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Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / Century welder electronic circuitry prob
- - By Rod MI (*) Date 03-26-2002 18:06
I have a 90Amp century MIG welder and every time I try to weld with it the wire will not melt it will turn red hot then deposit on the work piece with high wire feed ( MAX Amp) or disintegrate with low wire feed settings at (MAX Amp) I think its called burn back and I have a Lincoln stick welder 225Amp and I hooked the stinger lead from the arc welder and hooked it to the power cable on the MIG welder and at 135amp I still have the same problem what could be the problem the feeder is not slipping my test piece is a 1/8 inch piece of angle I have had this probable since NEW and never been able to weld a penetrating weld or anything that resembles a weld I originally figured it whose the low amperage but now I think something is defective any suggestions would be grate I mite have a lead on this problem Steve at U.S. Alloys seed that Century had a electronic circuitry problem and sum thing would burn our frequently there whose a Century field rep named Ed Chandler that now about this dues any one now him I think he is no longer working for Century thanks Rod MI
Parent - - By RonG (****) Date 03-26-2002 23:57
Rod,
I do not know how much you know about MIG welding so do not take offense.

Your Stick machine will not function as a MIG machine if that is what I undestood you tried.

The way it funtions is Short Circut, in other words until the the wire touches the work it is not carrying heavy welding current but the machine slopes the current for an instant and that melts the wire then goes back and forth in that manner as long as you are welding maintaining the same voltage.

For the most part the skill of the welder is in getting the volts and wire speed set to his ability to control the puddle.

There is more to GMAW than just the electrical aspect.

I am not familiar with that brand of machine.
Are you useing Gas? if so what mixture? Are you useing Flux cored wire?

Your machine may have inherent problems and it may need fine tuneing.
some of the lessor expensive machine are very limited on controls.

Give a little more detail about the machine or hopefully some who owns one is reading and will help.
Parent - By Rod MI (*) Date 03-27-2002 07:01
No offense taken I only used the stick welder to see if I could get sum idea on what is wrong with the welder maybe eliminate the power supply but nothing changed I'm using C25 with solid core wire this its a cheap rig and I have tried both Positive and Negative current and having the same results with both settings and I'm quit shire the warranty has lapsed on this machine thanks for the help Rod MI
Parent - - By billvanderhoof (****) Date 03-27-2002 05:57
This is a real stab in the dark but- if you hook a stick power supply (a device which tries to maintain a constant current (amps) through the arc) to a wire feeder which expects to be fed a constant voltage- and the machine works the same as before it at least implies that the voltage regulator in the mig is faulty.

If you have or can get the schematic perhaps someone with knowledge of electronics can help. These things should not be too complex.

If it has been like this since new, Century should warranty it.

Luck to you

Bill
Parent - - By Rod MI (*) Date 03-27-2002 07:15
that is sumthing I will look into thanks Rod MI
Parent - - By RonG (****) Date 03-27-2002 17:54
A couple more basic things.

Primary side voltage.

Is the machine designed or wired for 220 or 440 volts? By that I mean some machines can be set up to work on 220 or 440 volts by changing jumpers inside.

Also Phase can be an issue. If it is a 2 phase machine and you are using single Phase current you will incounter similiar problems.
Parent - By Rod MI (*) Date 03-28-2002 07:53
No it is wired for a single phase 120V outlet I will have to go and pick it up and double check that
Parent - - By Niekie3 (***) Date 03-28-2002 18:14
What controls do you have on your machine? In the case of MIG power sources, you generally have to set the Voltage to the desired level to give dip, globular or spray transfer. (With such a small machine, I believe that you will probably only be able to get dip transfer mode with any level of certainty.) Then the wire feed speed is set to give the particular amperage required. Your Amp control is actually your wire feed speed control. The higher the wire feed speed, the higher the current. This is due to the electrical characteristic of your MIG power source. (A constant voltage (CV) power source.)

You state that you are trying a high wire feed speed and low wire feed speed with your current setting on high. (Max AMP) If you have a CV power source, this is actually impossible. Assuming that you have a CV power source, that has a maximum rating of 90A, I would suggest that you need to try welding only on dip transfer. As such, you need to get your voltage setting down to about 19V or so. Then try welding with a very slow wire feed speed and see if this makes a difference.

If your power source only has a current setting, then it is almost certainly a constant current (CC) power source. This means that you can only perform GMAW with it if you have a voltage sensing wire feeder. Even with this however, you can not weld dip transfer. As such, such a wire feeder on a low amperage machine will not work because you do not really have enough power to get a proper spray transfer.

Obviously your gas is also important. In your case, I would try using a pure CO2 for a start till I get thing running smoothly.

Let us know what settings your machine is capable of.

Regards
Niekie
Parent - - By Rod MI (*) Date 03-29-2002 07:41
Well it whose only a $300 dollar welder when I bout it sow I will have to check this weekend but I would say it don’t have any extras for settings I always thought that you could only buy feeders that would weld with CV power source only? Are you saying you can buy Feeders that will weld with A CC power source? I don’t now if its worth the hassle of tracking down this problem now that this welder is sow cheap but if I could buy a feeder that I could use on a CC machine I could use my arc welder Then if I ever get a TIG machine then I would have the MIG covered to I would like to figure this problem out though thanks Rod MI
Parent - By Niekie3 (***) Date 04-01-2002 16:53
I am glad that you figured out your problem. Something like a loose connection always leaves one stumped if you are thinking of the problem in a more fundamental way.

Regarding the wire feeder for a CC power source: Yes, you can get such a wire feeder. It is a wire feeder that senses the voltage accross the arc. The longer the arc gap, the higher the voltage. As the voltage increases, the wire speed is increased and visa versa. This wire feeder / power source combination can not be used to weld in the dip transfer mode.

While some of these wire feeders are quite good, they do not perform as well as when you use a CV power source.

Regards
Niekie Jooste
Parent - By Rod MI (*) Date 03-30-2002 23:15
thanks every buddy for posting I just fixed the problem it turned out to be a LOOSE CONECTION sum ware inside the machine I unplugged every thing and checked all connections and now it works it shire took me long enough to figer it out thanks Rod MI
Up Topic Welding Industry / Technical Discussions / Century welder electronic circuitry prob

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