Thanks to everyone for their ideas on what kind of welder to get. I've done some reading and my dream machine would be a Millermatic 250. For now though, what happened is that I talked with my friend John at work and we discussed the symptoms of the welder. He told me it sounded like power cord or switch. So I cut out the wire and did some testing and it was okay. Blah. Next I went to the switch and found one side was dead. The plastic had gotten hot and caused the spade terminal to push out of the switch housing from just the spring pressure of the switch.
I tried to find a switch locally and nobody was willing to help. I found some actual Clarke 100E replacements through Sears for $8.xx and on ebay for $9.xx I'm so cheap though, I found some Hong Kong replacements that light up read instead of orange for $3.xx each and I ordered 2 of them I do wish though that I could figure out how to wire up a relay (in AC I think they call it a contact but not sure) so that I use one side of my switch and let the relay handle the 15 to 20 amps that this pulls. I don't like switches carrying that kind of current because as you can see, the plastic tends to melt. Finally, I bought a fan that kind of fits inside as these cheap Clarke welders didn't come with them. I'm gonna do some scrounging - I've got some old computers and I think I'll hack the case fan out of one and then find a 120vac to 12vdc transformer and let that draw the air through the welder so I can increase my duty cycle. So the good news is that for now, I was able to fix my switch and finish my current welding project. I'm gonna archive all your suggestions and start looking around for another mig welder. I need to get some experience with tig as it looks way more professional. I like that one Rob pointed out at Eastwood, but my skills aren't up to par. I have no idea how to do it but someday I will. NQ _______________________________________________ vintagvw site list [email protected] http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw
