New Mig question

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Im pretty new to welding and I just received a second hand Century mig.  The welders I have used before were slightly different in that the trigger controlled both the wire feed and the electricity.  The welder I have now has a constant live torch.  Does anyone know if this is normal or did the previous user do something to mess it up or bypass it?  Any help would be great.  thanks!andy
Reply:Its probably normal. You will get used to it.  My LN-25 is always hot.David Real world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Might be normal, though I have never seen a century that is always live. What model welder do you, perhaps somebody else has it.
Reply:I believe it is a quik fix 90 amp.  model 117-034
Reply:Hello and welcome.I had a small 110v mig and the contacter died. The fix the repair shop made was to set the gun up as a live gun by locking the contacter on. ( did this because the contactor was unavailable) It's posible that your contactor has fused and caused the torch to become live all the time.
Reply:that is what someone else suggested as well.  Im not too familiar with the inner workings of most welders so i will look around inside tomorrow and see if I can see anything wierd with contacts.  thanks for the info.
Reply:I forget exactly what the contacter looked like, it must have been more than 15 years ago. I do remember that there was one section that was depressed when the power was on sort of like a button. The guy showed me how he basically made a wedge and pressed the "button" down and wedged it in place. Every so often it would fall out and we would have to unplug the unit and reinstall it. Not exactly factory authorized, but it kept the machine working and saved getting a new machine until later. (Learned my lesson about buying inexpensive off brand machines. Parts were supposed to be "available" when I bought the machine but 3 years later, no parts to be found.) Guess the old guy took pitty on a young kid with little to spend and trying to learn and did the best he could to help out.
Reply:615-242-0248 Dave's Driveshaft in Nashville, TnDave used to be a authorized repairman for century.