Sorry to hear about your machine, but awesome video on diagnosing the issue. My new TIG machine is in the shop too. High frequency start stopped working after only a few months. Thank goodness for warranties.
Your channel is the best! Who else can make trouble shooting a grumpy tig welder educational and yet so very entertaining? Looking forward to seeing the fix.
It keeps happening. I thought to myself this morning that it has been a while since the last video from This Old Tony, and low and behold the very same day a new video is out. I must be waring my psychic socks today.
Old school here, love my 60's vintage Lincoln 300 (yes, that's 300 amps ac/dc), and so do other kids like you who have used it. Even though it's almost 5 ft tall and weighs a ton, with built-in water cooler it runs an unbelievably beautiful bead on 1/4 inch steel. Frankly, I've never found a need for fancy waveforms, even on beer cans to structural steel or stainless. My answer to your problem is copper windings, and lots of them.
Not at all Mike. Start with Oxyacetylene then stick Arc, then MIG. It's not as hard as it seems. TIG is like Oxyacetylene only the flame is electrical. Try them, you'll have a blast! Or maybe I misunderstood your comment and you already have skills! 😁
The one time I had a really weird fault on my inverter arc/tig, I took it in to be looked at, expecting them to condemn it and sell me a new one. It turned out to be iron filings from grinder dust - one quick vacuum of the insides and fixed!
I feel your pain brother. Its hard whenever a beloved tool starts going bad. I remember when my first band-saw started to fail. I pleaded with it to stay with me. it was the first tool i used in woodworking. It made me the person i am today. But its locked internal bearings meant that i couldn't fix it. It started getting harder and harder for it to start up. harder and harder to stay running while i was cutting thicknesses it didnt used to have trouble with. Then one day i flipped the switch and it had finally seized up. No amount of the lords lube WD-40 helped it get going again.
Tony, dude! Did I learn something of interest? I am now competent to weld with TIG. For some reason I've thought of TIG as something I'd have to take a vocational class to get. I've got Oxyacetylene stick & GMAW down and can go like crazy with all. Now thanks to you & just two videos, I know I can TIG weld with confidence!.... Thank you 🤓! I learn something new almost every video! 👍
I fix welding machines for a job - this is either the A/C driver PCB or the main control PCB. To clarify: Many ac/dc machines have a dedicated driver board to generate the PWM and drive the IGBT's which create your A/C on the output. Many other machines do this function on the main control PCB to reduce the number of PCB's in the machine. If the actual IGBT's were bad, you'd know about it. My money is on the PCB(s) that control them. You might get lucky and be able to repair the PCB, otherwise bin it and replace is the easiest/quickest option. If you can get the parts that is.
this is taking me back to my early days of tig welding aluminum wakeboard and fishing boat towers. luckily for me my mentor had those Miller's dialed in like a finely tuned clock. those machines were the bees knees. if i ever got back into welding, it would be with a Miller. all that to say, thank you for providing this lesson.
Great Vid Tony. This video is like a high level review of TIG setup….tested my knowledge while adding to it. Always appreciate your wit and quality content.
Keep us posted on what you find, Great explanation of weld function using the oscilloscope and diagnostic of the problem or erratic behavior, Your videos are always appreciated
At 4:03 you mentioned you'd love to have slower pulsing. To be honest, I guess you could just use remote connector on back and add simple circuit to generate pulses. You can make circuit with one dual opamp and two potentiometers that will allow you to control frequency and duty cycle independently.
once again, thank you for the great video. I found it very informative. it's always nice to hear a good explanation of how something is supposed to work.
Really cool to see how an Tig welder actually works, thanks for sharing! Would love to hear a bit more about your potentiometer mod as my Everlast welder also has an tendency to blow 150A holes in thin sheet metal when I sneeze.
I love you're videos. You're entertaining, which is important but you don't spend the first 1/3 of your videos explaining information that's a "given." It's nice to watch a video and not have to wade through 6 minutes of non sense. Your also have a good talent for explaining what's going on. Everyone believes it's easy until they try it. You keep making em and I'll keep watching em. Great video and information
Hi TOT. Thanks. I did n't even know tig was constant current despite reading a lot about it (not done any welding!). The little snippets of info are really useful to people like me who are wodering which technology would be best for our applications. Bob.
My pleasure. You might notice TIG machines always have stick welding function. MIG never do. stick is also constant current, MIG is not. Unless you get one of those new 'multiprocess' machines.
Your videos are so damn good Tony! Always at perfect pace, fast enough to keep me interested but slow enough for my dumbass to keep up. thanks million for the vids and please keep then coming!
Find a local electrical enginerd who wants to help figure this out. Probably a bad cap or some transistor on it's way out. Diagnosing the fault is the hardest part of this repair, fixing it won't be too expensive. Start by having a good look inside, if some component looks like shit, it probably needs replacing. Anyway, shouldn't be too hard to find someone who can help you find the problem, electrical engineers love the challenge of troubleshooting. Contact he local hackerspace. If you post some decent pictures of the insides, I might be able to do a quick visual inspection if you'd like.
Transistors rarely fail on their own initiative. Crapacitors on the other hand do go bad over time with electrolytics liking to go open while ceramics like to go short. Once capacitors go bad, gate/base drive circuits may under-drive the transistors and blow them up or cause all sorts of other issues. I wouldn't be too surprised if the main issue here was some bad capacitors in the feedback and timing/control circuitry. A bad solder joint that decided to manifest itself many years down the road wouldn't surprise me either.
I don't know about this machine but the few welders I've seen the inside of are potted circuit boards. Makes troubleshooting and repair not so easy now.
I really enjoyed this video and content regarding the tig settings. I've been looking into building a linear cc/cv regulator for miscellaneous things including a micro tig setup. This was really helpful and I'd love to see more/the resolution for your tig setup problem. Thanks mate!
Sorry I pressed the go button before I was finished... thank you for stopping me going in my workshop, as my wife likes my company. I send you greetings from Essex England. Yours faithfully James Blanknut (retired old person)
This Old Tony how did you see though my disguise so quickly?? This is worrying as I know they are after me...I have been James Blanknut for as long as I can remember, I shall have to go under deep cover now, just for your information only ( as I think you are very trustworthy) my new persona is Charles Tidworth Gumsmacker....please don't let "them" know.....adieu...
That was my guess too! Either replace bad caps if possible, or the board needs replacing. Sometimes you can get replacement boards cheap through Alibaba.
If the balance is controlled by a time constant such as an R.C combo - that might be causing trouble - as others have said, caps are more likely to fail than resistors. Seems the machine has done you quite well for 12 years.
These hobby machines seem to have corrosion problems on the heatsinks. On mine I removed all of the riveted joints between the output transistors and the heat sinks. Replaced a couple of transistors (popped from poor contact?) cleaned it all up and it welds better than when it was new!
Great to see another video Tony. I'm not a welder expert (or an expert on anything for that matter) I refurbish old tube equipment as a hobby and the number one failure I find is capacitors. they dry up and signals start wavering off . They begin to leak and essentially become resistors. I don't even check electrolytic capacitors in vintage equipment. I just go ahead and replace them right off. I have no idea what's up with your welder but I'm just throwing it out there. Many times a capacitor will have correct capacitance but if it's leaking it won't function right in circuit. if you don't leak check it you won't think it's bad. ok that's my two pennies worth. Thanks again for sharing tony.
Potentiometers sometimes need to be swept, moving them around to maintain a clean contact patch is sometimes necessary. Moving the knob through it's range while off is necessary on my mig.
Hi Tony....great video...you have just helped me heaps with understanding my new machine...Bossweld 345.....awesome timing...just wondering tho would your problem be with your pedal?
Tony your great, for ages i've wanted to see a welder on a scope. Been thinking about modding my own buzz box and trying to think of a way to set the wave for HF and cleaning etc. The coverage was spot on for those all ready been looking at other channels to do with welding. Even they haven't done a welder on a scope but it paints a good picture!! Do more like this ^^ So as your missing some power on both the + of DC & AC someone should be able to easily pick out this problem, but then you are running an inverter, i would get on the eevblog.
Very good videos man. All the machine shop vids have a huge impact on me. It all seems so cool and exciting! For example now i want a TIG machine. I have nothing i need welded, i have no idea how to do it, i don't even have a proper workbench to attach the cheap vice i got because of an AvE video. My wife is still laughing at me for drilling my computer table and bolting the vice there.
I see now why you bought the HTP221 same settings sorta as this one where you can change the EP EN setting. My HTP 221 invertig is on his way! I’m excited
Look for cold solder joints on the PCBs, especially at the pins of larger through hole components like capacitors and transistors. Other than that you'll need to have an EE look at it. It shouldn't be hard to fix as the welder isn't totally dead.
I think something in the feedback-electronic is shot. Probably a diode, capacitor, opamp or resistor, more likely a diode, maybe an opamp. Also look for old "swollen" capacitor this can throw off the circuit as well. But without a look into the machine and some diagrams it's hard to say more.
Hey Tony, your balance control isn't necessarily wrong or defect regarding just the numbers. Of course I can only guess from here and obviously you must have noticed some change in weld quality/behaviour, but 2 things: +20 or -20 on balance control don't have to be real % values, they can be just numbers for the sake of having values. 50/50% ac balance is not necassarily the neutral setting the manufacturer set to the knob's zero position since a 50/50 balance is usually already more than enough +wave to break the oxide layer. Could be zero is around +30/-70 with a range from +10/-90 to 50/50 or someting similar. Hope you can narrow out the problem. Your videos are great.
This is very interesting. Do you have a video of how you added the foot Pedal? I’d like to do it to my Tig Welder that’s from the same family as yours..
Nice video. Looks like an offset voltage of some sort has "slipped". Bad electrolytic capacitors (bulging top or visible leak) or dry joint on the control board. First guess. Clean up the board and take a close look.
Had electrical gremlins in the house with intermittent strobe effect on the lights. had electricians out regularly for over two weeks trying to chase it down. we replaced well pump because it kicking on correlated to the power flickering. had utility company out testing things, and even replaced a few panels. Finally one guy came out and checked the box where the mains came in and heard the faintest arc when he flipped one of the breakers. turns out it was an old breaker and a lizard had gotten down in there, fried, covered the contacts with gritty crap. so as far as the tig goes, I vote dead bug inside machine. :P
As only half a section of your waveform seems to be affected, it seems as if half of the control is just not working properly. Could be on the input side or control side. Assuming it is the right device for the right grid (230V, 50Hz ~) in the right setting and the wiring diagram is applicable it might not be too hard to find the issue. I cant tell which half of the control side is for DCEN or DCEP and where polarity might be crossed. Comparing both to each other is a good start. But: working on devices like this requires a qualification in the electrical field, as severe damage to the device or to you could eventuate by working on it. Please do not attempt opening it without using proper tools, safety gear and safety procedures. That being said: Overall checking for improper connections, solder joints might help to get an overview. Checking typical wear parts for function should be easy, e.g. secondary transformer coils for proper split voltage output and coil resistance, capacitors for capacitance. I would start to check the secondary coils of T1 for same resistance to exclude a broken coil first (as a starting point). If possible check the voltage of the secondary coils that power the control circuit for control voltage. If there is a problem, it might be one of those suppressor diodes (TVS Diodes) having taken a beating by ESD/Lightning. Then i would go over to that darlington transistor part (V24, V20? hard to read) that switches those n-channel MOSFETs for the affected part of the switching. A defective capacitor or resistor there might limit the function of the darlington, defective diodes/improper solder joints could limit the ability to switch the MOSFETs on one half properly. Then there are the MOSFETs themselves, but all of them being defect is not what your measurements indicate. Part of them being defect would render the others probably overload and die quickly. Checking their temperature (coolant spray, indirect measurement or IR camera) during operation might identify a broken part.
I watch your vids (all of them) because of the quality, not the quantity. So add my opinion in the "take your time and do it right and have a good time" pile.
If you are happy looking at the PCB inside I'd be looking for a missing or faulty voltage rail, the symptoms are what I'd expect if the balance pot is between say plus and minus 5 volt rails and the out put of the pot can therefore vary between -5 and +5 volts. With 0volts out when set to 50/50. If the positive side of the arrangement has become faulty it would explain the symptoms of 50/50 at a setting of +20 55/45 at a setting of zero and an expected 70/30 at a setting of -20. It probably also accounts for the asymmetry in positive and negative current output.
I have a machine from that vintage. It had a swollen cap in the main power circuit that is fed with the rectifier bridges, so I replaced all the caps on that board and the input diodes with high quality components. Sadly it didn't fix it, the machine feels "weak" when welding aluminum. DC welds just fine though.
Hey Tony, try removing the arc from your experiment, dead short your tungsten into the table and see how the scope reads. With electrode Neg it's like water from a garden hose into a bucket, but electrode positive it's like trying to pour the bucket back into the hose. The electrons don't fit back as easy thru the arc.
Interesting thought. I don't think my machine will actually push any current through if the HF start doesn't establish and arc, but easy enough to try!
I figured all that time traveling had caught up with you! Anyhow, did you open her up and see where it looks like the magic smoke came out? With it being right on half the expected positive amps best guess would be that you have two parallel circuits to share the load and one of them let the smoke out.
Hi Tony, I am a professional welder. I went from a Lincoln 175 amp transformer tig welder to a new AHP Alpha 200DX. It's probably twice the machine of the Lincoln, & I made money doing it. The AHP is $710.
great video good detail.I will try and rspond in point form may be easier. the clues,,,, inconsistant issue with control does not seem to be a problem with power output,(plenty of grunt) What may be your problem is more common with hand held control where the switch is cabled to the hand piece. you mentioned that your unit is a few years old. What tends to happen is the torch lead gets impregnated with metal dust and you may be getting induced interference (like back EMF) from the power cable into the control lead and then back into the machine. Try cleaning you leads or just seperating them from the powwr leads. You will have filtering inside the machine, possibly at the back of the multi pin sockets, these may be covered in metal dust................... Good luck re comments yes it does look like a Cemont unit.
I know you didn't want to get too far into what these settings are used for, but I have to ask. How many shades of gray do you actually use when penetrating the thick ones?
Hi Tony, given the symptoms I would tip on a power supply issue (one rail low or not clean) as mentioned by another poster. Could be leaky output device also which is dragging a rail down but I'd measure the supply rails as a first move. (I do this stuff for a living and not board swapping but component level repairs) leaky cap as a cause is entirely possible (but I find this seldom to be honest). Is it worth having done if you can't find it yourself? Depends what they charge round your way but likely yes. As a side issue, what is the current probe you are using? I need a new one and I'm thinking you didn't pay a fortune for yours? Love the videos by the way. You are a born entertainer/educator :) best produced machining videos by a mile too :)
Informative video, thanks! On another welding topic, I watched with interest your acid-paste neutralizing of the stainless welding on the plant stand. I can't seem to get this paste from my LWS. With a brief search, I noticed that there is also an electrical process which yields the same result. It seems similar to electrolysis or etching, i.e. something you can DIY. Perhaps this would be a good subject for an upcoming video. Regards from California!
That's a better start than I have. Got off my lazy you-know-what and googled it. Yes, it appears to be quite nearly the same as electrolytic rust removal. www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Stainless-Steel-Weld-Cleaning-Electropolishing/
I'm a master at catching shards of stuff with my eyes. Sometimes I'm wearing glasses when I should wear goggles, and sometimes I end up blasting remnant grit into my eye in the shower. One idea I had, and it actually worked a few times, is it to use those powerful neodymium magnets. I just lay on my back and pass the magnet over my eyeball as close as possible. Warm the magnet to body temp and you can even touch the eye without flinching. The actual irritant can be microscopic so you will not always see what the thing looked like. Of course the worst time I had a sliver of type 304 (probably) in my eye and the magnet was of no help. The eye dr excised it. PS. I've also caught stuff in my eye while wearing safety glasses plus face shield, so to be ultra safe you should have goggles plus face shield, especially using the angle grinder.
Before you send it in, pop the cover off and have a look around for corrosion, capacitors leaking, loose/broken wires, etc. Worst case, you put the covers back on and you're back where you started.
If it's an older machine then maybe something as simple as bad solder joint? I'd change the pots and take a good look on the solder joints. Welders get warm inside and have bit of a vibration so components might get loose over time. Anytime you see even a hint of a circle around the solder joint then that means it has a "cold" solder joint and it needs to be resoldered. Also electrolytic capacitors age over time and their ESR starts to rise, so maybe recap? There seems to be schematic for the welder floating around on the net, but the one I found was in italian. Just take it apart and make part 2 of the TIG welder video... :)
3 yrs i used my TIG wrong, i already giveup , ever to weld TIG properly . Saw your video's , and noticed that i was on ´pulsemode´ , balance and frequency completly out of the normal range ... I only weld stainless btw I have a ´Javac´ machine , had no Manuel. Only the amp´s were on spot values , because i already can stick weld over 30years. Just saying what a dIAMOND GOLD source of knowledge you are to us ☆☆☆☆☆ .. EVEN OLDER dumbos..lol Greetings from the Netherlands Johny geerts
Sorry to hear about your machine, but awesome video on diagnosing the issue. My new TIG machine is in the shop too. High frequency start stopped working after only a few months. Thank goodness for warranties.
Practical Engineering Love your channel, sir.
Sure is. Haven't seen any new videos in a while though.
Coming soon!
Hurts being tigless. Unfortunately my warranty expired about 10 years ago :)
I feel for you. This is why I spent dearly on a Miller. No issues after 6 years.
Your channel is the best! Who else can make trouble shooting a grumpy tig welder educational and yet so very entertaining? Looking forward to seeing the fix.
that makes two of us! Thanks diesel ;)
Where is the rock concert? I was promised AC/DC.
Also why is your oscilloscope at 10 meters depth? Is it a diving oscilloscope?
Ossil-scope? Come on This Old Tony, everyone knows it's called a wigglescope.
It keeps happening. I thought to myself this morning that it has been a while since the last video from This Old Tony, and low and behold the very same day a new video is out. I must be waring my psychic socks today.
If your socks give you deeper insight into the world, it may be time to wash them.
Broadcast1Channel strangely i have been keeping myself busy with oscilloscope videos while waiting for Tony's next post.
Please summon Tony more often.
One of Tony's lesser-known skills is mind reading - he literally saw you coming!
Old school here, love my 60's vintage Lincoln 300 (yes, that's 300 amps ac/dc), and so do other kids like you who have used it. Even though it's almost 5 ft tall and weighs a ton, with built-in water cooler it runs an unbelievably beautiful bead on 1/4 inch steel. Frankly, I've never found a need for fancy waveforms, even on beer cans to structural steel or stainless. My answer to your problem is copper windings, and lots of them.
Thank you Tony! I've been binging your old videos and have been needing a new one to keep me going
Awesome, I'm stoked when ToT covers welding.. Welding is definitely a dark art that relies on blood magic.
Glad to see these sort of videos get good reception. Thanks CEFID!
Not at all Mike. Start with Oxyacetylene then stick Arc, then MIG. It's not as hard as it seems. TIG is like Oxyacetylene only the flame is electrical. Try them, you'll have a blast! Or maybe I misunderstood your comment and you already have skills! 😁
@@loganpe427 You're completely wrong. All black magic. Including soldering with an iron. Nothing is as it seems.
The one time I had a really weird fault on my inverter arc/tig, I took it in to be looked at, expecting them to condemn it and sell me a new one. It turned out to be iron filings from grinder dust - one quick vacuum of the insides and fixed!
You illustrated these features very effectively. Thank you for not parallel parking in my neighborhood.
hope that helped to make sense of things! Thanks for watching Steve.
I feel your pain brother. Its hard whenever a beloved tool starts going bad. I remember when my first band-saw started to fail. I pleaded with it to stay with me. it was the first tool i used in woodworking. It made me the person i am today. But its locked internal bearings meant that i couldn't fix it. It started getting harder and harder for it to start up. harder and harder to stay running while i was cutting thicknesses it didnt used to have trouble with. Then one day i flipped the switch and it had finally seized up. No amount of the lords lube WD-40 helped it get going again.
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I learned a lot about how these things work.
Tony, you make some of the most informative, interesting and entertaining videos. Thank you kindly and please keep 'em comin'.
Thanks Sans!
Tony, dude!
Did I learn something of interest? I am now competent to weld with TIG. For some reason I've thought of TIG as something I'd have to take a vocational class to get. I've got Oxyacetylene stick & GMAW down and can go like crazy with all. Now thanks to you & just two videos, I know I can TIG weld with confidence!.... Thank you 🤓! I learn something new almost every video! 👍
I fix welding machines for a job - this is either the A/C driver PCB or the main control PCB. To clarify: Many ac/dc machines have a dedicated driver board to generate the PWM and drive the IGBT's which create your A/C on the output. Many other machines do this function on the main control PCB to reduce the number of PCB's in the machine. If the actual IGBT's were bad, you'd know about it. My money is on the PCB(s) that control them. You might get lucky and be able to repair the PCB, otherwise bin it and replace is the easiest/quickest option. If you can get the parts that is.
I particularly like the part where, on your to-do list, I saw "chainsaw powered goat". My speed reading is on point as always.
go kart, not goat.
@@joshuadowden981 I prefer goat option though...
this is taking me back to my early days of tig welding aluminum wakeboard and fishing boat towers. luckily for me my mentor had those Miller's dialed in like a finely tuned clock. those machines were the bees knees. if i ever got back into welding, it would be with a Miller. all that to say, thank you for providing this lesson.
Thanks for explaining background voltage...always wondered what that meant. It all makes more sense now.
I don't remember approving vacation time.
Haha, I know it's a while since you posted, but that's gold!
as an electrical guy, but with minimal welding experience, i learned a lot. thank you :)
Great Vid Tony. This video is like a high level review of TIG setup….tested my knowledge while adding to it. Always appreciate your wit and quality content.
thanks!
Keep us posted on what you find, Great explanation of weld function using the oscilloscope and diagnostic of the problem or erratic behavior, Your videos are always appreciated
Thanks John!
Great video. Really interesting to see visually what occurs with oscilloscope
Very good instructional technique! Excellent presentation! Spot on information! Thank you.
At 4:03 you mentioned you'd love to have slower pulsing. To be honest, I guess you could just use remote connector on back and add simple circuit to generate pulses. You can make circuit with one dual opamp and two potentiometers that will allow you to control frequency and duty cycle independently.
I cobbled together something similar for slow pulsing.
once again, thank you for the great video. I found it very informative. it's always nice to hear a good explanation of how something is supposed to work.
Thanks Mark!
Lincoln Electric needs to send you one of their deluxe tig welders
Indeed.....I have an old 201. Love it.
Really cool to see how an Tig welder actually works, thanks for sharing! Would love to hear a bit more about your potentiometer mod as my Everlast welder also has an tendency to blow 150A holes in thin sheet metal when I sneeze.
keep an eye out for part 2!
I love you're videos. You're entertaining, which is important but you don't spend the first 1/3 of your videos explaining information that's a "given." It's nice to watch a video and not have to wade through 6 minutes of non sense. Your also have a good talent for explaining what's going on. Everyone believes it's easy until they try it. You keep making em and I'll keep watching em. Great video and information
Hi TOT. Thanks. I did n't even know tig was constant current despite reading a lot about it (not done any welding!). The little snippets of info are really useful to people like me who are wodering which technology would be best for our applications. Bob.
My pleasure. You might notice TIG machines always have stick welding function. MIG never do. stick is also constant current, MIG is not. Unless you get one of those new 'multiprocess' machines.
Your videos are so damn good Tony! Always at perfect pace, fast enough to keep me interested but slow enough for my dumbass to keep up. thanks million for the vids and please keep then coming!
Glad your are back! I really started to worry
Find a local electrical enginerd who wants to help figure this out. Probably a bad cap or some transistor on it's way out. Diagnosing the fault is the hardest part of this repair, fixing it won't be too expensive. Start by having a good look inside, if some component looks like shit, it probably needs replacing.
Anyway, shouldn't be too hard to find someone who can help you find the problem, electrical engineers love the challenge of troubleshooting. Contact he local hackerspace.
If you post some decent pictures of the insides, I might be able to do a quick visual inspection if you'd like.
Transistors rarely fail on their own initiative. Crapacitors on the other hand do go bad over time with electrolytics liking to go open while ceramics like to go short. Once capacitors go bad, gate/base drive circuits may under-drive the transistors and blow them up or cause all sorts of other issues. I wouldn't be too surprised if the main issue here was some bad capacitors in the feedback and timing/control circuitry. A bad solder joint that decided to manifest itself many years down the road wouldn't surprise me either.
Teardown Dan j
Teardown Dan I agree, seems like Tony is looking at a capacitor going bad. Dielectric breakdown probably considering the age.
Another vote for crapped out capacitor or dry joint. Open it up not much to lose.
I don't know about this machine but the few welders I've seen the inside of are potted circuit boards. Makes troubleshooting and repair not so easy now.
I really enjoyed this video and content regarding the tig settings. I've been looking into building a linear cc/cv regulator for miscellaneous things including a micro tig setup. This was really helpful and I'd love to see more/the resolution for your tig setup problem. Thanks mate!
Will keep everyone posted.. thanks James!
Sorry I pressed the go button before I was finished... thank you for stopping me going in my workshop, as my wife likes my company.
I send you greetings from Essex England. Yours faithfully James Blanknut (retired old person)
Glad to have you watching Keith!
This Old Tony how did you see though my disguise so quickly?? This is worrying as I know they are after me...I have been James Blanknut for as long as I can remember, I shall have to go under deep cover now, just for your information only ( as I think you are very trustworthy) my new persona is Charles Tidworth Gumsmacker....please don't let "them" know.....adieu...
Fascinating video. I now realise I know even less than bugger all about welding. Good to see you back TOT!
Thanks Gary, good to have you watching!
yeaaa I have been wondering where he has been . . made my Saturday much better
Very interesting. Thanks Tony.
Well played! Feelers are fully out for freebie from some manufacturer! And you entertained us at the same time!
That light indicator next to the "AC/DC" switch, is that the "Thunderstruck" indicator?
Thanks for easing us back in, it's been a long 2 weeks mate
Welcome back. You were obviously stored in a dry place as there's no sign of rustiness at all. Go Old Tony
i suspect failing capacitors or switching transistors (FET/IGBT), could be a failing offset trim pot on the board inside.
That was my guess too! Either replace bad caps if possible, or the board needs replacing. Sometimes you can get replacement boards cheap through Alibaba.
I concur, probably just dried-out caps.
Agree, probably one of the bridge FET's. Probably causes asymmetry in de power supply throwing off the (analog) balance circuit?
Awesome video, awesome channel. Learned so much from this video.
If the balance is controlled by a time constant such as an R.C combo - that might be causing trouble - as others have said, caps are more likely to fail than resistors. Seems the machine has done you quite well for 12 years.
Hope you get it working perfectly again soon! :)
Nice video, as you said, I don't know a thing about welding, but it is still interesting to watch.
Thanks for posting.. I learned a lot!
Thanks for watching, Custom!
These hobby machines seem to have corrosion problems on the heatsinks. On mine I removed all of the riveted joints between the output transistors and the heat sinks. Replaced a couple of transistors (popped from poor contact?) cleaned it all up and it welds better than when it was new!
Great to see another video Tony. I'm not a welder expert (or an expert on anything for that matter) I refurbish old tube equipment as a hobby and the number one failure I find is capacitors. they dry up and signals start wavering off . They begin to leak and essentially become resistors. I don't even check electrolytic capacitors in vintage equipment. I just go ahead and replace them right off. I have no idea what's up with your welder but I'm just throwing it out there. Many times a capacitor will have correct capacitance but if it's leaking it won't function right in circuit. if you don't leak check it you won't think it's bad. ok that's my two pennies worth.
Thanks again for sharing tony.
Thanks LEAF! I plan on having a closer look. Stay tuned!
Potentiometers sometimes need to be swept, moving them around to maintain a clean contact patch is sometimes necessary. Moving the knob through it's range while off is necessary on my mig.
Hi Tony....great video...you have just helped me heaps with understanding my new machine...Bossweld 345.....awesome timing...just wondering tho would your problem be with your pedal?
Dave Tony? Tony Jones? EEVTony?
Hard to keep us straight huh? :)
...maybe wave Tony in this case....
Tony your great, for ages i've wanted to see a welder on a scope. Been thinking about modding my own buzz box and trying to think of a way to set the wave for HF and cleaning etc. The coverage was spot on for those all ready been looking at other channels to do with welding. Even they haven't done a welder on a scope but it paints a good picture!! Do more like this ^^ So as your missing some power on both the + of DC & AC someone should be able to easily pick out this problem, but then you are running an inverter, i would get on the eevblog.
Very good videos man. All the machine shop vids have a huge impact on me. It all seems so cool and exciting! For example now i want a TIG machine. I have nothing i need welded, i have no idea how to do it, i don't even have a proper workbench to attach the cheap vice i got because of an AvE video. My wife is still laughing at me for drilling my computer table and bolting the vice there.
Every man need's A little vice in his life!
Having A vice handy is just the ticket for cracking Walnuts!!
thanks batner.. hey we all started somewhere! you'll get use to the wife's laughing. ;)
This video explained an entire semester's worth of TIG welding classes to me in 20 minutes. Thank you!
hah.. thanks Ben!
I see now why you bought the HTP221 same settings sorta as this one where you can change the EP EN setting. My HTP 221 invertig is on his way! I’m excited
15:20
A tigging time bomb?
this comment is underated
Look for cold solder joints on the PCBs, especially at the pins of larger through hole components like capacitors and transistors.
Other than that you'll need to have an EE look at it. It shouldn't be hard to fix as the welder isn't totally dead.
I forgot you even existed old Tony. I'm glad I hit that reminder bell
I'd like to see a wiring diagram or video on how you added that unicorn horn current limiting pot.
Thanks for the video! I was having withdrawals, man!
I think something in the feedback-electronic is shot.
Probably a diode, capacitor, opamp or resistor, more likely a diode, maybe an opamp. Also look for old "swollen" capacitor this can throw off the circuit as well.
But without a look into the machine and some diagrams it's hard to say more.
Hey Tony,
your balance control isn't necessarily wrong or defect regarding just the numbers. Of course I can only guess from here and obviously you must have noticed some change in weld quality/behaviour, but 2 things:
+20 or -20 on balance control don't have to be real % values, they can be just numbers for the sake of having values.
50/50% ac balance is not necassarily the neutral setting the manufacturer set to the knob's zero position since a 50/50 balance is usually already more than enough +wave to break the oxide layer. Could be zero is around +30/-70 with a range from +10/-90 to 50/50 or someting similar.
Hope you can narrow out the problem. Your videos are great.
Nice vid, thanks. You look for dry joints on pcb?
This is very interesting. Do you have a video of how you added the foot Pedal? I’d like to do it to my Tig Welder that’s from the same family as yours..
Nice video.
Looks like an offset voltage of some sort has "slipped". Bad electrolytic capacitors (bulging top or visible leak) or dry joint on the control board. First guess.
Clean up the board and take a close look.
My first thought as a dirty potentiometer as well. Did you use any cleaner on it ?
Interesting! I didn't expect the actual waveforms to adhere so well to theory.
Had electrical gremlins in the house with intermittent strobe effect on the lights. had electricians out regularly for over two weeks trying to chase it down. we replaced well pump because it kicking on correlated to the power flickering. had utility company out testing things, and even replaced a few panels. Finally one guy came out and checked the box where the mains came in and heard the faintest arc when he flipped one of the breakers. turns out it was an old breaker and a lizard had gotten down in there, fried, covered the contacts with gritty crap. so as far as the tig goes, I vote dead bug inside machine. :P
I saw that "pcb ruler" on your notepad! I'ma tell uncle AvE!
Schematic here:
www.scribd.com/doc/11877495/Thermal-Arc-150-gtsw-Cemont-ac-dc-tx150-service-manual-Tig-Welder#scribd
Awesome!
Michal Kundrát I thought this was a cemont, good work
Hugh Frater Thank you, it took about five minutes of googling. Sadly I couldn't find any better version.
As only half a section of your waveform seems to be affected, it seems as if half of the control is just not working properly. Could be on the input side or control side. Assuming it is the right device for the right grid (230V, 50Hz ~) in the right setting and the wiring diagram is applicable it might not be too hard to find the issue. I cant tell which half of the control side is for DCEN or DCEP and where polarity might be crossed. Comparing both to each other is a good start.
But: working on devices like this requires a qualification in the electrical field, as severe damage to the device or to you could eventuate by working on it. Please do not attempt opening it without using proper tools, safety gear and safety procedures. That being said:
Overall checking for improper connections, solder joints might help to get an overview. Checking typical wear parts for function should be easy, e.g. secondary transformer coils for proper split voltage output and coil resistance, capacitors for capacitance.
I would start to check the secondary coils of T1 for same resistance to exclude a broken coil first (as a starting point). If possible check the voltage of the secondary coils that power the control circuit for control voltage. If there is a problem, it might be one of those suppressor diodes (TVS Diodes) having taken a beating by ESD/Lightning.
Then i would go over to that darlington transistor part (V24, V20? hard to read) that switches those n-channel MOSFETs for the affected part of the switching. A defective capacitor or resistor there might limit the function of the darlington, defective diodes/improper solder joints could limit the ability to switch the MOSFETs on one half properly.
Then there are the MOSFETs themselves, but all of them being defect is not what your measurements indicate. Part of them being defect would render the others probably overload and die quickly. Checking their temperature (coolant spray, indirect measurement or IR camera) during operation might identify a broken part.
Michal Kundrát nnf
I watch your vids (all of them) because of the quality, not the quantity. So add my opinion in the "take your time and do it right and have a good time" pile.
Fascinating. Thanks
Another great video!!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Thanks HGE!
If you are happy looking at the PCB inside I'd be looking for a missing or faulty voltage rail, the symptoms are what I'd expect if the balance pot is between say plus and minus 5 volt rails and the out put of the pot can therefore vary between -5 and +5 volts. With 0volts out when set to 50/50. If the positive side of the arrangement has become faulty it would explain the symptoms of 50/50 at a setting of +20 55/45 at a setting of zero and an expected 70/30 at a setting of -20. It probably also accounts for the asymmetry in positive and negative current output.
I have a machine from that vintage. It had a swollen cap in the main power circuit that is fed with the rectifier bridges, so I replaced all the caps on that board and the input diodes with high quality components. Sadly it didn't fix it, the machine feels "weak" when welding aluminum. DC welds just fine though.
My brain was so satisfied with this video. thanks!
I'm guessing that's a MOSFET machine not IGBT. Probably worth taking a peek at, as they are pretty straight forward to troubleshoot.
Hey Tony, try removing the arc from your experiment, dead short your tungsten into the table and see how the scope reads. With electrode Neg it's like water from a garden hose into a bucket, but electrode positive it's like trying to pour the bucket back into the hose. The electrons don't fit back as easy thru the arc.
Interesting thought. I don't think my machine will actually push any current through if the HF start doesn't establish and arc, but easy enough to try!
All of the fittings is the only number of fittings you can ever buy.
hahah
id be checking all the caps in the welder, electrolytic caps like to wander out of spec and in oscillator circuits it can cause funny things like that
I figured all that time traveling had caught up with you!
Anyhow, did you open her up and see where it looks like the magic smoke came out? With it being right on half the expected positive amps best guess would be that you have two parallel circuits to share the load and one of them let the smoke out.
Hi Tony, I am a professional welder. I went from a Lincoln 175 amp transformer tig welder to a new AHP Alpha 200DX. It's probably twice the machine of the Lincoln, & I made money doing it. The AHP is $710.
I've been hearing good things about those machines, thanks Mike!
great video good detail.I will try and rspond in point form may be easier.
the clues,,,, inconsistant issue with control does not seem to be a problem with power output,(plenty of grunt)
What may be your problem is more common with hand held control where the switch is cabled to the hand piece. you mentioned that your unit is a few years old.
What tends to happen is the torch lead gets impregnated with metal dust and you may be getting induced interference (like back EMF) from the power cable into the control lead and then back into the machine.
Try cleaning you leads or just seperating them from the powwr leads.
You will have filtering inside the machine, possibly at the back of the multi pin sockets, these may be covered in metal dust...................
Good luck
re comments yes it does look like a Cemont unit.
I know you didn't want to get too far into what these settings are used for, but I have to ask. How many shades of gray do you actually use when penetrating the thick ones?
Hi Tony, given the symptoms I would tip on a power supply issue (one rail low or not clean) as mentioned by another poster. Could be leaky output device also which is dragging a rail down but I'd measure the supply rails as a first move. (I do this stuff for a living and not board swapping but component level repairs) leaky cap as a cause is entirely possible (but I find this seldom to be honest). Is it worth having done if you can't find it yourself? Depends what they charge round your way but likely yes. As a side issue, what is the current probe you are using? I need a new one and I'm thinking you didn't pay a fortune for yours? Love the videos by the way. You are a born entertainer/educator :) best produced machining videos by a mile too :)
Informative video, thanks!
On another welding topic, I watched with interest your acid-paste neutralizing of the stainless welding on the plant stand. I can't seem to get this paste from my LWS. With a brief search, I noticed that there is also an electrical process which yields the same result. It seems similar to electrolysis or etching, i.e. something you can DIY. Perhaps this would be a good subject for an upcoming video.
Regards from California!
I know what you're talking about, have seen them demonstrated, but have never used one. I believe its called electrolytic passivation and/or cleaning.
That's a better start than I have. Got off my lazy you-know-what and googled it. Yes, it appears to be quite nearly the same as electrolytic rust removal. www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Stainless-Steel-Weld-Cleaning-Electropolishing/
My brain waves calm down after long hours of doing study, then i see your video, hear your voice, the brain waves re energizes 😀
I'm a master at catching shards of stuff with my eyes. Sometimes I'm wearing glasses when I should wear goggles, and sometimes I end up blasting remnant grit into my eye in the shower. One idea I had, and it actually worked a few times, is it to use those powerful neodymium magnets. I just lay on my back and pass the magnet over my eyeball as close as possible. Warm the magnet to body temp and you can even touch the eye without flinching. The actual irritant can be microscopic so you will not always see what the thing looked like. Of course the worst time I had a sliver of type 304 (probably) in my eye and the magnet was of no help. The eye dr excised it.
PS. I've also caught stuff in my eye while wearing safety glasses plus face shield, so to be ultra safe you should have goggles plus face shield, especially using the angle grinder.
@ThisOldTony I need that "how to remove eye slivers video" @1:25 NOW XD
Thanks for the video.
Did you find the problem? Was it a bad diode in the rectifier circuit? Love all of your videos and especially your humor.
Love the dig at AvE having issues providing rulers to people as fast as they'd like.
I have enjoyed all your tig related videos - maybe you could consider to make a video about welding helmets
Before you send it in, pop the cover off and have a look around for corrosion, capacitors leaking, loose/broken wires, etc. Worst case, you put the covers back on and you're back where you started.
I hit the 200 amps limit of mine ALL THE TIME.
... when I hang the torch into my graphite crucible and use it as an arc furnace!
If it's an older machine then maybe something as simple as bad solder joint? I'd change the pots and take a good look on the solder joints.
Welders get warm inside and have bit of a vibration so components might get loose over time.
Anytime you see even a hint of a circle around the solder joint then that means it has a "cold" solder joint and it needs to be resoldered.
Also electrolytic capacitors age over time and their ESR starts to rise, so maybe recap?
There seems to be schematic for the welder floating around on the net, but the one I found was in italian. Just take it apart and make part 2 of the TIG welder video... :)
The DiResta and AVE references were awesome!
3 yrs i used my TIG wrong, i already giveup , ever to weld TIG properly .
Saw your video's , and noticed that i was on ´pulsemode´ , balance and frequency completly out of the normal range ...
I only weld stainless btw
I have a ´Javac´ machine , had no Manuel.
Only the amp´s were on spot values , because i already can stick weld over 30years.
Just saying what a dIAMOND GOLD source of knowledge you are to us ☆☆☆☆☆ .. EVEN OLDER dumbos..lol
Greetings from the Netherlands Johny geerts
Sorry tony for putting rubbish on your site, It was the drink.....keep up the good work regards keith