Got my Chinese Tig/Plasma 56k

[Toysrme]

CT416D off ebay from seller asif.

This one is a UNITED (Rebadged Rhiland I'm sure.).
Seems to be alot better made than the Parker's, which have short wires & fishing line in them...
All the components seem descently assembled, minus a tiny mistake, but it's not a big deal. (Two bolts where the air regulator mount on back are about 1/2mm too close. Quick bend with pliers solved that. Duct tape could have done it also...)
Internals like nice enough... Thermal grease on the heat sinks, all the wires have slack. I don't like the hose barb air inlet, but a $1.50 1/4" air hose barb to hook it to a normal air hose is no big deal. So... It's not impressive, but it's not cheap crap. It's light as a mother****er too. Gotta love the inverter tech!
This one is the dual voltage. It'll swap between 110v & 220v automatically. I think I'm going to splice it up & wire both in. Since I'ev got 30amp 220v in the basement, but it's ungodly handy to have 110v welders you can sling around.
Gotta get afew things to get it going. Just thought I'd show some pics.

[Toysrme]

[Toysrme]

[Toysrme]

And the best thing about it? 1k pot controls the heat... That's right! Cut those wires, run them out to a 1k pot put into a set of old free-$10 game pedals. You've got pedal control for next to nothing. mmmmhm.































btw... 4 image count max a post on a forum is exceedingly ***...
It's 2007, not 1994!? LoL! Up the count.
hahahahahahahaha

[Bmxin^Bjorn]

heyy i got the same phone

[Toysrme]

Don't worry, so does everyone else!

[JimYoung]

Once you get it up and running, keep us posted on how it holds up.. I need a plasma cutter... this might be the way to go..?
Jim

[Toysrme]

Seems OK. I swapped the hose clamps for the hose going from the regulator to the machine (hose barbs hold it on) to some 3/8"- 1/2" T-bar hose clamps.
Swapped the inlet to the regulator from a metric hose barb (***) to a standard brass 1/4" air hose inlet. Tapped the regulator to the new size & used some Loctite 656 (Pneumatic/Hydraulic Application thread sealer. SEALER, not Threadlockers).

I don't like the cooling fan. I'm use to modern computers, which have monstorous outputs. I've got half a mind to take it apart & swap it out for an extremely high flowing fan. After the warranty is up LoL! But it works 100% fine. Just a little mod for later.

No big deal on any of that stuff...


I wired it up for a normal 110v 15amp plug, and soldier+heatshrinked in the 220v 30amp plugs we have in the basement. Annnnywho... With the thing set to Plasma & being the only thing operating on a 110v 15amp circuit. It can throw the breaker at around the 12-15amp output range. Asks for a maximum of 60psi. I fed it a steady 55psi out of my compressor.

No pics tonight, but I cut up a powersteering pump bracket I had laying around. It varried between 1/4" & 3/4" thick. Set to 10amp output @ 55psi it would clean cut 1/4" easily enough & had I moved slower it should clean cut cut around 5/16" on 110v without throwing a breaker.
I cranked the dial up to 40amps & it seemed to me like it would probably cut around 7/16" on 110v but I doubt that's feasible at all. It would simply throw the breaker after 5-10 seconds.


Didn't get a chance to run 230v. May be awhile on that.

[WildWeasel]

In the 3rd set of pics, the 2nd photo as best as I can tell shows the right side of the unit. In the lower right corner of that pic I see smaal printed circuit board mount to a post with a 'single screw'. Keep an eye out for components mounted like that. Supported by only one screw, if they come loose over time could cause a problem.

Also go over the boards that are supported by standoffs and make sure they are all tightened snugly.

I workd for a few years at a defense contractors product testing lab. Westinghouse Defense, Product Qualification Lab. Our job was to take electronics and run them in destructive test enviornemts to see if they could hold up to the rigors of service use. We used to freeze, bake, shake, and shock things till they broke, and assisted in failure analysis afterwards.

Things I mentioned above catch my eye easy enough as a result of the work I did there.

If they gave you a periodic maint. chart in the manual stick to it, maybe even shorten the time. In any case open it up from time to time and check tightness of hardware. Simple expansion and contraction from interal heat can cause things to work loose.

[Toysrme]

Ran it on 220v dialed all the way up to 40amps & 57psi of incoming pressure.
Made one cut in 1/2" mild steel plate (Measured 0.504 - 0.494 on the digicalipers).
Looked like this. I could have travels slightly slower & it would have been a slightly better cut.




The jet sorta came out of the nozzle at an odd angle... Not sure about that one.




About an inch into the second cut the little toggle switch on the torch snapped off. I emailed the seller. We'll see what happens with that.

[84ZMike]

About an inch into the second cut the little toggle switch on the torch snapped off. I emailed the seller. We'll see what happens with that.

I'll save you the trouble......"no wawanty you cwazy amawican bwek it on powpous......you wawn fiks I fiks it bu yow wiw pay fow it".....sorry I had to do it.
Mike

[JimYoung]

hmmmm .. maybe I should look for a used Miller..
Jim

[Toysrme]

Feel free too, but not everybody's so rich LMAO!
Says he'll send me a new one. Right now... I'm just going to plastic weld/CA it back together so I can play with the ****ed thing this weekend. lmao!

It's just a plastic switch so... **** if all that ever breaks is a switch, I'll just buy a real switch & mod it to fit.

[Toysrme]

Played with it this morning & it quit working. No HF, no arcing, the O/C (abnormal) led came on. We troubleshot it abit & I'm just gunna send all of it back for a new one + more consumeables.

[triggerman]

Why by used?

hmmmm .. maybe I should look for a used Miller..
Jim

I am saving my pennies to buy a new Spectrum 375 from a local company for a little over $900. Several hundred cheaper even than the eBay guys AND it is New, Local and a MILLER!