Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

I decided to start a thread about this old MIG welder I got a while back which is in bad shape and needs some fixing. Don't know if it works, it's full of crud inside and out so a good cleaning is in order.

The gun and cable or however they are called are in very bad shape. The gun trigger button is broken, and the cable has multiple lengths of thick windings of electrical tape.

It's an old machine, not idea if or what parts can still be found. I've no experience with any of this, so now it's learning time for me. But I have decided to bring this old girl back to life.

@Eugen That unit was a work horse in it's day. Is is a 3 phase 600, 480, 240 volt unit. Some of that style could be tapped as single phase. I would be leery of the potentiates and the capacitor bank. Those were consumables when maintaining a clean running machine. I have a Hobart HF250 from the same time period and use it as a stick welder for overhead and rotten metal welding but when it dies it will get a warm bath at Stelco.
I picked this unit up at a garage sale for $300 about 20 years ago. It is more than adequate for home use and light enough to do occasional job site work. It is a beater and probably has a 60% duty cycle. That means that for continuous welding on high out put, it will over heat and trip out.

If it works, I am the last owner

Spike

A quick search for troubleshooting a linde 225 mig welder.

https://www.google.com/search?q=trouble ... e&ie=UTF-8

and linde 225 mig welder parts

https://www.google.com/search?q=+linde+ ... nt=gws-wiz

and good luck,
Gordy

I'm not sure what Spike means by potentiates but the electrolyte in the capacitors dries out with age causing the capacitance to decrease. Eventually the capacitors loose there ability to filter the rectified DC.

@MattA big thumbs, auto correct and sleepy eyes makes Potentiometer turn into potentiates.

Spike

Or as we call them sometimes, pots! it so happens that I have extensive electronics and all electrical thingy experience, having been in the trade of electricians back in Europe, and some years of diy hi-fi audio hobby. I have a good stash of vacuum tubes guys, if any of you are into that.

Anywho, yes, I'll have to find some time and get new capacitors and potentiometers, and gun and cable for this machine. I believe the transformers are not damaged. I want to restore this old lady back to its former glory!

Eugen I'm an Electrical Engineer
In the first picture in the bottom right are some massive heat sinks. Is this a rectifier or some sort of output stage?

MattA wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 2:58 pm Eugen I'm an Electrical Engineer
In the first picture in the bottom right are some massive heat sinks. Is this a rectifier or some sort of output stage?

Yay Matt! The machine is DC output so yeah, that's a big diode bridge. The capacitor bank for smoothing but you know how it is, when the current draw is big like 200 amps the capacity can't do much at all. You get closer to constant current with a biiiig choke. I don't know if this machine has it. If the bridge is gone, which I don't actually expect, I got this little puppy as replacement




Still thinking about adding a big iron choke too. The welder is huge anyways. Look how I unloaded it from the truck. I simply could not wrestle it down just by myself. Weak back n all



https://vimeo.com/547784749








This was before I figured out a way to put a tire bumper on the 644

Ouch, kinda figured that was a gunna happen.

Noel

I would expect you'll be able to come up with a new stinger for the machine. Failing that a new liner for sure, but if the jacketing is really damaged, then new is better. There's nothing more frustrating than working with a welder with a kink in the stinger liner that keeps grabbing the wire.

I've got a Miller 35 that's in that vintage. Still runs beautifully, and reliably while living in an unheated barn for decades. My only real fear with the older migs is if the board goes that controls the wire feed. That's beyond my skillset to repair, unless I can just replace it. Haven't had to yet, but who knows...

Do I prefer to run with the Miller 185, or 250 I have, sure, the controls are a little nicer... Will those machines outlive the 35? I kinda doubt that, but I guess I'll find out...

I used to also have a Miller CP-200 of similar vintage. Three phase machine with the heaviest spoolgun I think ever made... That was without a doubt, the smoothest welding machine I've ever had. Yet again, big transformer machine without much electronics... God I hated having to sell that one off when I closed my shop and lost 3 phase.