Welding Tips and Tricks

I have a northern tool plasma cutter that I've had for a couple years and the other day I went to start a cut and all it did was spark on the metal. Air moves through the line good and the ground looks fine and the metal was clean with all the mill scale off. Also my air should be pretty dry considering it is filtered at the compressor and again at the plasma cutter

Northern tool is being a pain on getting it covered under warranty and I'm not ready to pay $85 an hour to have a repair guy look at it. Just wondering if anyone has had a similar problem that turned into an easy fix.

Is it blow back start? If so does the electrode move in/out? Are all the consumables tight? Are the safety pins in good shape?
Is the gas diffuser/cup on tight but not overly tight?

I believe its a blowback start. Everything feels good and the consumables are all new.
I'm assuming the safety pins are the little pins on each side inside the torch and those are both connected and look good.

I'd suggest ohming the ground from the machine's interior connection to some clean metal placed in the clamp. Dont trust what the ground "looks" like. If that checks out good, give us a make and model #, and we'll see if we can dig up any technical data to point you in the right direction.

Steve S

Heres the info on the machine.
Northern Industrial Welders Plasma 375 230V Inverter-Based Plasma Cutter — 40 Amp Output
Item# 164610

I will take a meter to it when I get back to the shop and check it out.

Try calling 1-877-304-0294 http://ntwelderhelp.com/PDF/plasma375quicksetup.pdf

kaptnick wrote:Heres the info on the machine.
Northern Industrial Welders Plasma 375 230V Inverter-Based Plasma Cutter — 40 Amp Output
Item# 164610 I will take a meter to it when I get back to the shop and check it out.