Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello,

I am an amateur knife-maker and blacksmith, and have occasional need of a welder. I have some experience torch welding/brazing, but haven't arc welded before.

I purchased an inexpensive Amico MMA-180 Amp Stick ARC DC Inverter Welder and on first use welding up a stack of 1/8th inch plate it was working fine for a couple of minutes, then heard a loud pop and had smoke from the welder, and it blew the dedicated 50amp breaker it's on, and the 100amp sub-panel breaker that feeds my shop. Now when I turn it on it does the same thing after a minute even with the leads disconnected.

My question is, is there anything I could have done as a beginning welder that's winging it after a few videos that caused this, or was this welder just defective out of the box? My assumption is that it would have less catastrophic safeties, or just wouldn't work, if I was running it over/ under voltage for the job. I was observing basic electrical safety, etc..

Thanks for you patience with stupid newbie questions.

From here it sounds like something was wrong with the welder, if it worked and then suddenly didn't work after leaking smoke.

Short of flat-out shorting it out and then letting it cook, I doubt there's anything you did wrong beyond buying an inverter in the first place.

Good luck.

Lightning wrote:I doubt there's anything you did wrong beyond buying an inverter in the first place.
Good luck.

That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve read. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with an inverter-based welder. Millions of them in production and running well for decades.

Ghindman - it sounds as though your welding machine had a bad electrical short internally. Probably best to attempt a warranty repair/replacement.

Stick welding for blacksmithing I’d use 7018 rods. They’ll do fine.

Thanks, yeah - no stuck electrodes or anything like that, just a couple of beads, then some trouble getting it to arc, and then poof. Didn't think I'd done anything on my end but wanted to confirm.

The Welder's just out of warranty, unfortunately. Usually I don't cheap out on tools, but apparently I needed reminding why.

cj737 wrote:That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve read. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with an inverter-based welder. Millions of them in production and running well for decades.

...and probably an equal number smoked within their first decade.

Ya think there's any reason why posts about "smoked inverters" outnumber posts about "smoked transformers" by probably 100-to-1 when, out in the world, transformers probably outnumber inverters 2-to-1?

Nah, it's all fake news!!!1!11!

Lightning wrote:

cj737 wrote:That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve read. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with an inverter-based welder. Millions of them in production and running well for decades.

...and probably an equal number smoked within their first decade.

Ya think there's any reason why posts about "smoked inverters" outnumber posts about "smoked transformers" by probably 100-to-1 when, out in the world, transformers probably outnumber inverters 2-to-1?

Nah, it's all fake news!!!1!11!

I don't really like inverters vs transformers - love giant beast welding machines.

But I still have inverters, and most people I know do too.

"Out in the world" I see banks of inverter machines on racks being used in terrible conditions - just like the giant old machines use to be used. I've even seen some repair people who have stopped using engine drive welders and switched to generator with an inverter on an extension cord.
I've even done that when in the basement of a house welding a fireplace. The house wiring was old and I didn't want to trust it to run a welder. I also didn't want to walk up and down the stairs to change settings on the bobcat 225nt - so I used my heavy 100' extension off the bobcat and brought the Thermal Arc 161 downstairs. My (inverter) Lincoln Invertec v250-s would have been overkill for the job.

The U.S. is way behind the rest of the world in switching to inverters...and I still like my transformer machines anyway

Lightning wrote: ...and probably an equal number smoked within their first decade.

Ya think there's any reason why posts about "smoked inverters" outnumber posts about "smoked transformers" by probably 100-to-1 when, out in the world, transformers probably outnumber inverters 2-to-1?

Nah, it's all fake news!!!1!11!

Anecdotal horse hockey. You're welcome to your own opinion, but not your own set of facts. Unless life ceased to move forward where you live after 1992...?