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Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / Freq & Balance on AC inverters
- - By nhrjw Date 02-07-2003 01:12
Miller has their new Dynasty 200, Lincoln has their V205T, Esab has their 161. The Lincoln's frequency goes to 150 Hz, Miller's to 250 Hz, and the Esab is supposed to be Automatic. Is an automatic feature on the frequency a good idea? Is the 100 extra Hz on the Miller a big benefit?

What welding applications would I use a 20Hz frequency? What about 150 Hz? What about 250 Hz?

Also, balance on the Lincoln goes from 10% to 90%, where balance on the Miller goes from 30% to 90%. Do I lose a lot in the balance on the Miller not being able to run between 10% and 30%?

Thanks
Parent - By ScottV (**) Date 02-21-2003 00:27
I take a stab at it.The esab setup make the little welder think its alot bigger on thick aluminum.I think it's a good idea for that machine.It's setup for hi freq at starting,and when you step on the pedal it changes to a lower freq.that make the puddle more fluid faster.So that is where you would use 20 hz,thicker aluminum.For higher freq it narrows the arc cone down to get in the center of a fillet weld.It take more juice to get the puddle wet,so you really need to step on the power.Also might be helpful on real thin stuff,maybe.I have a Thermal 300 prowave,and find 150 hz plenty.I never really uses it there,mostly around 80 to 90 hz.On the wave balance it's a non issue,I run my wave balance about 25 to 30% eletrode negative.I think the miller means 30% electrode positive,and 90% electrode negative.So both the miller,and lincoln do the 90% in the right direction.My Thermalarc goes to 95% electrode negative.That doesn't really mean a thing.Hope some of this helped.
Parent - - By DaveSisk (**) Date 02-21-2003 19:12
I have an ESAB Heliarc 161 AC/DC, and I'll try to answer at least one of your questions. In AC mode (presumably welding aluminum), as you decrease the power with the pedal, the frequency goes up; increase the power with the pedal, and the frequency goes down. I believe it varies between 20 and 200Hz, if I remember correctly.

I've never gotten an explanation of why it works this way, but based on the 1st reply, I believe this makes sense. As you increase the power/decrease the frequency, the puddle forms quicker (which is what you'd of course be trying to accomplish by increasing the power), and vice versa.

HTH,
Dave
Parent - - By ScottV (**) Date 02-21-2003 20:30
Dave,I had to tell my friend at the welding why it welds heavy aluminum like it does.They were weldind some alunimum cyl heads,and he was shocked a little machine could do it.I knew why because of messing with the freq on my Thermalarc 300 ac/dc.The little Esab is neat,but really different in sound.On the Esab you really need the remote pedal,or torch switch to control the power or you can't use that machine to it's full capability.It's not the same with just a button.

Dave,
have you found anything wrong with the variable freq setup?
Parent - - By DaveSisk (**) Date 02-21-2003 21:53
Scott:

Yes, I agree, it just wouldn't be the same without the pedal to control the current! And yes, you are correct, the ESAB makes this very funky sound when running in AC mode! I'm not sure if that's a feature of all inverter-based AC squarewave TIG machines, or something specific only to the ESAB...

I can't honestly say yet exactly what I think of this feature of frequency inversely tied to amperage. I simply don't have enough "hood time" doing alumimum yet to know if I think it's a really good feature or not. Not much of an answer, but I'm afraid it's the best I can give you at the moment!

Dave
Parent - By ScottV (**) Date 02-22-2003 02:40
Dave,only the Esab make that kind of noise.It's really weird.The first time I heard one,I thought whats up with that?

I was at the welding store today,and A guy brought in a dead 161 ac/dc.My friend at the store looked at it,and told the guy working there to go get the guy a new one.It was about a year old with about four or five hours on it.My friend looked at the s/n # and said some in a certain range esab takes back because of some board problems.He said the numbers but I can't remember which ones.Anyway it's those year old or older machines.
Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / Freq & Balance on AC inverters

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