Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm having a problem with my lincoln weld pak 3200hd.120 volt.its plugged directly into the outlet.
I'm running mild steel .030 welding wire.And with the machine turned up to D and the feed at 7 i can't even weld sheet metal the machine won't get the metal to melt for even spot welds. I've check all the connections ,checked the gun ,I pulled the cover off where the power supply and circuit board. Nothing is broken or burned out.and every connection is tight.would anyone have a clue what it could be..

Welcome to the forum!

Your machine is capable of either gas shielded MIG (solid wire) and self shielded flux core welding. The machine's electrical polarity needs to be set up differently for each process: EP electrode positive for solid wire, and EN electrode negative for flux core.

First thing to check is whether polarity matches the process. If you need to change polarity it's an easy fix, 2 screws to change the mounting of 2 wires inside the machine.

Let us know how it goes!

The polarity is correct for solid wire, not flux core.and the connections are tight

Work return clamp connection is really important with mig. Make sure you are clamping onto bright steel and clamp jaws are not sooted up.


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Just to see how it's not working right I'm using a virgin piece of 18 gauge metal and I followed the set up on the inside cover and on the D setting with speed set at 6 the wire barely penetrates the metal with very little heat.know I've had this machine some 2006 and it was working fine last year and I put the machine away for the winter .I didn't touch any of the settings because I was replacing sheet metal on my car.And this year it's not working like it should

And the only reason I'm testing it at a high heat is it is barely working on th b4 setting or the c4 setting for sheet metal

Have you checked to see that your input power is correct?

Yes input is 120 volt I checked with a meter.it just blows my mind how it worked then it is barely working. I'm wondering if the condenser went bad

This may have nothing to do with it but you didn't change anything with the gun. Liners, contact tips, etc. May not have anything to do with it but just double check it.

If it's been a long time since you used it last I'd pull the cover and make sure none of the wires or connections got corroded or chewed off inside.

Didn't change the gun and I took the cover off and checked all the connections and everything is solid and tight.this has me baffled. I've fixed other people's stuff but this has me scratching my head...and naturally it's only my stuff that gives me heartache

If your confident with a meter it's possible you can find some info to diagnose the internals. I.E. if it's transformer based you could ohm out the coils. Or check the capacitors.

Buddhascuda wrote:Didn't change the gun and I took the cover off and checked all the connections and everything is solid and tight.this has me baffled. I've fixed other people's stuff but this has me scratching my head...and naturally it's only my stuff that gives me heartache

I'm a newbie, but have been learning a lot on here. As one gentleman said, the ground clamp is very important. I have a LINCOLN HANDY-MIG and the ground clamp was one of the "cheesiest" looking things I've seen in a long time. I had an extra TWECO Junior (A Bronze/Copper heavily sprung) clamp in the back cubby of my old LINCOLN 180 AMP "Cathedral" and installed that on the HANDI-MIG. It made a major improvement. Just a thought.