atention TA-185 owners

[fun4now]

this has been coverd befor to some extent but i thought i would bring it up again as i just found another loose conection.
i'm shore you all noticed the ground or work clamp conection was loose when you got it, if not put a wrench on it just incase. but i found last night as i was breaking nine down to do some rearanging that it was also loose at the dins conector end. i'm prety shore i checked it befor so maybee it losend up with use but it was just flopping around inside there. it wasprety melted up when i took it out and reatached it. i cut back another 1" and started with some fresh wire and tightend it up realy good in the vice this time. i might give it another test run to see if that was causing my power isues insted of my feed line. i took a pic but left the camera in the shop so i'll post it later on today but just wanted to get this out there for ya.
give every thing a good tightening when you get it. i cant understand why they would ship it like that but seems like most all of then came loose not just mine.

[katiebo]

Thanks for the heads-up James. I checked mine and it was still very snug but not what I would consider tight. One thing I would add, this type of connection is likely to loosen over time due to the copper wire creeping. This is a common issue in industrial wiring. As a result it should be check every 6 to 12 monthes.

[harcosparky]

i'm prety shore i checked it befor so maybee it losend up with use but it was just flopping around inside there. it wasprety melted up when i took it out and reatached it. i cut back another 1" and started with some fresh wire and tightend it up realy good in the vice this time.

Are you describing the connection as consisting of the cable stripped, inserted into a connector and a bolt tightens down on the wire? But you say you used a vise....hmmm.... a lug that bolts on to the end of the cable???

What was melted up? The cable end from being loose and probably arcing ?

I went out to check out my MM210 was constructed, it has a lug crimped onto the wire and then bolted on to a lug. And I can see that as a wear point as the cable is moved around a lot.

Miller recommends checking the cable every 3 months. Probably thinking of a pro-shop where the machines get heavy usage.

[katiebo]

harcosparky,
The work cable insulation is stripped back so that the bare wire can be inserted into the dinse connector. It is then held in place by a set screw.

What fun is referring to is using his vice to deform the bare wire rather that relying on the set screw to do the job.

[harcosparky]

harcosparky,
The work cable insulation is stripped back so that the bare wire can be inserted into the dinse connector. It is then held in place by a set screw.

What fun is referring to is using his vice to deform the bare wire rather that relying on the set screw to do the job.

Learn sumpin new everyday ---> " dinse connector "

I never heard that until now, and wasn't sure how it worked.

Thanks

[fun4now]

harcosparky
a dins conector is only used in TIG welders not in MIG atached is a pic of it. i placed the dins conector into the vice to hold it so i could use an alen wrench to tighten the lug into the dins smashing the wire. it had arced so much in there the stranded wire was melted into clumps from over heating the conections that were being made. the pic is bad i will use the other camera to try to get you a beter pic of the melted wire end i cut off if i can still find it.

[harcosparky]

fun4now --

Thanks, I did a google search and found it, only they show external pics and I realized it was TIG only.

I would imagine that would have a negative effect on weld performance given the wire melting and all.

[fun4now]

it did have negative efects, at first it just was a little squerly of a arc then it just stoped arcing, well i would get the HF arc to jump 1/2" easy still but it would not kick in the weld arc and i got a help code as it shut down. the code said insuficent power. so i asumed i did not have enough power at the plug due to my service lead size and distance. so a decided i would put it away untill i could upgrade the shops power service. it was wile i was tearing it down to put away i noticed the conector was lose. i have a few covers i have to get cut befor i can mess with it again but i intend to give it another try as soon as i can get a chance. i may not have to wait to play with my TIG after all.
it dose seem like i tightend it when i first got it as i did the other end too so maybee you need to retighten regularly. i will certinly start checking it at every tank fill, that should be often enough and it will be directly related to use time insted of every 6 months as some months i might use it more or less than others. buy checking it at every tank fill it will get checked about every 8.5 hrs of arc use reguardless if its 2 weeks or 6 months. after all its the arc time that will efect it not the time its sitting. so i think a tank is a good timer for a wile if i dont see any problems for a wile i can bump it down to every other tank fill or whatever works best for it.
i just wanted others to be aware of the problem. i think it is too small of a wire for the clamp provided i might look into a coper insert to close some of the gap and make for a beter clamp.

[fun4now]

sorry guys posted the wrong pic, here is the melted end i cut off. about 85% of it was melted into a ball at the end.
i still have not had a chance to try it out again, but i will make some time tomarow for shore. i got a little project i need to do for the wife for X-MAS if its working again.
wish me luck.

[pullerguy]

Fun, you just wanted to show off your new regulator cover.......

[fun4now]

cool idea thanks

actualy i took that pic for some one else and it got named in the camera download, i have much better pic's for showing off my new stuff. but now that you mentioned it, thats not a bad idea, i can slip them in all the time.

[harcosparky]

i think it is too small of a wire for the clamp provided i might look into a coper insert to close some of the gap and make for a beter clamp.

Fun - thanks for the information, according to my son we may be adding TIG in the future and I will file this away for future use.

As to the wire being a bit small for the connector, any chance you have a pic of the wire end of that dinse connector. I may have an idea on how to obtain a better fit, we did similiar things for high volt/high current connectors on power lines in ground based military radar systems years ago.

We had connectors that were a tad to big for the wire, not initially but over time vibration would cause the wire to work itself a little loose.

[fun4now]

i'll get you a pic tomarow from the back side. the problem is the dins conector works for all the TIG welders and in the larger versions they need larger wire so they made a large opening, but as the TA-185 is only a 185Amp welder it dosent need too larg of a wire. sort of a one size dose not fit all thing i guess.
i plan on checking it at every tank fill from now on. it got threw the first tank ok and i thought i had tightend it so it might be loosening up on its own but a better fit would help i'm shore.

[harcosparky]

Fun -

Here is an idea that might work for you. Keep in mind I do not know what the dinse connector looks like so this may not be a good idea and anyone who knows the connector will see it as such.

Hobby shops sell thin walled brass tubing in varyings sizes. You could buy one piece of each diameter and the will fit inside each other. What we did in the past if we had a slightly undersized wire was find the smallest diameter tubing that would fit over the wire. We than cut off a short piece of tubing, placed it over the wire and than inserted it into the connector. The brass is thin and soft enough that it will crimp down, and should be conductived enough so as to not inhibit current flow.

In some instances we went so far as to solder the brass " sleeve" onto the wire but this was done in only a few cases. This inhibits the 'crushability' of the wire/tube under a screw or bolt.

[fun4now]

i had thought about soddering the hole thing in by melting a bunch of sodder into the dins conector then push in the wire and let it cool. it would make a solid conection that way but would take almost a hole rool of soder LOL
there is just soo much extra space in there here is a drawing to give you an idea, ill get the pic today and give it a try to see if she will work for me again.
i like the idea of the outer tubing, but again its a lot of extra space to fill. but the tubing would likely stay tight better even if i only went up a little larger.