I recently acquired an Aerowave 300, the owner had it given to him through the passing of an in-law. He had nearly no welding knowledge nor any knowing of the value of the machine or anything to do with its history. So, I got a pretty good deal on it from the guy. That being said, once I brought it back to the shop I used to work in and used the torch/leads/foot pedal off our older syncrowave 250, it had no output. The only thing it would do is a very faint spark, that of which I would relate to a high-freq start before the real arc kicks in. However, all of the controls and displays worked great. From there my former boss(who has extensive knowledge on anything electrical related) and I trouble shot it the best we could based on the schematic inside the cover as well as the little info miller would give to me, not being a certified repairman. We were stumped on what could be wrong.
Since then I moved back to my hometown, and took it to the local Praxair repair shop. As far as I know, they hadn't ever seen one of these machines before. He kept it for a couple days and then called me and told me the machine was physically missing both the "Driver Board" and "Secondary Inverter Board" and it would cost a couple grand to get those parts and that he simply would not do it based on the fact more could be wrong with it. I accepted that and picked the machine back up.
I finally now got around to taking a harder look on the inside to find exactly what he claimed to be missing. Honestly, I am almost 100% sure he was pulling my leg and just didn't want to do anything to a machine he was not familiar with. I cannot find a single plug or harness end that is unplugged or anywhere there could be anything missing. It looks totally complete. The only thing missing is the optional sequencer/pulse controls and the circuit board I assume goes along with that. So when I open the door on the front attacked to the controls, the larger board on the left is there, but the spot on the right is open.
Any help at all with this is appreciated as I have gone about as far as my knowledge will allow. Unfortunately the only other repair option is 4 hours away with AirGas, which i have no problem going that far if there is a chance I can get the machine working. If someone could let me know the location of those two boards and what is supposed to be there, as well as any other trouble shooting options that would be great!
The machines serial number is - KK297674
Since then I moved back to my hometown, and took it to the local Praxair repair shop. As far as I know, they hadn't ever seen one of these machines before. He kept it for a couple days and then called me and told me the machine was physically missing both the "Driver Board" and "Secondary Inverter Board" and it would cost a couple grand to get those parts and that he simply would not do it based on the fact more could be wrong with it. I accepted that and picked the machine back up.
I finally now got around to taking a harder look on the inside to find exactly what he claimed to be missing. Honestly, I am almost 100% sure he was pulling my leg and just didn't want to do anything to a machine he was not familiar with. I cannot find a single plug or harness end that is unplugged or anywhere there could be anything missing. It looks totally complete. The only thing missing is the optional sequencer/pulse controls and the circuit board I assume goes along with that. So when I open the door on the front attacked to the controls, the larger board on the left is there, but the spot on the right is open.
Any help at all with this is appreciated as I have gone about as far as my knowledge will allow. Unfortunately the only other repair option is 4 hours away with AirGas, which i have no problem going that far if there is a chance I can get the machine working. If someone could let me know the location of those two boards and what is supposed to be there, as well as any other trouble shooting options that would be great!
The machines serial number is - KK297674
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