The Cebora Mig Weld 403C is a transformer MIG/MAG power source on a copper winding, run from a 3 x 400 V supply. You set the current from 40 to 400 A, at a 40% duty cycle the machine holds 400 A, and in continuous work 260 A, at a voltage from 16 to 40 V. A separate four roll feeder feeds the wire, and a Cebora GRV7 liquid module cools the torch.
What this machine is for
This is a source for thick sections in heavy industry. Voltages from 16 to 40 V let you move from the short circuit arc into the spray arc, in which the metal goes over into the pool without contact, in drops, which gives deep penetration and little spatter at the edge. The upper limit of 400 A handles reclamation of armour on mining equipment and multi layer welding on the reinforcement of harbour cranes. The spray arc has one limit: the large volume of molten metal rules out the overhead position, so you work down hand or horizontally. In practice that means the bay is planned together with the tooling for turning the part, and not around the power source alone.
A copper transformer takes thermal overloads and voltage swings in plant power lines, so the arc burns steadily through the whole cycle. Such a construction copes well with the aggressive mill dust that settles in shops, where inverter electronics quickly lose their working order. The price is the weight of 250 kg and the need for transport with a fork lift. It is also worth remembering that a transformer of such power draws more from the mains than an inverter of similar current, which in multi shift work shows in the energy bill. In return you get a machine that has no control modules to change and that is serviced with mechanical and electrical parts available also years later.
The modular build solves the problem of tight spaces. The feeder is separated from the source and joined to it with an interconnection cable, so the fitter takes only the feeder with the wire and walks into a section of the structure, instead of moving a quarter tonne power unit. The maker pointed this model to heavy industry and shipyards, to makers of semi trailers, to shops building steel structures and to reclamation plants, and the applications listed are support frames of warehouse halls, reclamation of excavator buckets with solid wires up to 1.6 mm, production of sea containers and silos, tacking of hot rolled sections in the HEA and HEB grades and welding of side plating in docks. The common denominator is work on carbon steel plate, where nobody asks for a digital record of the settings, but the machine has to stand in the shop and work.
Features and equipment
- Copper transformer block: a high tolerance of thermal overloads and of voltage swings in the plant mains, a stable arc through the whole cycle.
- Current range from 40 to 400 A and voltage from 16 to 40 V, with a duty cycle of 400 A at 40% and 260 A at 100%: the full picture of what the bay will take.
- Stepped voltage commutation with a cam switch: a change of taps without electronics, a stiff current characteristic and fast calibration by a remembered position.
- Separate four roll feeder: four toothed rolls on bearings press the wire evenly over a long stretch of the guide, so the filler does not slip and does not block with a bent liner.
- Work with cored wire: pressure spread over four rolls does not crush the soft sheath of a cored wire.
- Stepless adjustment of the wire feed speed from the feeder panel: you correct the setting as you go, matching it to the gap and to the tolerances of the parts you join.
- Stepless adjustment of the wire burn back time: the tip of the filler burns off at the right distance from the nozzle, so the wire does not stick into the freezing crater and does not melt the contact tip.
- Cebora GRV7 liquid cooling module: a forced coolant circuit through the torch cables protects the contact tip and the insulators in work at 400 A.
- Interconnection cable between the source and the feeder: into a tight section you carry the feeder alone, without the power unit, which in assembly inside a structure saves many moves.
- Spray arc above the transition point: the metal goes over in drops, without contact with the pool, which gives deep penetration and little hot spatter at the edge.
- Work in a shield of active and inert gases: the machine handles the usual workshop mixtures and CO2.
- Construction without microprocessor circuits: fewer parts that can fail in a shop full of mill dust and vibration.
- Calibration by a remembered switch position: coming back to proven parameters takes seconds, without going into a menu.
Technical data
| Brand | Cebora |
|---|---|
| Model | Mig Weld 403C |
| Supply and mains fuse | 3 x 400 V, 28 A |
| Welding current range | from 40 to 400 A |
| Current at 40% duty cycle | 400 A |
| Current at 100% duty cycle | 260 A |
| Voltage adjustment range | from 16 to 40 V |
| Torch cooling system | liquid, Cebora GRV7 |
| Type of wire feeder | separate, 4 roll |
| Weight of the unit | 250 kg |
What to watch out for
The supply is 3 x 400 V with a 28 A fuse, and the weight of the source is 250 kg, so unloading and moving it need a fork lift. In work close to 400 A the duty cycle is 40%, the rest of the time the machine cools, and the continuous value is 260 A and you plan the output of the bay to it. For such a current also pick welding cables of the right cross section, because too thin a cable heats up and takes away the voltage needed at the arc.
Liquid cooling needs the fluid level and the cleanliness of the filters checked, and the torch has to be made for water. The area of the feeder rolls has to be kept clean, and the interconnection cable between the source and the feeder checked for continuity of the signals, because that is the most common cause of stoppages in such sets. The stepped adjustment gives no fine correction of the voltage, on very thin alloy sections that is a real limit. The machine has no program memory, so you pick the settings by hand when the part changes, and you correct the wire burn back time after a change of its thickness. It pays then to keep a card with the parameters for repeatable joints at the bay, because the machine will not remember them. The rolls and the liner are matched to the diameter and the type of wire, and with cored wires check the pressure so as not to crush the sheath.
This unit is sold
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