Bought a new to me Airco Dip/Stick 160 multiprocess welder

[Hondacivic247]

[Hondacivic247]

I really hope to get this fixed as I wasn't really planing on buying another welder for some time, but if the caps don't solve it is spoke with the guy with the lincoln and offered him a trade of my husqvarna 562xp chainsaw and cash, I really hate to trade my saw even tho I don't use it much but it may come to that and I'll have to buy another down the road

[Hondacivic247]

[aametalmaster]

offered him a trade of my husqvarna 562xp chainsaw and cash, I really hate to trade my saw even tho I don't use it much but it may come to that and I'll have to buy another down the road

That really sucks. Two things I like. Welders and chainsaws...Bob

[Aeronca41]

The contactor terminal I can see in your picture looks pretty normal to me for an old machine, but maybe I can't see it well enough. What does bother me is the color of the associated spring-the other two are the usual color; that one looks like was really hot at some time. I agree with H80N-no good reason to be replacing the contactor yet. Need to find the short circuit first. Contactor may be OK.

Bob, that is some chain saw! Must have really big trees there in OH.

[Hondacivic247]

Like I was saying the contactor is arcing in the 3rd top leg the inside behind the spring is bad looking the other 2 still have marks .

I'm still really torn if I want to let go of my 562xp it's my first chainsaw I ever owned, I don't use it all the time but when I do it makes me smile. I keep tellingk my self I'll buy another down the road. Or maybe I'll just save up the cash to buy a welder and keep my saw.

Bummed I can't figure this thing out. I'm trying to get a guy who's into hvac to come tare a look at the welder and I'll talk to my friends at work.

Still boggles my mind knowing everything I took apart went back together the same. Only thing we did was mess around with the caps. We had a capacitor meter that only does caps and we reversed the leads in each caps to get a reading both ways. Unless that shorted the caps which I don't think it would

[Hondacivic247]

Talked with the guy at work and he thinks it's the contactor I told him how the plates inside looked bad with arc marks and he thinks there not flowing right or something causing the spark I'm seeing and loss of power to the wire feed motor I also don't know if I can strike a arc I'll have to test it tonight

[H80N]

Bummed I can't figure this thing out. I'm trying to get a guy who's into hvac to come tare a look at the welder and I'll talk to my friends at work.

Your HVAC guy is probably a great approach... Eyes on troubleshooting skills.... and Basic similarity of circuit types...



Out of curiosity what type of work do you do..??

[Hondacivic247]

I work for a company were we print flexo and water base labels for products on in line printing presses like Mark Andy and Gallus machines. They have highly spfisticated electronics in them to control each station the ink goes in, we have 8 presses and run on 3 phase and single phase we have a transformer in the building.

So anytime I have a question I talk with our maintenance crew who helps me out

[Hondacivic247]

The red box on the side of the elmwood contactor is made by cherry elect prod corp if that helps us out any.

[Hondacivic247]

Is anyone local to the Saratoga area of NY that could help me fix this willing to pay cash figured I'd put it out there

[Hondacivic247]

Contact Wear, Arcing, and Noise

Every time the contacts of a mechanical relay or switch are closed or open, there is a certain amount of wear. For a very brief time, only a small section of the contact is touching, and all of the current must go through this part of the contact. If the current being switched is large, part of the contact is degraded or destroyed. (The manufacturer of the component will include life expectancy information in their product specifications.)
Also, because there is a very small gap in the contacts for a brief time when the contacts are broken, an electrical arc may be generated across the gap if the voltage is high enough. This arc will produce a certain amount of radio frequency interference (RFI) through the air, and noise in the system power supply, and may affect nearby electronic circuits in a number of ways.
How much wear on the contacts and how much RFI and noise generated depends on:
The voltage and current being switched
Whether the voltage being switched is AC or DC
The type of load (resistive versus inductive)
How quickly the relay operates (how long the contact area and gap are small)
What type of contact protection or arc and noise suppression circuitry is used
(Many other factors, such as system wiring, grounding, etc

[Hondacivic247]

Thought that was a good read. Maybe the high voltage is causing a arc

[Hondacivic247]

Im pretty sure there's a small cap that has a resistor that's hooked up the rectifier bridge that then connects to a post on the contactor relay

[Hondacivic247]