Welding Tips and Tricks

I picked up a new Thermal Arc 161 STL Stick/TIG Combo. First time I ran it I had problems getting the arc to start. I got it working but had no idea what I did to get it to work. Tonight I was working with it again and the strangest thing happened. This welder has a torch that has the amperage control and off/on switch built into the torch handle. The switch had no effect on turning on or turning off the arc.....although the amperage switch worked. I got frustrated and worked on the stick side of the welder........which worked fine. I tried the the TIG side again and it worked fine on the 2T and 4T positions.


What would cause the arc to work without the switch..........maybe a bad connection where the 8 pin control screws into the welder ???