Chinese web pages - impossible pictures

[papaof2]

From a page at banggood.com advertising a "250 amp inverter welder". Not only do you get 250 amps in a package the size of a loaf of bread, you don't even need to connect the cables to do welding!! ;-)

Funniest picture: www.jecarter.us/files/chinese-welder-ad.jpg

Link to the welder:
www.banggood.com/Topshak-ZX7-250-250A-110V-Mini-Electric-Welding-Machine-Portable-Current-Digital-Display-IGBT-Welder-Weld-Tool-p-1726914.html

Surprisingly, most of the reviews are good - probably people who understand that 1) the welder can't do 250 amps and 2) you won't be putting two pieces of 1/2" steel plate together with it. For sheet metal thicknesses and maybe up to 1/8" or 3/16", it might be OK and if you're just tacking things together it will work most of the time. There are several videos about it on Youtube, including one showing how to adjust the current display to more realistic figures, one showing some testing with a clamp-on DC ammeter to get actual current measurements and one on adding a soft-start relay.

I'll know more later in the week. The welder is promised in tomorrow's USPS delivery and the cables - which left the US warehouse at the exact same date and time as the welder - are still "Departed Shipping Partner Facility, USPS Awaiting Item" so maybe later this week...

I have the adjustable welding helmet from when I used a Harbor Freight 90 amp wire welder for a while (it's still in the basement on a cart, waiting to be used again) and the welds I did some years back are still holding up out in the weather so I must not be too bad for a hobby welder ;-) I do have a project in mind for this welder - using some bedframe angle (free on Craig's List) to make a rack for some solar panels - something which can't easily walk off.

[biggkidd]

Welding bed frames is a bit tricky they are some kind of strange steel and the welds tend to pop and crack when welded to dissimilar metals.

[papaof2]

I'm planning to weld bedframe angle to bedframe angle and then bolt the finished rack to whatever mount (2" pipe?) I use.

[papaof2]

The welder and the cables arrived today, in spite of USPS not knowing where the cables were yesterday ;-)

I added a 120 volt plug to the power cable. The power cord is #16, maybe #14 wire, so no way it can handle the input power to provide an output of "250 amps at 28 volts" when running on 120 volts AC - that's 250 * 28 = 7000 watts. 7000 / 120 = 58.3 amps at 120 volts - nah, the Chinese ads about electrical/electronic things never exaggerate or confuse 120 volt AC ratings with 220 volt AC ratings. Realistically, pushing the power cord to 20 amps at 120 volts would be 2400 watts, if it's 85% efficient, that's 2400 * 0.85 = 2040 watts and at 28 volts arc voltage that's 2040 / 28 = 72.8 amps. I think the Youtube video on adjusting the range of the amp display down to a max of 125 is probably correct. I'll be using 3/32" 6013 rod which has an amp range of about 30 to 90 amps for metal from 1/16" to 1/4" so I'll probably adjust the display down to 125 amps max and then see what kind of welds I get on the bedframe angle at various heats (amps). 6013 is a power-neutral rod, as it can be used on AC, DCEN (DC Electrode Negative) and DCEP. DCEN vs DCEP changes whether the end of the rod or the workpiece gets hotter so I might explore that as well.

First though, the grass needs cutting, the pressure washer needs a new carb (have it in hand) and the bare spots in the new not-quite-a-lawn need some attention. We should have had sons and they should have had sons so we'd have some teenage grandsons to do the hard work - and they should live close by ;-)