Arc Captain MIG200!

Yes indeed. Not content with a solitary TIG200PACDC TIG welder, I've gone for the matching pair. ie the MIG200 sister unit. There was an additional "11.11" discount on Aliexpress (as in 11th November, although 11 doesn't seem to be a lucky number in China).

Including the promotional coupon (20 Euros), the bottom line was 264 Euros (about £220), plus £47 Forward2me forwarding costs (via UPS) and £68 Brexit tax (including opportunistic "admin" charge from UPS) ie £335 delivered. Could be worse - although it would have been closer to £200 than £300 were it not for the self-inflicted idiocy of Brexit.

Let's open up the box and see what we've got this time around:

It seems to be ready and present. But why is the torch lead stuffed down the side of the box? In the various Youtube reviews, it was packed safely away inside the unit where the wire reel and wire drive are located. Perhaps the Forward2me team removed it when checking the constant - and forgot to replace it when repacking?

Whoopee - yet another stick welding electrode holder. It's unlikely I will use this machine for stick welding. I have 2 other machines for doing that but so what - it will go on the shelf with the others for now.

Now let's check out the machine itself.

For fuck's sake. This one has taken a side swipe too. That's 2 out of 2 that have been damaged in transit. As noted above, the torch was stuffed down this side of the box, so it didn't take much to stove the side in. I don't imagine Arc Captain actually shipped it like this, although I will put the damage down to the (evidently talentless) clots at UPS. Again.

Luckily it's not actually creased any of the metalwork. Once released from the hinge feature, the sheet metal side panel sprung back into position. 

There is some slight discolouration of the black baseplate by the red powder coated side panel where they rubbed. It doesn't want to come off easily, so best left alone. Could be worse.

Here's the rear panel. No surprises there, although the gas connection is a hose nipple rather than the quick release connector type used on the TIG machine.

And the nameplate / ratings label:

Not familiar with that IEC spec but presumably it specifies the required creepage and clearance distances, insulation system etc. Here's a hooky copy: https://www.china-gauges.com/Uploads/download/BS-EN-60974-1-2012.pdf

Again, it sports the CE mark (it's sold in the EU, where I got this one), as well as the stupid, pointless (and now obsolete) UKCA mark, even though it's not (currently) sold in the UK.

I'll remove that pull-off film shortly.

Let's get the cover off and see what's hidden inside. The TIG unit looked pretty well constructed to me - hopefully this one is similar. Need to remove this handle as well as remove the panel screws. Used some masking tape to remove the covers without causing any damage:

Aha - there we go. Very similar construction to the TIG unit ie front panel HMI board and a couple of other PCBAs, one for control and the other for power conversion.

This is a bit surprising - loads of 1206 resistors. You don't see those much these days. That suggests to me that it's perhaps an old design. Have to admit I didn't look closely at that QFP package to see what micro they have used.

Here's the front panel that does the HMI interface bit:

And the wire feed motor / reducer gearbox:

Input socket etc. It appears to have a half decent ground connection to the chassis:

There are 2 toroidal cores on the power board. Presumably the larger one is the power transformer and the smaller one will be the output filter inductor.

Here's the block schematic from the manual. It's a simple half bridge forward converter. No output inductor shown here but you'd be wanting one on a good day:

Internal power supply transformer:

That black screen is a plastic insulator. Peeling it back reveals the underside of the board. Looks pretty neat and tidy.

And the bottom line is that (unlike the TIG unit) it actually works without needing any repairs to the damaged internals. And yes, it responds to the torch switch.

There are 3 types of roller supplied:

• V-groove for steels
• U-groove for aluminium
• Knurled for flux cored (steel) wire. 

These are the K and U rollers - they cover 0.8mm and 1.0mm from what I can make out. The V roller comes fitted by default.

I doubt I will ever use the U roller, as aluminium doesn't seem to play well with long MIG torch leads. Besides, I also bought the Arc Captain 200A spool gun, which is a better choice when it comes to loominum MIG welding. More on that to follow....

Here's the manual for the MIG200 and for the TIG200PACDC.

All in all - pretty unimpressed that UPS have managed to fuck up both shipments from Germany to the UK - that's a 100% damage rate. Possibly also not overly impressed that F2M most likely repacked the torch cable where it was able to be compressed when this package was stacked in transit, without which, UPS might have been able to abuse it without damaging the machine.

Apart from that, pretty happy so far, albeit without having fired it up yet.

TIG welder up and running - after some fault diagnostics and repair

Finally got some time to connect up the flow meter and argon hose. Plugged in the torch and ground cables and the torch hose etc. Powered it up via the new 32A plug and off I went.

The display came up again - very nice. But pressing the torch trigger resulted in ...... nothing. No clicking or any hissing from the HF circuit. Hmm. 

Continuity testing the torch trigger switch showed it was operating up to the front panel connector. Time to take off the cover - again - and take a closer look. Bollocks. Did the combined forces of DPD and UPS manage to fuck something up beyond the bent cover?

It is surely something simple like a connector that has come loose. Hopefully. And indeed, the problem was simple to spot and rectify:

The bottom (blue) wire crimp had come out of its shell. Clearly hadn't been inserted fully. Clicked it fully into place and Bob's your auntie. Phew. Machine now works!

Arc Captain TIG200PACDC welder!!

Who are these people and what is this thing?

Arc Captain have been actively promoting and marketing their range of welders in the US and EU over the past year or more. They seem to be well received, with few reports of failures or poor service. They also appear to be well built and are offered (in the US and EU) with a 5 year warranty. 

The "TIG200PACDC" is actually a fairly good description - a 200A AC/DC TIG welder with pulse. And if you look at their AliExpress shop front, it's on sale at £375 delivered, although you can't actually order it from the UK.

There are some helpful videos on Youtube that include some shots of the internal construction, which actually looks pretty good, speaking as an experienced power electronics product developer. Famous last words?

While these are available through local channels in the US and EU, here in the UK we can't buy them, either directly or via Arc Captain's Ali Express shop. That's almost certainly due to the monumental act of stupidity that is known as Brexit. Anything that has to come into the UK now needs to have the pointless "UKCA" mark instead of (as well as) the previously established CE marking. Furthermore, we now have to pay taxes on anything that arrives via the EU. A wonderful legacy from the wankers who conned the gullible masses into voting for it.

These Arc Captain products are aimed at serious hobbyists and semi professionals rather than full time professional welders. Similar products available in the UK might include brands like R-Tech and Jasic but these come in at £1500-1800. There are quite a few Chinese brands in the same space but they tend to have very limited exposure here, so we have little to go on in terms of feedback and reviews.

Can I import one myself?

In order to be able to purchase one of these things  from AliExpress, you need an EU shipping address. One way to do that is by using a "freight forwarding" service. There appear to be a few of these that non-professionals like us can use for one-off purchases. After a bit of sniffing about, I found Forward2me, who have depots in Germany, Turkey, Japan, USA and UK. 

Here's the process:

• Register / open an account with Forward2me
• Create another address in your AliExpress account using one of the addresses they supply - in my case I used their German address which is in Brandenburg next to the Polish border. 
• Purchase your goods from AliExpress using that German address and download the invoice.
• Upload the invoice to your Forward2me account. They now know to expect a delivery and how to tie it to your account when it arrives.
• Await the notification email from Forward2me telling you the delivery has been made (you can track the package from Chine to them via AliExpress).
• Select the delivery service and destination address in the UK. You have to pay at this point, based on its size and weight!
• Watch the progress of the delivery as it makes its way across the border to Poland and thence to the UK.
• Pay through the nose for another set of taxes and admin charges - I don't see any way to recover the EU VAT.
• Finally, take delivery!

And the cost?

• £441.81 purchase cost from AliExpress, including taxes and carriage to German address.
• £97.52 Brexit tax and UPS admin .
• £44.16 Forward2me payment for the UPS shipment.
  

That's a total of £583.49 delivered to a UK address.

How does that compare?

• The equivalent digital 200A AC/DC TIG from R-Tech comes in at £1700 inc VAT and delivery
• The Jasic Mini AC/DC TIG is about £1470 inc vat

Both come with 5 year warranty. In my case, if it were to fail, I'd need to return it to Arc Captain in China. 

Rightly or wrongly, I've gone for it. At between 35% and 40% of the other candidates, it seems like a gamble worth taking. Time will tell....

Interesting. I contacted Arccaptain directly to ask if they planned to market their products in the UK. Although they told me the had no plans to do so, the product and its packaging shows the stupid Brexity UKCA marking and there is also a UK address listed on the packaging. Perhaps they planned to do so, then changed their minds for now. Or the person who replied was talking out of their arse.

Anyway, let's see what we have got here. Ooof - things are a bit out of shape here, literally:

Here's that stupid UKCA marking:

Another sign of damage:

One of the clips that holds the front moulding to the housing is still attached....

...and the corresponding feature on the moulding is slightly damaged. It's recoverable though.

Here's the interesting bit, speaking as a power electronics product development engineer. Looks like 600V IGBTs from here. Some sort of Chinese brand I've not heard of. 

The incoming mains is rectified and fed into some bulk caps via a soft start relay. There appears to be a full bridge driving the transformer (4 of those IGBTs)....

....then a full bridge on the secondary, implemented using 16 TO-220 devices. I assume these are MOSFETs. The part number isn't visible in the photo but I don't think there's much doubt.

Rufus is actually quite impressed. This is him singing his MOSFET song:

There appears to be a Hall effect current sensor on the output.

Those MOSFETS have "15N075" in the part number. Presumably 150V devices.

Here's the main controller MCU. Can't read the part number under the conformal coating.

Looking at the packaging, you can see how the damage to the housing is aligned with these marks. Some clot at either DPD or UPS obviously threw something at it.

From the inside:

This slotted vent has suffered but I can't be arsed to bend it back yet. Perhaps I could do so with some smooth jawed pliers later.

The housing doesn't lie fully completely flush but it's pretty close.

And same goes for this slight ding at the rear:

Here's the serial number etc:

But at least it works!

Here's the starter kit for the torch:

Passable looking 17 sized torch with both a switch and a pot. The cables have large DINSE connectors for quick attachment.

One thing the torch kit is missing is a tungsten electrode. Never mind - I have a selection already. One thing I'm not certain about is which ones are thoriated and which are zirconiated, ceriated or lanthanated. Thorium is radioactive, so given the choice I'd rather not be using them. Lanthiated (gold) electrodes appear to be just as good for both AC and DC use, to the point where some suppliers only supply them. 

Luckily, Gadget Boy (aka The Stupid Fat Bloke) bought a Radiacode RC102 radiation detector, so I was able to check them out:

White is zirconiated and show no radioactivity:

Here's the background rate - typically 12-17 counts per second:

Red is thoriated. We are all going to die.

Gold is lanthanated.

Green is pure tungsten:

Although I have some gold electrodes, my selection is limited. Amazon to the rescue - 1.6mm, 2.4mm and 3.2mm are on their way.

Finally, I want some reasonably robust hose for the argon supply, to replace the transparent PVC crap they supplied. This requires a 3/8" BSP (right hand thread) hose nipple for the regulator end. The local welding supplier had blue hose with those already fitted, but refused to sell me them, as blue is reserved for oxygen and my use would not be compliant with standard practice. Never mind, I have a couple of nipples already, so can make up my own hose when the 5m length of black polyurethane hose turns up later today.

Next: connect up the gas and try the fucker.