newbie/ mig feeder to a miller aead200le

admin

new guy here, so hopefully this is the right area for such a questionwhat i have is a 32 year old miller aead20le that works flawlessly as designedas an AC/DC stick welderi also have a linde mig external wire feeder that is sitting unused on an olderunion carbide power sourcewhat i want to do is take the feeder and power it with the miller aeadis this possible, i suspect i would drive it with DC and would also have to provide power for the drive motor as well, not sure.thought maybe someone here has done this before, or similarjust trying to get some use out of some equipment i have laying around taking up space.thanksbob g
Reply:I'm afraid you probably are not going to have any luck with this. I'm almost 100% sure you Aead200le is a CC only machine. Your feeder is most likely a standard remote wire feeder designed to run on a CV power source. The two are not compatible.You could run a voltage sensing feeder like Millers Super S32P, S32P, 8 or 12VS, Hobart Hefty, or Lincoln LN25 from your CC unit in DC, but there are a few issues that have been brought up in a few other threads lately. Wire wants CV not CC power. The feeders "trick" the machine by constantly adjusting the feed to mimick CV as best as posible. However with small wire in short arc the feeders can't adjust fast enough to work well. On high amps, with FC wire or solid in spray arc the machines will do ok, but still run better in CV. The problem is that in spray out of position welds like Vert and overhead become a real PITA with a VS feeder in CC mode.The other issue is that your Aead also  lacks the contactor thats in the mig power unit. The VS feeders have the contactor built in to the feeder, while standard feeders for mig use the remote wires to close the contactor in the power source. Even if you bought a CC/CV machine like a Miller Bobcat, you would still need a VS type feeder because of the lack of a contactor in your existing feeder. (it would run signifigantly better because you would use CV to run the VS feeder in this case.) You might get  your existing feeder to work with a Trailblazer thats designed to run standard feeders, because the contactor is in the machine, not the feeder.Good luck.Last edited by DSW; 07-04-2010 at 10:19 PM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:thanks for the feedbackcontactors i have plenty of, so i can come up with the control circuitry to handle that needas well as control the gas flow.as for constant voltage, i am capable of designing and building a voltage regulator to stabilize the voltage, i would assume it needs to be in the 30-40vdc range?it just seems like it would be a neat project if i can work out the kinks,although it might be easier to just plug an electric wirefeed into the AC power plug, i could do that as wellwith a little hobart 120 but was looking for a bit higher output if i could get there.what makes a constant voltage generator?  a good voltage regulator?thanksbob g
Reply:You should download a TrailBlazer CC / CV manual and check the schematic that shows the CC and CV circuitry.  It is not as simple as making a voltage regulator.  A constant current source is a high-impedance source, while a constant voltage source is low impedance.  Just something to look at.
Reply:Since you have electronics Kung-Fu.... If the Union Carbide power source is out of use because it is three-phase, you could look into what Dave Kamp has done with conversions to single phase and correspond with him. There are heaps of excellent three-phase welding machines going for little money because most folks with three-phase power buy newer gear. The more of these whose conversions can be demonstrated the better. They could be burning rods/wire instead of being scrapped.http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb...-phase-201310/A manual with schematic for your power source may still be available, since ESAB has an archive of downloadable manuals for its predecessor companies.