bad gas

By dee

Date 09-17-2002 23:15

Glad to hear it; I suspected gas (and nearly everything else by the end of the day)
d

By billvanderhoof (****)

Date 09-18-2002 03:43

I hope you are right but I remain a bit skeptical. If as you said you took the machine with you to the welding shop the jostling (into the car, down the road etc.) could have remade a bad electrical connection. A bad connection near a diode could easily mimic a bad diode for example. Books could be written about the search for connection caused problems. I've got a few stories myself. I wish for you that the gremlin stays gone but if it comes back that's where I'd be looking.

Bill

By dee

Date 09-18-2002 23:35

Bill,
Bear in mind the welder has always been OK when the electrode is self shielding, and the symptoms are consistant with shielding problems; I thought breeze was diffusing his shielding gas... but you made a valid observation about intermittancies.

Regards
d

By bzzzzzzzzzz (**)

Date 09-19-2002 00:05

too busy to check today, but am very curious whether the tank I returned was tested in any way by the supplier. I cannot believe they would just empty it and refill it. Unless perhaps they know something that's best not divulged to the customer. He was cetainly not hesitant about allowing me to exchange the tank. I hope when I ask them about it I find the gas wouldn't work for them too. Then I will be more certain bad gas was the problem. Also ALL connections were checked for oxidation/arcing, cleaned and tightened. This is one of many things the owners manual itself suggested in the troubleshooting section. ( I tried all the obvious remedies) Bad gas was listed as a potential cause of poor,non-pentrating weld. The supplier had some tempting offers on Hobart/Miller welders though. Just ovr $500 tax included for a Hobart 175 seemed like a dang good price to me.

By welder_guy2001 (***)

Date 09-19-2002 01:38

i agree w/ buying a new welder. besides, you only have 2 voltage settings on your present welder: high and low. with a hobart or a miller you'll get a lot more settings, a lot more quality, and a lot more satisfaction. and yes, that is a good price for a hobart 175.

By bzzzzzzzzzz (**)

Date 09-20-2002 20:59

Yes, it is doing it again. Lots of sparks, not steady arc, porous weld, non-penetrating. I guess now you are correct. For now.

By billvanderhoof (****)

Date 09-21-2002 03:46

Sorry about that- hope I didn't jinx you. When I refer to bad connection I include every spot where a component is soldered to a board- all the spots where the board plugs into it's socket... and on and on. And maybe it's something else. The sum of the posts you have made over these months suggest some longstanding gremlin in that machine that comes and goes. Maybe this is God's way of telling you that you deserve a better machine. I think you do.

Bill