need hf help

[garcia]

Just bought a brand new Syncromatic 180(for back-yard use). I have it in a wooden building, cement floor, tin roof(no metal water lines). Grounded the machine, the two electrical power boxes and the welding table to a brass rod burried about 6' in the ground. I'm still getting a lot of High Frequency interference when I turn it on(even without stricking an arc). Please, I sure need some help with this one. Thanks,
Garcia

[weldteacher]

Garcia, You have done all the right things so far, but, I have to ask, do you have the contactor switch set to panel or remote? If the contactor switch is set to panel the HF will stay on all of the time. When you set the switch to remote the HF will only run when the foot peddle of torch trigger is depressed. I hope that this helps. If not write back.

[garcia]

High Frequency problems,

still going on. Thanks Weldteacher, but the machine sets automatically when the remote is connected. I might have to contact the Miller people directly to see if they have any suggestions. I'm tired of waiting for my "dear-n-beloved" to leave the house, and/or tell her that I'm going to play with the welder, to do some welding. The phone just goes crazy.
Thanks,
G.

[weldteacher]

Okay, I had the same "phone" problem with a machine at work. The phone lines ran thru the ceiling above my shop. What I did was to add an extra cable to the "work" stud and ran as short of a cable possible to the ground rod, about 6 feet away. But, do you hear the high freq buzzing when you turn on the machine without the pedal depressed? If you do there is an internal problem with the machine or foot switch. Best of luck. BTW; Miller tech-support is great to talk with if you need to.

[garcia]

Thanks again

The welding table(grounded to the copper rod) is less than three feet from the rod. Yes, people hear the "static" when I flip the switch on. Stepped on the pedal(just gas) and my buddy at the other end of the phone hollered. Will keep on waiting, maybe one of the Miller guys will jump in, if not, I'll have to phone them. I just bought this machine for playing(fun), not commercial.
Thanks,
G.

[weldteacher]

Garcia, If you place the torch tip near the table and a spark jumps the gap without depressing the pedal there is a stuck relay in the machine. Also, check to see if there is static on the phone with the machine in "stick" mode. Good luck.

[W01FM4N]

Something you can try to reduce the HF interference, reduce the spark gap setting. I've got a SD180, and the HF seemed to cause the welder to reset itself. I reduced the spark gap to .008" from the factory setting of .012" and the problem went away, not to mention the lights in the garage no longer flicker and my DSL wouldn't lose sync. The only drawback is that the arc won't jump a 1/2" any more ;-).

Just my 2 cents...

[ASKANDY]

Those are a good 2 cents worth!!
The hf should not come on untill the pedal is pressed. If you take the cover off the machine and turn it on and the point fire, there is something wrong. You should be able to hear the points firing with the cover on but if you have any doubt, take the cover off and check. There is a transistor in the main pcb that fires the HF transformer that could be bad.

Andy