Welding Tips and Tricks

Sorry guys for such a basic question here but I have a Miller Syncrowave SD 180 and I think the potentiometer is out in the remote foot pedal. So, I'm trying to do some troubleshooting here. When I'm in DCEN, amps =130,1/8th inch steel is clean and ground is good, the arc appears but after a minute the steel hasn't gotten hot enough to melt and make a puddle. When i switch over to aluminum the frosting happens on the aluminum to clean it but there is still no heat being created to melt the aluminum.

Anyway, i am trying to go through the troubleshooting steps now that were recommended to me which were to see if you can stick weld with it and whether you can scratch start. I am trying to do the scratch start first but i'm not sure of the settings. Should I remove the remote foot peddle and put the select lever into the DCEN position or should it be in the DCEP position? I would think the remote peddle needs to be hooked up so you can have the gas flowing when you scratch start but not sure.


thanks for the help in advance-E

I'm not familiar with the Miller Welder you have, but when you use it in DCEN, about 70% of the heat energy is focused at the Tungsten and only 30% into the work piece. DCEN is standard for most GTAW welding on steel.
If you switch over to DCEP, you will reverse the effect. Depends on the material thickness you are working with. 130 amps sounds like plenty for say 1/4" carbon steel if you are doing an edge joint. If you are doing a butt joint, you may have to up the amps to penetrate further.
Others will be along shortly with more experience to help out!

Hey GEXAS,
First off, your machine has a built in high frequency arc starter/stabilizer. No need for the scratch start test. You can start with the smaw test though.

There are a couple of things that might be causing your problem. 1. Your front panel amperage control setting is too low. That controls the amperage at the remote. Crank up the panel control setting to the max and then try. 2. The TIG starting characteristics have 3 settings. 1 (light/soft start) − when welding at low amperages on thin gauge material. 2 (medium/normal start) − factory default setting used for most welding applications. 3 (high/hot start) − when welding at high amperages on thick materials with a large diameter tungsten. 3. The spark gaps need adjusted.
Are you getting any Voltmeter/Ammeter Help Displays? That might help with diagnosis. Good Luck

Thanks guys. I did crank up the amps to the max which was 180 and the steel i had was 1/8th inch. Also, I think things might be pointing to the potentiometer or perhaps where the remote pedal plug fits into the machine. I only say this because I unscrewed the plug for the remote and then screwed it back in really snug and i was able to TIG for about 2 seconds and form a puddle. I don't know if it was really the connection or the potentiometer in the peddle decided to wrk very briefly. I am working on doing my stick welding test and i will report back when that is done as that should point a finger, it it works, to something with the remote peddle/potentiometer.

E