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

[Hondacivic247]

Hopefully the new caps will be here today and I'll get them in this evening

[Aeronca41]

Hondacivic247-I too am concerned for your safety. It is very possible one of those caps has completely failed, or something is allowing AC to get to them. If either is the case, you are working very close to a potential bomb as long as the power is on-and for some time after it's off, possibly. There is a good chance of exploding aluminum shards, paper, foil, etc, all of which will be saturated with chemicals you really don't want in an open wound that could result from the exploding cap (or in your eye). While they don't always blow in a dangerous manner, the potential is certainly there. You really need to get a person with good electrical troubleshooting safety knowledge on this-the HVAC guy at work may be a big help. Please don't get hurt. No piece of equipment is worth that--it can spoil your day and perhaps the rest of your life.

[H80N]

Still very concerned about leaving those caps "in circuit" while you are chasing this other stuff

if one or more of them is reversed or seeing AC... you MAY be in danger of POPPING them...

those big old ones can go with some force...stink..unravling paper and flying cans...

yours are 1977 date code.... before the "low pressure safety relief" mandates

Newer ones will split before the pressure can build to dangerous levels....

Yours could actually build enough pressure to Explode
and do some possibly LETHAL damage to your person...



Not to mention Deadly Voltages...
I really liked your HVAC guy idea...!!!...... Somebody with electrical training and troubleshooting skills

FOR SAFETY's SAKE..!!!!

[Hondacivic247]

I tried it out and it's still sparking. I check continuity on the circuit and all seemed fine so I'm really lost, there's some connections on the back side of the selector switch witch I just can't get to safely with the machine running

[Hondacivic247]

Tested the voltage on each pole of the contactor and got 28.5 roughly on each one, I did tske a screw driver and try to clean up the plates behind the springs to knock some of the crud off

[Hondacivic247]

[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]

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

[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]

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]

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

[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

[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]

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

[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