Using a ReadyWelder spoolgun with a Trailblazer 251NT

[therrera]

Hi Forum members,

Anyone actually hook up a readywelder to a trailblazer? I tried today and found that if I am using CC mode, it will get welding current but will not lay down even a bad bead, just sparks and bird drippings.

When in CV mode, it apparently must get some type of signal from the 14 pin connector to initiate some contactor in order to get welding current. This means I need the pin out to know which pins to rig up to a switch. Anyone know?

Anyone done this?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Tony

[H80N]

[ATTACH]33319[/ATTACH][ATTACH]33319[/ATTACH]Hi Forum members,

Anyone actually hook up a readywelder to a trailblazer? I tried today and found that if I am using CC mode, it will get welding current but will not lay down even a bad bead, just sparks and bird drippings.

When in CV mode, it apparently must get some type of signal from the 14 pin connector to initiate some contactor in order to get welding current. This means I need the pin out to know which pins to rig up to a switch. Anyone know?

Anyone done this?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Tony

Have you tried it in CV mode with the local/remote (contactor) switch set to local that should turn on the contactor.

see item #7 in fig 5-1. Front Panel Controls on page 18

http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o486h_mil.pdf

[@cvmechanical]

Using a ReadyWelder spoolgun with a Trailblazer 251NT

Hmmm sparks and bird droppings is all I get from my Spoolmate 100 and although it's 4-5 years old I've only used it twice.

[therrera]

readywelder and trailblazer 251nt

thanks for the reply.

The first thing I did was put it in local mode because I knew that I was not going through the 14 pin connector. I had to move the connector for the gun from the CC lug to the CV lug. NO power in local CV mode, only local CC mode.

That is why I am concluding that CV mode requires a signal to initiate welding current. Maybe this unit is designed to only operate through the remote connecter when in CV mode. Either that or my machine's CV side is damaged.

Tomorrow I will call Miller tech support and see what they have to say on the subject.

Thanks,

Tony

[H80N]

thanks for the reply.

The first thing I did was put it in local mode because I knew that I was not going through the 14 pin connector. I had to move the connector for the gun from the CC lug to the CV lug. NO power in local CV mode, only local CC mode.

That is why I am concluding that CV mode requires a signal to initiate welding current. Maybe this unit is designed to only operate through the remote connecter when in CV mode. Either that or my machine's CV side is damaged.

Tomorrow I will call Miller tech support and see what they have to say on the subject.

Thanks,

Tony

OK then look on page 16 Fig 4-8. Remote 14 Receptacle Information

http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o486h_mil.pdf

I do know that my TB 301G would remain hot in CV mode if the switch was in LOCAL position

without any need to jumper the 14 pin..

[raferguson]

I would probably hook up my spoolgun to a welder in my shop and verify that it worked with a regular CV welder. I would not expect the Readywelder to work right with a CC welder, unless you have the model of Readywelder which is designed for use with CC welders. I recall that the model designed for CC welders has a separate small power supply to provide a constant voltage to the drive motor in the spoolgun.

I have a readywelder, but I use it with a CV power supply.

You did not mention if you took any voltage measurements, which might be useful.

Hope that tech support has an easy answer for you.

Richard

[therrera]

ready welder and trailblazer 251nt

Hi and thanks for your comments,

I also expected the lead to be hot in local mode as it is on any welder I've every worked with. I did not take any voltage readings. Would I jumper the positive and negative lugs? I assume so. However I don't even get a tiny baby spark so I would expect that no voltage is being passed between the two lugs.

I am going to call Miller first thing in the morning. I hope to get a solution as one of the main reasons I bought this machine (used with 300 hours on it) was to be able to operate a spool gun in the field for welding aluminum. Secondarily to hang a suitecase wire feeder off it for mig or flux core welding when I need to pour metal.

Thanks,

Tony

I would probably hook up my spoolgun to a welder in my shop and verify that it worked with a regular CV welder. I would not expect the Readywelder to work right with a CC welder, unless you have the model of Readywelder which is designed for use with CC welders. I recall that the model designed for CC welders has a separate small power supply to provide a constant voltage to the drive motor in the spoolgun.

I have a readywelder, but I use it with a CV power supply.

You did not mention if you took any voltage measurements, which might be useful.

Hope that tech support has an easy answer for you.

Richard

[H80N]

Pls let us know what Tech Support has to say...

[therrera]

Readywelder mated to a trailblazer 251nt

Hi folks,

well tech support confirmed what you have been saying, that in local mode the CV lug should be hot as it closes the contactor inside the machine. This means that there was something wrong with my CV side. He suggested as you did that I put a volt meter and check if anything at all was getting through. I did and it wasn't.

Next I thought I would check for amperage (just on a whim) and accidentally put my leads across the positive and negative terminals instead of inline with one of the leads. I did it with caution, just sweeping the probe across the lug in case I might blow up my meter. It sparked. So I put my meter back on voltage and low and behold it started registering voltage. I think about 40 volts.

I then opened up the argon bottle and tried to run a bead and a big spark hit the metal and I melted back and fused the wire to the tip. Great!!!! I used a small drill and drilled out the fused aluminum in the tip.

I must have freed up a stuck solenoid or something when I created a mild short across the positive and negative lugs as from that point on, it had welding current. I don't have an explanation for it except that. This machine had been sitting for years in a shop before I found her quite by chance.

I saw that I had not switched the machine to wire mode and once I did so, there was consistent wire feed although I was cutting right through a 3/16" piece of aluminum coupon I had made for this purpose as I had it set way too high.

I dialed my heat down and found the spot where it ran beads and tried my first ever mig welding of aluminum. Attached is a shot. It ran a nice bead and I think with a little practice I will get the hang of it quickly and can use this spool gun on my field rig from now on. I am delighted.

This will allow me to weld on large assemblies where tig is not a practical option, something I had to shy away from in the past.

Now that that has been accomplished I am going to start a thread about my observations of the ReadyWelder as an industrial tool. I find that while it runs well, it is cumbersome to hook up. I'll explain more in that thread.

However, despite that, I think I would recommend it to others as an economical way to have spoolgun capabilites. I bought the model with a contactor "box" so that the lead is not always hot as with the standard models. However when mating to a machine with a 14 pin plug (as the trailblazer and others), the trigger could be wired into the plug (pin A and B) so that the internal contactor fires when the trigger is squeezed ( in remote mode). This will reduce the bulk that is associated with this welding gun. Another plus is that it can be easily adapted to any CV machine so it can do dual purpose, shop and field. It uses standard tweco parts so that's a plus too.

Thanks all for your help, ideas.

Tony

[H80N]

Glad you got it sorted out....