Modifing Welders for more/better performance.

[SGS Welding]

Is this a common or even a not so common practice?People modify everything just wondering if people ever modified welders.

[davedarragh]

"Modify Welders?"

SGS: I'm not sure if I understand your question. There are ACCESSORIES that are compatable with units to"enhance" or "expand" it's versatility and performance, but if you mean an owner arbitrarilly making unauthorized modifications to the physical machine, I say not. For one thing, it can (or would) void a warranty, and most likely overheat the machine causing irreversable damage, or worse yet, burn their house or shop to the ground.

Dave

[fun4now]

i have seen a few threads where people have taken a P.O.S. HF welder and went into it to try to make it work well enough to weld with. but never seen a thread of some one altering a Miller or other top brand. i think in the case of the better brands , they have them running at about peak performance. if nothing else to keep up with, or just pass the other big namers. looking at the duty cycle will show you how they run them to the top of there usable range. to get an extra 10 amps at the top end only to have a 0.5 duty cycle would be just over working for no real gain.
as for making a MIG also TIG, or a TIG also MIG weld, they are not the same creatures CC VS CV, and as such you would need a lot of extra circuitry to MAKE it work. better to just buy what you need. if you get the right welder the first time out, you will be happy with its performance and not look for changing it.
my Miller MIG and Miller plasma cutter have far exceeded my expectations, trying to alter them would be insane. same goes with My TA-185. they all have done much more than i had expected from them, i'm way past happy with them. i would not risk over working them just to gain a few amps.

we all have a tendency to want to soop-up stuff or personalize it, just look at my riding mower. but some tools are just best left as is, they do the sooping-up and need no help.
well thats my take on it any way.

[fun4now]

ooops forgot to add some stuff you can modify.
lets see i have done, my truck, my car, my lawn mower, my shop, my bike, my house, my mail box,.... ... ok lets do this the easy way.
things i have not modified.
my welders and plasma cutters, o fair amount of my tools, my children..............yep i think thats about it.

[JTMcC]

Is this a common or even a not so common practice?People modify everything just wondering if people ever modified welders.

They do in the pipeline world, in an effort to get the machine to weld just a bit faster, or stack more iron.

On 200's they roll the brush rack, use 300 brushes on one side, change the rpm's, Hybriweld has modified replacement coils, drag it into the swamp and have a voodoo mama throw magic water on it, ect.
On 300's they do all of the above plus add sliders, put in early 80's 250 shunt coils, ect.

JTMcC.

[fjk]

Is this a common or even a not so common practice?People modify everything just wondering if people ever modified welders.

A friend gave me an Lincoln AC buzzbox that he (or some previous
owner) had hacked a hole in and wired up a 110v socket...
Then I got it, and put in a new power cord, wired for a dryer socket,
and took out the 110v socket (just in case...)

Does that count?

I have thought about building a rectifier for the buzzbox to get
DC out of it -- but I'm too lazy right now

I wouldn't hack anything new or that cost me real $ for
the reasons that others mentioned.

Frank

[davedarragh]

"Lincoln Classics"

JTMcC: John, those two machines are in a "class" all their own! Nothin' can touch 'em in the Pipeline World!

Dave

[jweller]

i have seen a few threads where people have taken a P.O.S. HF welder and went into it to try to make it work well enough to weld with. but never seen a thread of some one altering a Miller or other top brand.

convert the HF stick to tig
http://www.az-zbum.com/welder.upgrade.shtml

add a pedal to a tig
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/s...ead.php?t=2423

all found in a couple minutes with the google.
I won't make any claim to their accuracy. or their SAFETY. but they are cheap.

[spotsineyes]

I put long tube headers on my Dynasty.

lost a little low-end power, but more than made up for the loss with the gain on top.

[turbo38t]

LOL.....I'm curious as to whether welders have been modified as well.....I mean, surely, a well rounded fabriucator should be able to come up with something useful....I remember my German buddy hooking a VW Golf heater core up to his over clocked computer to keep it cool....he had some sort of water pump too.....why not a water cooled welder to up it's duty cycle? Dave

I put long tube headers on my Dynasty.

lost a little low-end power, but more than made up for the loss with the gain on top.

[SGS Welding]

What are 200's and 300's? Big time welders I suspect.

[GilaSlim]

I think he's talking about Lincoln SA-200s and SA-300s. Pipeliners deluxe.

GS

[Broccoli1]

LOL.....I'm curious as to whether welders have been modified as well.....I mean, surely, a well rounded fabriucator should be able to come up with something useful....I remember my German buddy hooking a VW Golf heater core up to his over clocked computer to keep it cool....he had some sort of water pump too.....why not a water cooled welder to up it's duty cycle? Dave

It is called a Water Cooled Tig Torch