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[jjohn76]

Great to hear Rod!

[jjohn76]

DAL, does the pilot arc jump to the workpiece if you have the tip close to the workpiece but the pilot pointed slightly away? Sadly, there aren't too many off the board things to check (and it sounds like you already had those checked). If the work clamp circuit checks out, and the torch checks out...

[jjohn76]

I have the same flag and same color welding screen, which is all that really matters the workspace anyways...

[jjohn76]

Here's the circuit for the HF board, hopefully it gets you sorted so you can start checking components. The big capacitor, C2, charges at the rate allowed by the 150 ohm, 20W resistor off board. Once it charges to the point where the voltage across R4 (R2 and R4 make a voltage divider, giving...

[jjohn76]

As promised, here are a couple pictures of the HF board out of an older Hobart Porta-Tig, which looks very similar to your board. I would recommend you check a lot of things before replacing that resistor.



My board also uses a 20W 150 ohm resistor off the board, which is...

[jjohn76]

Hi Aguilar. It's going to take me some time to dig back through what we discussed and were trying to fix, but will get back to you when I get a chance to go through the thread.
Jon

[jjohn76]

Correction on both. If your buddy does have a snap start, then it looks like the input voltage to that board is 115VAC on CN 1. My board is 100VAC input. We can confirm values for other components tomorrow. I think you will need to replace a bit of the input circuit. Track down the rectifier - it's...

[jjohn76]

Here's a bad pic of the arc starter on an older Hobart (Panasonic) Tig welder. Pretty close. Only thing mine is driven off a 200V input voltage, and yours may be different. I'll dig the machine out tomorrow.
...

[jjohn76]

Just looking through the manuals, that looks more like the original snap start than the snap start ii. I have an older Hobart Porta-Tig waiting for a rebuild that looks like it has a similar arc start configuration, will confirm tomorrow.

[jjohn76]

I think you're best off pulling the board and posting some pictures of the front and back, whole view of the board and sections of the burnt area. We're probably looking at the primary side of the HV transformer and the pulse circuit, but just need to understand the connectors around the area and board...

[jjohn76]

For a couple projects with something you're not going to use much, you may be better off with one of the imports - AHP and Everlast seem to have generally good reviews. They have a bit better top and low end than the diversion, plus built in options Ryan mentioned. The other way is a bigger, older machine,...

[jjohn76]

Are you able to measure the capacitance on those capacitors?

[jjohn76]

The 10x less capacitance is a bigger deal and may not work. The value of that capacitor is important because it is tuned for the HF coupling coil for the right frequency on the system....

[jjohn76]

That's a 100W, 50ohm resistor, so it looks like the RMS amperage is measuring out close (AC seems to be about .2amps high). What is indicating that it is getting too hot? I would expect worse case.for that resistor is open circuit voltage. The current through it would drop when the machine is under...

[jjohn76]

Congrats on the "new" machine Rick! Those units definitely weld above their weight class. Definitely first thing would be to pop the panels and clean, then look over the connections and components. Miller used similar jack receptacles on the thunderbolts for quite some time. Look up "Miller...

[jjohn76]

Bart, I am understanding your frustration with the tech information on this one. I would say from my experiences with Lincoln Powerwaves, Miller has better support than Lincolns though. Here's what I received from a few of the Miller techs (a lot of this is compartmentalized)

1. The MultiM...

[jjohn76]

Bart, I just talked with Chris at Miller - he said the Aluma-Pro uses a 1/2W 115k ohm 1% resistor across pin H and J, and the "pistol grip" guns have just a jumper across H and J. I am assuming that is for the new XR and Spoolmatics, but can't confirm. The Aluma-Pro Lite isn't in his area,...

[jjohn76]

Also, sorry I forgot to include it - I don't have any of the Aluma-Pro guns, just saw in their manuals that they had a gun sensing resistor between H and J. I have a buddy out here whoay still have his, will check with him. I am surprised Miller Tech won't give you the resistance there. It looks to...

[jjohn76]

Bart, my XR-15W is basically an older Spoolmatic 15A (detachable top opening) with water lines inside. I had a Spoolmate 200 and rebuilt a few Spoolmatics - not the most current model, but they did have the new rounded body and fastips. The Spoolmatics didn't have anything connected to pins I or J,...

[jjohn76]

If you're looking for a reference service manual, Red-d-Arc has an Extreme 360 service manual posted that should get you close.