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Hello,
I bought a 210 about a year ago, absolutely love it, I never knew TIG welding could turn out so good so easily. Literally the first joint I ever practice welded with chrome-moly tubing I was shocked at how well it turned out.
Anyway, fast forward a little less than a year and I figured I would try my hand at aluminum. Worked great, the puddle is a little harder to discern and the heat tends to build up quicker which requires you to back off toward the end of the weld. But you learn that in the first few beads. All is good.
So I make several welds and then all of the sudden the machine doesn't have any power. What used to take care not to burn through 120 wall aluminum at 140A is now barely forming a puddle on the surface with no penetration. The arc starts fine, but even if I floor the machine it doesn't have enough power to penetrate the puddle, the puddle is kind of balling around on the surface. So I start diagnosing.
- change ground connections several times
- reclean surfaces with dedicated stainless brush
- check machine settings (AC balance from 60 up to 75), then back to 70
- 140A AC TIG setting
- check cables and connections for anything loose
- examine cables for shorts
- check gas flow, (tried from 15 - 22 cfh)
- turn the amps up (all the way helps a little bit still the same problem)
- tried a new tungsten, collet, collet body, and cup, still the same problem
- examined the torch and all parts of it and connections behind the connector panel and no loose connections or suspect looking parts.
So then I thought, not enough power even when I floor it, maybe the pedal is bad, so I measured those circuits. Switch circuit works fine, and the other circuit measures from 4 ohms up to 1000 ohms, pretty linearly it appears, I only have a digital multimeter though, can't watch for needle smoothness but all appears fine. The manual didn't say what the resistance was supposed to be, only said what the terminals in the connector were.
Anyway, so after all this I got nothing. I didn't really change anything, it just suddenly lost power yet the machine behaves fine with no errors, just doesn't have enough amps now.
So I called Miller and they asked me the same things I already checked and then said I have to take it in and it could take 3 weeks to get it fixed depending on the service center.
So is there something else I can check? I don't use it that often but when I do use it I don't have a lot of time to be diagnosing things instead of working, thats why I bought a Miller. Is there a way to get a service manual? Miller would not send me one.
Any help is appreciated.
Oh, FYI I always use pure argon with the TIG, AC or DC. I tried DC, same thing, not enough power anymore. I have never tried stick because I MIG more than anything and haven't found a need for stick, so I never bought any filler sticks.
Thank you in advance.
I bought a 210 about a year ago, absolutely love it, I never knew TIG welding could turn out so good so easily. Literally the first joint I ever practice welded with chrome-moly tubing I was shocked at how well it turned out.
Anyway, fast forward a little less than a year and I figured I would try my hand at aluminum. Worked great, the puddle is a little harder to discern and the heat tends to build up quicker which requires you to back off toward the end of the weld. But you learn that in the first few beads. All is good.
So I make several welds and then all of the sudden the machine doesn't have any power. What used to take care not to burn through 120 wall aluminum at 140A is now barely forming a puddle on the surface with no penetration. The arc starts fine, but even if I floor the machine it doesn't have enough power to penetrate the puddle, the puddle is kind of balling around on the surface. So I start diagnosing.
- change ground connections several times
- reclean surfaces with dedicated stainless brush
- check machine settings (AC balance from 60 up to 75), then back to 70
- 140A AC TIG setting
- check cables and connections for anything loose
- examine cables for shorts
- check gas flow, (tried from 15 - 22 cfh)
- turn the amps up (all the way helps a little bit still the same problem)
- tried a new tungsten, collet, collet body, and cup, still the same problem
- examined the torch and all parts of it and connections behind the connector panel and no loose connections or suspect looking parts.
So then I thought, not enough power even when I floor it, maybe the pedal is bad, so I measured those circuits. Switch circuit works fine, and the other circuit measures from 4 ohms up to 1000 ohms, pretty linearly it appears, I only have a digital multimeter though, can't watch for needle smoothness but all appears fine. The manual didn't say what the resistance was supposed to be, only said what the terminals in the connector were.
Anyway, so after all this I got nothing. I didn't really change anything, it just suddenly lost power yet the machine behaves fine with no errors, just doesn't have enough amps now.
So I called Miller and they asked me the same things I already checked and then said I have to take it in and it could take 3 weeks to get it fixed depending on the service center.
So is there something else I can check? I don't use it that often but when I do use it I don't have a lot of time to be diagnosing things instead of working, thats why I bought a Miller. Is there a way to get a service manual? Miller would not send me one.
Any help is appreciated.
Oh, FYI I always use pure argon with the TIG, AC or DC. I tried DC, same thing, not enough power anymore. I have never tried stick because I MIG more than anything and haven't found a need for stick, so I never bought any filler sticks.
Thank you in advance.
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