This is the video I saw about the AC Spark Gap Arc Start Problem. I assume you have seen it ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQoOP9DHJJQ&feature=endscreen&NR=1
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Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

quote:

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Originally posted by Glen:
I've had a look inside the 160P dc tig at work and it looks pretty similar.

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xD i wish, you can see inside it through the huge panel gaps and fan opening

Brett, yeah i've adjusted the gap to where it works the best on DC. Somethings up with it on AC. i might get them to send me a new HF start board and see how that goes. If it doesnt work at least i have a nice flame thrower ignition source lol.
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

yeah about 6 months to a year after buying that one I had to open it up and tighten all the internal bolts because they were all only hand tight

It's kept going for another 8 years or something after that though!
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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

Thought i should keep this one up to date,

Had a spare moment in the robot building down time to have a look at it. Had an inkling for ages that it wasnt running at full power as the little lincoln 145 had more oompf.

Well after fiddling with everything, this pot is for calibrating the current. I believe the top one is to calibrate the PWM of the AC mode or the "pulse" setting though i cant really test that other than hearing the difference. Theres 3 other pots on the board, i believe they calibrate the plasma current and either the stick current or tig voltage. Will test them at a later date.



Put a DC clamp meter on the output and it was running at 130 amps Winding it in a few turns ramped the max current up to 230 amps which is huge! I did a fair bit of welding too with it like that and nothing blew up. But for the sake of longevity i wound it back to 200 amps. Theres a couple of chinese made 230 amp machines out there now too. Wonder if they just max out this welders internals?

The power is excellent on it now in AC and DC. Comfortably welds 6mm steel in a single pass with full penetration (no laughing down the back )
The digital meter on the front panel is exactly 5 amps off, and the minimum welding current i can get out of it is 15 amps. The specs say 20 so that's pretty good for something so cheap IMHO.

Doing this also seems to have roused the AC start into action, its infinitely better now, seems to start every time after the first go, and only sometimes throws 2-3 arcs before starting on the first try. Thats with crusty aluminium and a throiated tungsten too (the incorrect kind).

Now to add in a quick change gas fitting to it, replace the torch/ground clamp cables with something better and i reckon ill be very happy with this lil fella.
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

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Originally posted by Glen:
full penetration

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