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OK, I was advised that to even look at the old welder (SP-135+) and attempt a diagnosis would cost $150 and if it was diodes would cost around $400 to fix. My insurance company is barking at me about railinigs on a walkway, pronto. No time to be troubleshooting a welder problem. The logical solution: buy a new welder. I bought a 140 Lincoln and it is doing the exact same thing that the 135 was doing. A brand new welder! The only thing on the new welder that was on the old one is the spool of wire. I checked my circuit and it is showing 119+ volts AC (these are both 110 welders.) So it now boils down to either I fried my recepticles (I tried at least two different recepticles on different circuits) or the power company screwed something up when they put in a new service for my neighbor which, conicidentally, was going on when my 135 started acting up again. I am getting some spec grade recepticles to put in tomorrow and see if that solves anything. But I am really looking forward to that phone call to the power company, so I hope it was them. I can't return the 140 as I tested it out, so it is used. I don't understand if they did drop a leg on my service, I would be noticing something else wouldn't I? And, depending on which leg I was using, the welder would either work or not. We are rural and only have single phase 220 coming in. I'll keep you posted.
Reply:110v, 115v, 120vsame thingso your reading of 119v is perfectly fine- better hold off on that phone call to the PoCo.The small rolls of wire suck as they tend to kink up and may very well be your problem.Ed Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:Make the call and let us know how it goes. LOLMy name's not Jim....
Reply:The wire is an 11 lb spool of Radnor 0.030" MIG wire and looks great. The wire feeds fine, but just won't hold an arc. The other possibility is the gas delivery system, but I have checked it out and it seems to let gas through no problem. I am betting on some fried recepticles. The initial sputtering arc was due to a loose connection in the welder, but may have been enough to heat up the recepticles, but why when I tightened the loose connection did it work OK for a day and then back to sputtering. It has to be something in the electrical supply but what? I will put an extension cord into a house recepticle (I have a drop panel in my garage/shop) and bypass the drop to see if that makes a difference. This is all new construction since last fall, and all "code" wiring. I did use cheap 15A recepticles to cut costs. Most stuff does not need a full 20A anyhow. I will change out the recepticles to 20A and see if that makes a difference too. The new service that they put in comes out of the same underground connection box as mine, but I still don't see how they could have messed that up either. Probably just coincidence that they were working on it when the welder started acting up again. The neighbors house burned last winter and the house demo'd a week or so ago. The service is a new pedestal with a meter and a breaker, surely they did not turn it on when it goes only into the ground and is not hooked up to anything. But, as I said, I am still reading 119 volts at the recepticles that I am using. It about has to be the recepticles.
Reply:Can you post a video of the problem? When I'm trying to diagnose something I do pictures or videos and it really seems to help.http://www.facebook.com/groups/sa200weldersCurrent machines:Hobart G600 Powered by 1967 Chrysler LH-318 (Project)Hobart GF-250(Traded)68 Redface81 Blackface
Reply:15amp receptacle is the same as a 20amp receptacle as far as construction so you won't see any difference swapping out receptacles.As mentioned USA Voltage is 120v and +/- 5% so your 119v reading is acceptable.When you said "Small rolls" I thought you were using the little 2# rolls.It is a 120v machine so just take it some where else to test- a friend's house, LWS.Good luck.Ed Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:Get rid of the radnor wire - had problems with it before. The same thing happened here once too. Take a mic to the wire and see if its all the EXACT same size all the way through. Sometimes just .005 off can screw up as it comes through the tip or even through the drive wheels.
Reply:What brand of wire do you recommend? Radnor is what the local welding supply co (Airgas) sells. I actually went there rather than the local farm supply store thinking that the products would be more high end. Actually, that could cause the symptoms that I am seeing if the wire is a tight fit through the tip, it would drag and sputter the arc by making feed sporadic. The feed looks smooth when not welding. I'll take a mic to it and see what it is. Thanks for the suggestion.
Reply:I use Lincoln wire from a local LWS. It can sometimes be a little more expensive but I've never had any problems with it, which is worth the extra money when you can spend days trying to figure out why a machine won't work and it turns out to be something as simple as a bad roll of wire. Let me know what you find out.
Reply:This has not been asked yet, do you have the polarity set correctly on the new machine? A lot of those lower dollar machines come setup for flux core wire. If you are running solid wire with shielding gas you need to reverse it. W/Gas + Solid Wire+ Goes to Wire Drive- Goes to Ground ClampW/Flux Core+ Goes to Ground Clamp- Goes to Wire Drive-DanOwnerDW Metalworks LLCMiller Trailblazer 302Miller 8RC FeederMiller Passport PlusMiller Dynasty 200 DX W/Coolmate 1Hobart Handler 135Hypertherm PowerMAX 30Smith O/A Torch SetPlus much much more
Reply:Yes, check the polarity, as stated above.You can get Lincoln L56 mig wire in 8" rolls at most Home Depot and Lowe's hardware stores for about $40 a roll. It would be a cheap experiment to either eliminate or point out the wire as the cause of the problem.Also as stated above, taking the welder to another location and plugging it into the 115v power at that new location is an easy/free way to eliminate or point to the power company or breakers or outlets, wiring, etc as the culprit.When you test this thing, don't test it on some big 1/2" thick hunk of metal. It's a 115v model, it doesn't have much power. It will be limited to welding about 1/8" thick metal effectively. You'll need to turn it up to weld that thick too. So get some 16 ga tube and crank up the voltage adjustment and the thing should burn the wire and make a puddle without problems.Also, since you're talking about building a railing, you're going to be working outdoors, likely welding on galvanized tube. Your best wire choice for this application is self shield fluxcore, rather than solid mig wire and gas. You can get the Lincoln NR211MP .030 self shield fluxcore wire at most Home Depot and Lowe's for about $45 for an 8" roll and you don't need any gas to run it. Switch the polarity to torch negative. You will have a much easier time getting good welds outdoors on galvanized steel with the fluxcore wire than with solid wire and gas. Also, you won't have to drag around the gas bottle with you as you weld around the place.Last edited by DesertRider33; 06-17-2010 at 09:37 AM.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Not a welder, just a wannabe who has done frustration time w/various type of machine problems. Take no offense... I've found carefully looking for the dumb fix often works (or maybe that's just cuza me ). Couple thoughts:Gas problem - it looks good but you got a leak or the gauge is stuck. In that case theflux core would work fine... Your electrical outlet reads nominal 120 unloaded but it might read 90 loaded; try plugging in a 20amp compressor or something and checking while it runs. If it's bad, try pulling the cover off the load center and check _there_ while it runs; if it's good then theres a problem on that circuit somewhere, if not then you look upstream (unlikely). Or try turning the welder down to sheet metal and see if it works when drawing minimal power.Just a thought.Rufus
Reply:I think I found the culprit, although I am not sure. I put the 2# spool of .025 that came with the new welder on and fired it up and it welded perfectly. So, I changed back to the Radnor .030 and it welded about an inch and then the feed locked up. I opened the case and the feed wheel would not turn. It kind of sat there and turned a little bit every once in a while. I opened up the drive assembly carefully and saw three little tiny crystals that appeared to be somthing like diamond dust. They were very shiney, looked almost like glitter only a lot smaller. But they sure locked up the drive wheel. I have no clue where they came from. When I cleared them, the welder worked fine again. This is the new one, I will get out the old one and see what I can do with it too. I do recall that at times the wire didn't want to feed when I put it back together after cleaning, but this is the first time it locked up completely. Do they use any kind of polishing compound on MIG wire when they manufacture it? I am on the second half of the spool, kind of funny it didn't act up before this. Maybe it did and the arcing under the connection was just something that I found because I was looking for a problem. I did also change out the recepticle, but I don't think that was the problem. I did mic the wire and it was right on .030" on the part that I measured. I do think I will change to Lincoln wire. It sure is pretty when it welds properly. Hopefully, I will have two machines and I can leave one set up with flux core. Thanks to all of you for the suggestions, I learned a lot from what you have told me.
Reply:Are you changing to the right size tip and drive roll for the wire diameters you are using? You need to have .030 tips and drive roll with your .030 wire and .023 tip and drive roll with your .023 wire. Having the wrong size tip and/or drive roll for the wire diameter can surely mess up the feeding.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op |
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发表于 2021-8-31 22:15:55