OWNER JC220

[Duh_Vinci]

Here is a decent, short you tube review of this little welder in action

Its capable of welding thin car bodywork (I tested it with 1.6mm rods worked surprisingly well)

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This Rohr one was good quality. I did open it up and check there was a real fuse in the plug. (Other similar welders from amazon can come with bolts instead of a fuse!!)

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It came with decent leads and a carry case etc.

The mask these come with is no good! Disposable really. So if you are thinking of one allow for an auto dimming mask. There are true colour masks now for about £50 on amazon which are very good.

Even for getting out broken bolts, making garage benches etc these are very handy. If you have a broken exhaust bracket say you can weld it up yourself.

If any of you have never welded before and are curious to try it one of these little inverter arc welders would be a great addition to your garage!

For what its worth here is the amazon UK link to the exact one I bought

Röhr SMINI-120NI ARC 2 in 1 Welder Inverter Gasless 120 Amp DC Anti-Stick Portable Welding Machine Hot Start MMA IGBT 240V AC - Variety of Accessories Included https://amzn.eu/d/hSlHCz1

The features these have is very good for the price. Unbeatable really.

MIG welders are more better but alot more expensive to start out with especially considering the need for a gas bottle. But the arc welders are cheap to start out and dont need any gas.

This one takes up little to no space either and you can take onto a roof etc if you have an aerial bracket to weld or something like that. I have used mine on my carport roof.

It was after seeing how good this little inverter welder was that got me looking & also upgrading to the R Tech Inverter MIG welder.

Thank you for sharing this! Amazing such a small footprint device can actually DO a good work in a pinch! Portability and ease of use is the key to this little guy, really impressive! Something for just a quick work, where one does not want to wheel out the station with the bottle. Nice!

 

[Jlaa]

Thank you for sharing this! Amazing such a small footprint device can actually DO a good work in a pinch! Portability and ease of use is the key to this little guy, really impressive! Something for just a quick work, where one does not want to wheel out the station with the bottle. Nice!

Indeed thanks @JC220! I fell into a rathole --- here are the equivalents for the USA, which uses 110V instead of the UK 220 ...

 

[TerryA]

Indeed thanks @JC220! I fell into a rathole --- here are the equivalents for the USA, which uses 110V instead of the UK 220 ...

@Jlaa,
I’ll never use a welder but I do have 220V in my garage. Any welding I’ve had done (which isn’t much) I’ve left to professionals.

When I first moved into my home we had an electric stove. My wife hated it so we installed a 6 burner Deco gas stove. That left me with a 220V line. I had it run out to my garage where I used it on my air compressor.

Point being you can hire an electrician to wire you up for 220V. If I remember correctly my pool pump is also wired for 220V albeit I think the last pump I installed is 110V on recommendation from the pool supply house.

Anyway, with 220V you could weld till your heart’s content.

PS: I have no idea what an electrician would charge in today’s market. A friend I met on a construction site who did sheet metal and A/C installations on the side did this for me sometime around 1980.

lol

 

[Jlaa]

@Jlaa,
I’ll never use a welder but I do have 220V in my garage. Any welding I’ve had done (which isn’t much) I’ve left to professionals.

When I first moved into my home we had an electric stove. My wife hated it so we installed a 6 burner Deco gas stove. That left me with a 220V line. I had it run out to my garage where I used it on my air compressor.

Point being you can hire an electrician to wire you up for 220V. If I remember correctly my pool pump is also wired for 220V albeit I think the last pump I installed is 110V on recommendation from the pool supply house.

Anyway, with 220V you could weld till your heart’s content.

PS: I have no idea what an electrician would charge in today’s market. A friend I met on a construction who did sheet metal and A/C installations on the side did this for me sometime around 1980.

lol

Ha thanks! I actually have a 30amp 220V circuit in my garage that terminates into an unused 14-30R socket! My daughter went to TIG welding class and made neat sculptures but I have never welded. Watching various videos, maybe I will give Flux Core welding a try. My point for mentioning the 220V is that the Röhr probably won't work for most American garages.




PS @TerryA We have both gas and electric induction in our kitchen. The induction is way faster than our 20K BTU gas burner, but the induction is no good for our round bottomed wok - frying eggplant, frying rice, noodles, etc.

 

[JC220]

Ha thanks! I actually have a 30amp 220V circuit in my garage that terminates into an unused 14-30R socket! My daughter went to TIG welding class and made neat sculptures but I have never welded. Watching various videos, maybe I will give Flux Core welding a try. My point for mentioning the 220V is that the Röhr probably wont work for most American garages.

View attachment 168036


PS @TerryA We have both gas and electric induction in our kitchen. The induction is way faster than our 20K BTU gas burner, but the induction is no good for our round bottomed wok - frying eggplant, frying rice, noodles, etc.

Yes I forgot about the voltage difference across the pond!

That's handy you have a welder power supply already! Re flux core I presume you mean MIG welder then without using gas. I think that will generally yield high spatter welds with poor results.

Arc welding works well without any shielding gas required at all of course.

For MIG welding you really do want gas. You can get small disposable cylinders but these are quite expensive and wasteful. Best shopping around for a good deal on a rent free bottle.

TIG uses pure Argon gas. I also have a TIG welder but it is the most skilled and hardest to learn. I can't weld aluminium yet it's very hard to start welding that material. I know an expert nearby who offered to teach me so I'll try and organise that soon and give him some beer tokens.

 

[sheward]

For anyone wanting 220v. power, all that is needed is a larger circuit breaker, unused room in your electrical breaker box, and proper gauge wire and plug the distance you are wanting the power run. If your breaker box is in an unfinished garage, and many are, an electrician can accomplish the job in less than an hour.

 

[JC220]

My 500E and me are still around just busy with work



My 500E was sitting for a few months there with its MOT expired so I took a notion yesterday and managed to get an MOT appointment cancellation for today (appointments normally need booked months in advance here in NI for the annual government road worthiness inspection)

It passed no issues and no minor advisories either like it always does! The inspectors were walking around the car when I pulled up commenting on the good condition of the car. W124s here are sadly all mostly destroyed here now - except mine!

This morning I did remove its front brake pads, clean the caliper contact points and applied some fresh ceramic brake grease to keep all moving freely. All brake pistons were exercised in their bores and they are all moving great no resistance. I also flushed some fresh brake fluid into the system to keep it healthy - I need to do the rears next.



This type of power flusher works excellent. I just use max 10psi and it purges the old fluid.



The underbody condition of my 500E is still excellent and rust free some 6 or 7 years after I did the restoration work which is nice to see



The rust on the brake discs is because the car wasn't driven for about a year there. It cleaned off the instant I started driving it today.

 

[JC220]

I also did try taking my S600 to MOT a couple of evenings ago and it's instrument cluster went dark about 30 miles from home so I had to turn around and go home as I was not willing to risk taking it further without being able to read the engine temperature etc.

I have located a company in the UK who can fully refurbish its instrument clusters so I'm posting it off tomorrow and will have it back repaired and with a lifetime warranty next week.

I did find a blown fuse in the dash which is for the cluster and it shows this on the clock now. It needs repair.

 

[TerryA]

@JC220,
Nice to see you here Joe. I know how a job can take over your life. We all know that “Work Sucks but We Need the Bucks” er pounds in your case but that doesn’t rime very well.

Take Care

 

[DerFuror]

Good to hear things are still going.
I recently spent several very enjoyable days in NI. Lovely country you have. As mentioned, lots of other Benzes on the roads there.

 

[JC220]

Good to hear things are still going.
I recently spent several very enjoyable days in NI. Lovely country you have. As mentioned, lots of other Benzes on the roads there.
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Cool stuff I hope you enjoyed your stay and got to some of the distilleries when here. Luxury hotels are a proper thing here, such as Parknassila hotel in Kerry are a must stay.



I was in USA a few weeks back, visited Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky - Tennessee - Mississippi - Texas - Arkansas - Oklahoma - Kansas - Missouri. 2800 miles roughly we drove in 2 weeks was amazing.

We intend to visit all States in the USA in the coming years. Going back in Oct to Salem MA very much looking forward to that and seeing the fall colours over there.

 

[JC220]

@JC220,
Nice to see you . I know how a job can take over your life. We all know that “Work Sucks but We Need the Bucks” er pounds in your case but that doesn’t rime very well.

Take Care

Thanks Terry and I was looking at photos you posted of your own 500E following your 2 day detailing. It looks amazing very well done!

I moved away from Architecture after 18 years and into lead Design Manager for a construction company. It is a very fast paced role and extremely busy so most evenings I'm spent when I get home. The role does come with higher benefits than Architecture so thats a plus. Whilst I haven't been doing as much as I'd like on my fleet the past couple of years I have been making fairly major upgrades to all of my tooling and "shop" equipment. So when I do back properly back into my car projects this autumn those tools will sure come in handy.

I have also been doing alot of work around my house and just now I am falling the last of very large old trees at my house. Hence the next 4 or 5 weekends are going to be taken up by that, then the USA trip and after that will be properly stuck back into my cars and updates. I think the 220CE makes the most sense to weld up and get back on the road first since it is still registered in the Isle of man (since I cannot register it in Ireland until it passes MOT and it was in bad shape). It is also taking up the best garage spot which is where my 500E needs to be.

 

[TerryA]

@JC220,
I finally gave up the rat race and retired about 3 years ago. What you describe about your job was pretty much the same for me. Estimating and bidding on construction work and meeting drop dead bid dates was always pressure loaded. Miss a bid date and you throw away all the time and work you put into a bid so you end up putting in a lot of overtime. I called it undertime when your on salary. Of course there were also rewards/bonuses to.

That’s left me with a lot of catching up to do on my 500E. It’s time to take my baby to the SPA for a rejuvenation/refresh and I have lots of stored parts to install.

Anyway probably TMI.

Take Care

 

[JC220]

Update on my owners thread to introduce a new to me car

My w221 transmission is giving trouble so I expedited my plans to update my diesel daily driver!

It's a 2017 C220 Diesel. This one is well optioned and drives fantastic really pleased with it. Did an oil change today with genuine MB oil and filter. It has the later 9 speed transmission which is a great unit. The dynamic driving modes really are impressive in this car. It's surprisingly sharp and sporty to drive and returning 53mpg average!

The AMG night edition trim is nice on it, one thing I will do is get the alloys refurbished with gloss black and diamond cut I think that will make the car.

The interior cabin is a very nice place to be. Heated seats and reverse camera were must have items. I like my w221 auto headlamps, it's one of those small things you don't have to think about. This car has that and also an auto E brake which is a nice touch.

 

[JC220]

It's been a day or two but finally I am back welding at my red C124 Coupe. One jacking point was completed before, this is the second one I got started on today.




This is as far as I got today - replacement cill section fitting and tacked into place. These are repair sections I cut from another C124 parts car but taken from the middle. So a bit of re shaping is required but works well.



Next is to wire brush this all back, drill the jack hole and fully weld it up.

A Hazet air die grinder joins the tool kit for this type of work -



I also have a full ESAB air fed welding and grinding mask setup now as this type of work is quite polluting laying on the floor next to it.

Over the next couple of months I'll be getting this red coupe fully restored underneath and ready for its first MOT in maybe a decade. Then I'll also have this garage freed up for an upcoming car lift install so I can get 2x cars in there.

 

[JC220]

It's been a day or two but finally I am back welding at my red C124 Coupe. One jacking point was completed before, this is the second one I got started on today.

View attachment 210219
View attachment 210220

This is as far as I got today - replacement cill section fitting and tacked into place. These are repair sections I cut from another C124 parts car but taken from the middle. So a bit of re shaping is required but works well.

View attachment 210221

Next is to wire brush this all back, drill the jack hole and fully weld it up.

A Hazet air die grinder joins the tool kit for this type of work -

View attachment 210218

I also have a full ESAB air fed welding and grinding mask setup now as this type of work is quite polluting laying on the floor next to it.

Over the next couple of months I'll be getting this red coupe fully restored underneath and ready for its first MOT in maybe a decade. Then I'll also have this garage freed up for an upcoming car lift install so I can get 2x cars in there.

Fully welded up and completed this one tonight. I check for pinholes in welds with a torch - 100% sealed. Once stonechipped the repair is undetectable which is what I aim for.

 

[JC220]

Front left next

 

[JC220]

Easy to access the headlamp bulbs



I have a metal shrinker / stretcher coming so I can form compound curves easier hopefully so I'll make my own galvanised repair panels for these headlamp areas

 

[doolar]

Wow lots of rot in that car! Great work on the fabrication and welding, looks fantastic!

 

[JC220]

Wow lots of rot in that car! Great work on the fabrication and welding, looks fantastic!

Thank you for the comment Thomas, great to hear from you hope you are keeping well

I did get the front left jack point repaired at the weekend and the 4th one progressing.






I also received the new front bumper brackets from TrabHan.

 

[JC220]

There are updates on my S600 which I'll add in a few days. I am keeping on the E220 rust repairs. I have most of the metal work completed to the right headlamp area. Alot of hours in that but I am happy with how it's turning out. Left side next

 

[JC220]

PITA of a job but today I finished up the metal working / welding repair of the other headlamp area.



Tomorrow I will weld on studs for the plastic underguard fixings both sides.

Next up is some finer hammer and dolly work then a fine skim of short strand fibreglass filler (water resistant) to the welds and get it ready for first coats of 2k primer in these areas.

 

[JC220]

Update on my 2007 w221 S320 transmission trouble. I got to pulling the transmission at the weekend and my bet was on oil pump failure.

Oh dear.



I have 6 or 8 spare good used transmission pumps on the shelf. I am going to repair it. Replacement good used torque converter on its way and I'll be making my own water cut stainless pump repair plates to salvage the bellhousing. I will be testing my own first then if successful I will be offering these to members. (There is a supply of 722.6 / 722.9 repair plates in USA but none in UK or Europe)

 

[JC220]

On my W221 transmission repairs.

I have since sourced and received in the post a good used torque converter. I already had spare good used oil pumps. I got a new full transmission service kit and finally, I did design my own repair plates and I am awaiting the first sample.

My brother helped with finding a local place that has a water jet machine. So I'm trying mirror polished 1.5mm stainless steel watercut should be a great way to make the 722.6 / 722.9 repair plates.

I was also always curious what's inside a torque converter and in this case could it have contributed to the pump failure.

So I cut the old damaged TC open -



Pretty cool. These parts will be thoroughly washed and will become garage wall art!

And I believe the TC could well have played a part in this. There was alot of friction material from within spread around the housing. (Whilst I cut this open I didn't create all of this debris)



So I think some of this material could well have blown through the oil pump and galled/ seized it up leaking to complete breakage.

I have already started complete teardown and cleaning of the transmission and if I get the repair plate sample in the coming days it will be going back into the car next week.

 

[JC220]

Another update on my W221 transmission repairs-

I obtained a good used torque converter. Thoroughly cleaned transmission internals including splitting the valve body. Checked frictions and all are in good condition. Cleaned up the damaged metal in the bellhousing. Test fitted replacement oil pump to replacement TC and feels like a good tight fit no binding.

Some photos -



I am 100% confident all metal material are now fully removed from the transmission internals. All transmission parts are wrapped in plastic awaiting final assembly.

 

[TerryA]

@JC220,
Wow! That’s a lot of parts Joe.

You DA MAN

 

[JC220]

@JC220,
Wow! That’s a lot of parts Joe.

You DA MAN

Hi Terry, yes lots of parts but overall not too bad. I will be glad to get the transmission installed in the coming days and get the w221 mobile again

 

[JC220]

I had a sneak peak at the oil pump plate before work this morning. There is some hand preparation required, got that done and dropped it in for the oil pump install later.

Damaged bell housing-



Cleaned up



(But still not directly usable!)

Custom plate mark 1-



This fits very well and is far superior finish to anything out there. I will have the final versions next week and will be offering them for sale for any members interested. (This one is going in now - it's just me making tiny fractional alterations to improve it further on mark II)

PS it looks like a hole is off there above but it's not - it has to match the pump itself as that 'ole is recessed on the bellhousing.

 

[JC220]

W221 Transmission update - its in and all done



It took over 9L of ATF to refill it to the correct level. Running great and zero leaks. Very pleased to have that job over and ticked out of the way! The car is now mobile again of course which is much better than 2.5 tonnes of dead S class sitting in the way.

My w221 will get cleaned up and MOT now during summer and will be sold. It was my daily driver until the transmission pump failed and at the time I needed a sensible car for work so I bought a w205 diesel and its great. More fuel efficient and makes more sense as a daily driver.

 

[rayhennig]

Great to see your efforts. Mine are rather humble in comparison.

With your experience, do you notice a drop in quality from, say, my '91 300CE-24 and a 1994 T280?

This morning I'm trying to re-assemble the 280's plastic work under the bonnet having taken out the wiper mechanism. Utter misery.

I don't like that job on the 300 but it's a breeze in comparison to the 280. The wiper mechanism is integrated into long rubber seals that go the the edges of the windscreen and are supposed to prevent water ingress. On the 300 there are separate plastic components that respond well to removal, cleaning, silicon oil and re-assembly.

But the 280's bloody difficult. I imagine that on the production line everything snapped nicely into place. But after 31 years no such luck. I can feel cable ties in my near future!!!

Oh well, I'll start earlier tomorrow as it's already too hot at 09:00.

Best to all.

RayH

 

[lowman]

That is awesome mate. Well done