steps. |
Previous owner said it simply 'stopped' and needed a new 'card.'
This is the burned component that fell off the card.
I googled about and found the AUD90 (!!!!!) replacement card. when i stood back up i had a re-google and saw that the burned component was the only part that ever failed. It was very consistently asked about on welding forums.It is a wire-wound resister, they fail quite commonly in a lot of DC-DC power supplies
I used a Jewellers eyepiece to read the rating (3.3ohms and 7watts)and was ecstatic to find that the component was locally available for AUD1.80. A nice little saving.
I actually got a 10watt as it takes more heat. The repaired card (below) was whacked into the mig and now sweeps through its range and at all power settings.
Cig Transmig 195 Manual Pdf
A little note, even the higher wattage resister is getting too hot to touch while welding, it obviously is heavily loaded so I can see why the original would burn with prolonged welding. Allowing it to cool between short welds would be prudent.Most of the smaller 'hobby' migs are very similar inside. The resister is a different rating from make to make but the principals are the same.