Welding Tips and Tricks

2 quick AHP AlphaTig 200 ?s 2016 model
1st, when setting the main amps- set knob to say 125, digital readout says 57 or what ever & doesnt change much.
Welder responds to the knob in performance ie more knob its gets more amps but the readout doesnt show it.
2nd on AC & aluminum, seems to get a fairly rough start - cant start a small arc and ease my way up to forming a puddle.
If I just slam the pedal it will start better and once the puddle is formed and welding, the arc settles down and the "farty" sound goes away.
When I bought this welder new, it started rough and I found a video or forum post somewhere about checking/setting the air gap for the high freq start. mine was way out and correcting made it much better. Is this a periodic adjustment that may need to be done? Its a PIA to get to with big hands but do-able
TIA

I can't comment on the display issue, but I had something similar with another brand/model machine and they were never able to fix the issue. It welded fine, and responded to the knob, but the display didn't match the actual output.

As far as the arc and HF start goes, yes, you have to periodically adjust the gap. The points erode with use and need to be checked/set to perform properly. It's a slow process but the gap will gradually increase over time with use.

One thing I've found with arc starting on AC aluminum is that the tungsten grind makes a big difference and don't even bother trying to weld aluminum after welding DC steel without a fresh grind on the tungsten. I've forgotten that a few times and the arc was dancing all over the place...a light touch to the belt grinder (dedicated to tungsten only) and things were back to normal.

My experience with this is from using a Miller sycrowave 300 (and that era machines ~1990) is that the gap does need adjusted and sometimes cleaned. See THIS thread and in particular post #6

G-ManBart wrote:I can't comment on the display issue, but I had something similar with another brand/model machine and they were never able to fix the issue. It welded fine, and responded to the knob, but the display didn't match the actual output.

As far as the arc and HF start goes, yes, you have to periodically adjust the gap. The points erode with use and need to be checked/set to perform properly. It's a slow process but the gap will gradually increase over time with use.

One thing I've found with arc starting on AC aluminum is that the tungsten grind makes a big difference and don't even bother trying to weld aluminum after welding DC steel without a fresh grind on the tungsten. I've forgotten that a few times and the arc was dancing all over the place...a light touch to the belt grinder (dedicated to tungsten only) and things were back to normal.

I've got a tungsten grinder deal coming from Tungstenmate to make life a bit easier- I have noticed that grind patterns, angles, polishing ect can all make big differences in how the arc plays. Also, I periodically will run my alumina cups through the blast cabinet that is charged with copper slag. I'm diabetic, and starting to loose my hands- I dunk the tung in the puddle way too much lol.

Off to locate the inf I found before on adjustments
thanks!

points cleaned and re-gapped, machine blown out
ALL is well again including the amp display
Thanks fellas!

Jim FLinchbaugh wrote:points cleaned and re-gapped, machine blown out
ALL is well again including the amp display
Thanks fellas!

Great news!
If you can tell us how you cleaned the points it may help someone else that may read this post

LtBadd wrote:

Jim FLinchbaugh wrote:points cleaned and re-gapped, machine blown out
ALL is well again including the amp display
Thanks fellas!

Great news!
If you can tell us how you cleaned the points it may help someone else that may read this post

A very LIGHT touch against a scotchbrite de-burring wheel on a bench grinder.

I wish designers would think about service. If HF contact points need periodic cleaning / adjsutment, they should be put where you can get to them

Jim FLinchbaugh wrote: A very LIGHT touch against a scotchbrite de-burring wheel on a bench grinder.

I wish designers would think about service. If HF contact points need periodic cleaning / adjsutment, they should be put where you can get to them

Those deburring wheels are very handy for stuff like that...but I never thought of using one to clean points. I'll try that next time! The tips of HF points are usually made of tungsten, and quite hard, so you probably can't even hurt them with that sort of wheel, but like you said, a light touch should be more than enough.

I agree about the serviceability issue, but it seems all of the brands are packing things tight to keep the overall box size as small and light as possible. It would be nice if they had a point holder that you could remove as one piece and then deal with getting the points out on the bench...couldn't be that hard to manage.

Amen to the design issues. That would would be a serious marketing sell point to anyone with mechanical knowledge. They would open there machines up to a whole new market.