Mig Welder problem

[john11139]

i am having a problem with my mig powering up. No brand name on it but has a Yes welder gun on it. Turn welder on and everything seems to work, wire feeds, gas works but no arc, I will fool around with it for about five minutes, moving shaking leads, tapping on welder, turn it off and back on after a few minutes, fool with it some more then it will strike a arc and work for the rest of the time I am using it, even if I turn it off and back on again, will strike arc right away. Haven't really found out what am doing to make it work. Have just sort of delte with it this last summer. Now that winter is here and I have a little time, I want to trace the problem down. Some one told me that if the spool works and gas works then there is no problem in the gun. Just want to confirm that. I guess if gun is ok, I will have to take the cover off and take a look. What do I look for if I don't find any loose connections. If I don"t see anything obvious, think about running out about 6" of wire, clamp it to a peace of metal , ground clamp connected, spool gun released. Tie trigger down, flip welder on and start moving things and see what happens. Maybe a better way would be to connect volt meter to ground wire and hot lead and go through the procedure.




there is no brand name on it. Has a ye

 

[welder4956]

Could be a loose lead inside the machine, at the connection to the ground clamp or at the connection to the gun. Open up the cabinet, trace the leads and check each connection.

 

[Jswain]

Make sure the ground is on clean, bare metal first...and check all the connections for the ground lead.

Maybe take some pictures when it's not working

 

[The Cobbler]

the tip in good shape?
first thing I would check is to see if there's voltage at the machine terminals to rule in or out the gun & leads

 

[Rockable]

Assuming you have a good ground and the connections to the leads are tight, your problem could be in the Mig gun. When you pull the trigger, 2 things must happen. 1. Wire has to be fed. 2. Power has to flow through the wire. There is probably a microswitch in the gun that triggers a relay to make #2 happen, so it could be the switch, the small wire running from the switch to the relay or it could be the relay. Get you VOM and start tracking it down.

 

[john11139]

Rockable: The gun is where I want to start checking, so how many wires should come out of my gun? Can I unplug the gun and pull the trigger and check it with a vom meter? When hooking up a volt meter to ground and hot lead back in the machine what kind of voltage should I get? (when pulling trigger) Remember, it spools ok and gas is ok when you pull the trigger, so is there a wire or contact in the gun that makes it arc or is that further back down in the machine.? In other words could gun when pulling trigger activate spool and gas still have a problem in the gun?





t

 

[JradM]

Is the tip the right size? Clean?

I'd probably start at the tip and trace the electrical back through the machine. See if you have continuity in the all the right places in the gun.

 

[Beerhippie]

The electrical connection to the electrode--the wire--is the drive roller back in the box. Make sure voltage is getting to that.

Please remember, welders can bite! One hand for the job, one in your pocket.

 

[Rockable]

Rockable: The gun is where I want to start checking, so how many wires should come out of my gun? Can I unplug the gun and pull the trigger and check it with a vom meter? When hooking up a volt meter to ground and hot lead back in the machine what kind of voltage should I get? (when pulling trigger) Remember, it spools ok and gas is ok when you pull the trigger, so is there a wire or contact in the gun that makes it arc or is that further back down in the machine.? In other words could gun when pulling trigger activate spool and gas still have a problem in the gun?





t

I'm not sure. You really need tto find a schematic for your welder. Other, it's going to be trial and error. The voltage to the wire should be DC and should be in tthe 20-30 volt range, I would suspect. As was mentioned, that current is fed to the wire by the feed roll but it has to be signaled from the gun.

 

[Beerhippie]

The gun wiring will usually be connected to the box with a multi-contact plug. Sussing that out without a schematic could take time.

 

[seber]

Use a VOM and start checking for voltage at the base of the gun connection. Work out or back depending on what you find. Pretty basic troubleshooting.

 

[RTM]

The last time someone had a problem, they found a wiring diagram, maybe inside, and we were able to decipher it quickly, was a **** relay inside the tombstone.

Think it was this one

Snap on YA212a welder diag help!

So I have a Snap on YA212a welder that came with my current house/shop. Got it out to start checking over for proper operation etc. Plug up, flip switch, fan comes on, power light comes on, wire feeds, but no arc. no voltage on gauge either. I’m a mechanic by trade so I’m not sure where to start...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[no704]

Could be a contacter, many of these will have a couple of lugs usually near the drive mechanism where one could swap the polarity. That is the first thing I would check.