Welding Tips and Tricks

Greetings,

First time poster.

A friend of mine has the HTP Invertig 221 Air Cooled TIG Welder. A couple of months go he went out and turned it on and when he did he heard a pop. It kick the breaker, he turned the breaker back on but the weld doesn't come on, the cooler does though. Does anyone know what might be the problem?


Thanks,

Gary

Some machines have internal circuit breakers, not sure about this one. I suggest calling usa weld, they have really good service and would help him diagnose the problem.

Make sure the wires in the plug are still properly secured in the plug. In any machine, if the wires are just barely touching the prongs or are loose, the machine will draw a lot of current, even on start up.

Also, if it's air cooled, what is the cooler for?

Or there's now a cooked Mouse on top of the internal wiring.

Sounds like the circuit breaker did it's thing as there was a short in the machine or the lead to it.

(Now) dead rodents, insects or perhaps metal dust/shavings/dirt and/or moisture that got in an created a conductive 'bridge' across two poles in the system.

Perhaps a damaged lead or loose connections.

First open up the machine and inspect it for clear tell-tales of arcing and/or sooting around leads and components and on circuit boards. It may have melted insulation etc. that needs to be fixed first. Clean it out after inspecting and make sure there's no metal particles between components.

Don't be afraid to do a 'smell test' too. Fried/burnt electronics and components have a pretty specific (and pungent) odor..

Also check the power lead for fraying and proper connection in either end (plug and machine)

Only if everything looks OK and doesn't smell funky, clean everything out well and then see if there's a replaceable fuse in the machine. Replace it and see if it's working again.

There's no sense in just putting in a new fuse without checking/cleaning as the chances are high it will just blow again if the root cause is not fixed.

It may still be dead after that. In that case you need a repair shop to delve deeper into the compontents to see which has blown and replace/fix those.

Bye, Arno.

Also could be that he had the work leads in contact with each other, turned the machine ON, then "pop" goes the breaker. Wouldn't be the first time...

Sounds like it might need some new Magic Smoke seals.

Can you still get smoke in a can at the hardware store? I've got a grinder that's got bad smoke seals it's starting to leak.

Thank you everyone for the replies.

He tried calling USA Weld (Well his son did) and they said for him to get a multimeter and call them back. Once he does that I will post what he finds.

Is there a chance that the could be a fuse/breaker inside the unit? It is a bummer to have a machine that has only been used for 1 hour if that to be just setting there.

Thanks again,

Gary

Is this the dual-voltage model like mine? If so, I can check. Tell him to pop off the cover and be ready so the machine can take some selfies.

Oscar wrote:Is this the dual-voltage model like mine? If so, I can check. Tell him to pop off the cover and be ready so the machine can take some selfies.

I won't see him until tomorrow evening.

This is the model that he got. http://www.usaweld.com/TIG-WELDER-Inver ... 12.5-1.htm

Thanks,
Gary

My friends son done the multimeter test and it turns out that a board is fried. He said that they have to call USA Weld and they will send out a new board.

Thanks again for all of the replies.


Gary