Syncrowave 250 with unstable arc

[Drag Racer]

My friend has a Syncrowave 250 that's having problems, It has a very unstable arc, the arc seems to go everywhere at the same time, like it has 4 or 5 wandering arcs. This is an older machine (80's?) with a Miller water cooler. Any ideas what the problem could be?

[bvweld]

My friend has a Syncrowave 250 that's having problems, It has a very unstable arc, the arc seems to go everywhere at the same time, like it has 4 or 5 wandering arcs. This is an older machine (80's?) with a Miller water cooler. Any ideas what the problem could be?

Try changing the tungsten first. You didn't mention if the problem was on AC or DC or both.

[Drag Racer]

We tried all the little things, it is definitely a machine problem. I weld with a Syncrowave 250 at work. I have a couple thousand hours experience with the Syncrowave 250 but we have never had one do this.

[Buzz Job]

Put known tungsten in it as previously posted before trying to diagnose further.

[Drag Racer]

We tried a new tungsten, even a new torch with a new tungsten. One thing I forgot was that we had to keep the amps down at 25 amps or less, any more it would melt the tungsten. The machine was set on DC with a 1/8" tungsten, and anything higher than 25 amps would melt the tungsten.

[Tailshaft56]

melting the tungsten is a characteristic of wrong polarity. Barring that could be a bad diode leaking ac.

[Drag Racer]

It was definitely in DC negative electrode, that was the first thing I checked.

[Tailshaft56]

Does it weld ok in ac mode. If so a bad diode is a definate possibility.

[Drag Racer]

I didn't try AC, I will try AC tonight and see if it is the same.

[Firey]

Re

I had the same problem with my 350sync it ended up that the points were pitted after I changed them the problem was corrected.

PS this was happening on AC mode. "Good luck"

[Tailshaft56]

I guess you could try lift arc to rule out the HF section. It might be a good idea to call tig support at Miller.