I have a basic stick welder (SIP Merlin 150), which I have had for many years, but only use very infrequently (certainly less than once a year on average!)
However, one of the irritations on the rare occasions that I do use it, is its very poor duty cycle. Even on low currents, it will only weld (or for that matter even stay switched on) for a few mins and then needs quite a long period of rest[1].
I was thinking about adding a 240vac fan to its case somewhere to aid cooling etc. Before I spend time and money on it, has anyone done something like this? Did it make much difference?
[1] to put that into context; recent example. The washing line was in danger of falling over - it had the type of mounting spike designed to be pushed into soft ground, but the line itself had rather a short pole. Hence if used as intended, the line would have been about 4'6" off the ground, and that would have been a bit short even for my fairly dinky SWMBO (or as my better third as she is known!)So, previous house owners had mounted said spike into a dead tree stump. This worked well til the stump rotted and fell over. Attempts to strap to the remains of a fence post in a metspike were only partially successful, and showed signs of imminent failure. So I thought it would be a better idea, to lop the spike off the metpost and weld it directly to the bottom of the line's spike. Anyway, after some fettling with an angle grinder I wanted two 5" welds to do the job. The welder could only hack about 8" of weld before deciding it was too warm to go on. I only used about four or five 2mm electrodes in total IIRC.