Got the shaft

[Ratcrazy]

Bought a Hobart 135, 110 volt welder from a fellow who replied to my request on Graigslist last week. Gave 300 for the used welder which at the time seemed to be a good deal being the guy claimed to work for Hobart and trained through Hobart. I did try it out at his house for a couple of small spot welds and then again at home day before yesterday with a couple of good burns on some 3/16 with great penitration. Long story short the stinking thing when south while out in the garage today putting a patch panel in my cab. Oh yeah he also claimed it was only a year old but after going on line today to download a manual on it it turns out to be 8 years old. Imaging that

This guy used the welder with a bottle [75/25] but never changed the settings on the machine from flux core wire to bottle gas and solid wire. While trying to see what was wrong with it today is when I notice that the welder was wire for flux core wire and not solid wire w/ bottle.

I guess my question is will running the welder with a bottle hurt it by being wire for flux core wire and not changing the polarity?

I took the + side and reversed the wiring from the - side and struck an arc but only for a second or so and then put it all back like it was and the thing worked long enough to do three spot welds and over heated and stopped. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Any ideas what I might try before hauling it to the repair shop and spending more on it?

Thanks

 

[Bonehead]

Don't know what happens if you run reversed of what you should be on a mig. All my stick rigs can run either way without problems.