Lincoln Squarewave 175 ?????

moose · March 17, 2008, 10:04:07 PM

At the shop where I am welding up the frame for my Coupe we have a Lincoln Square wave 175 TIG welder. Tonight while I was welding it just quit. Acted like the power switch was thrown. No lights fan noise nothing. I took the cover off and did not see anything amiss. Did not have a meter to check any voltages. Will take it next trip if it happens again.After it sat for a while it fired back up. I struck an arc and it quit again. After sitting it again it started and welded fine no problems and good arc. Till I dropped the torch and shattered the gas cup..... No spare done :oops: :oops: :cry: for the night.

Do any of you have this welder and if so ever experienced this condition? First thouight was overheating but that ight did not come on and I did not have it fired up for long when it first quit.

Tim

C9 · March 18, 2008, 09:05:34 AM

Is your shop quite a way from the meter panel?

And perhaps you're on a long and perhaps small drop cord in the shop as well as plugged into the last plug in the line?

Wife running the dryer at the same time?

You may have low voltage at the welder.

Your problem sounds thermally oriented.
Low voltage will kick the thermal switch pretty quick if so.

You can get a small Volt-Ohmeter at Radio Shack for about $10.
Check the voltage on both legs at the circuit breaker panel and the welder plug.

If you don't know how, get someone who does to help you.

1FATGMC · March 18, 2008, 11:39:06 AM

Quote from: "moose"At the shop where I am welding up the frame for my Coupe we have a Lincoln Square wave 175 TIG welder. Tonight while I was welding it just quit. Acted like the power switch was thrown. No lights fan noise nothing. I took the cover off and did not see anything amiss. Did not have a meter to check any voltages. Will take it next trip if it happens again.After it sat for a while it fired back up. I struck an arc and it quit again. After sitting it again it started and welded fine no problems and good arc. Till I dropped the torch and shattered the gas cup..... No spare done :oops: :oops: :cry: for the night.

Do any of you have this welder and if so ever experienced this condition? First thouight was overheating but that ight did not come on and I did not have it fired up for long when it first quit.

Tim

It does sound like the thermal overload. My Lincoln 225, just a newer version, did that once when I welded too long, but the thermal light came on. It cooled down and then worked again.

Maybe the thermal overload circuit is going bad or something.

Post when you find out what it is. It might come in handy for me someday. I love this welder and would buy another in a heart beat,

Sum

GPster · March 18, 2008, 01:05:57 PM

I'm reading this and adding it to the pile I stuff that I know a little bit (not all). I'm thinking of a similar way that might get you the same problem. It was once explained to me about a "Duty Cycle" on a welder. At the lowest welding amperage it might be at a 100% but at frame welding amperage it might be clear down to 30%. The explaanation was you can only weld 3 minutes out of every 10 minutes or the amperage starts dipping. If you're more interested in getting stuff done you might not keep track and think that you may need a little more amperage for a weld and jack-it-up and put the welder even further out of it's "Duty Cycle". Also a thermal over-load might re-set because it's cool and that doesn't necessarily mean that everything is back to normal. Look on the welder's name plate for a "Duty Cycle" listing and think about it this way. If it doesn't have one then maybe this information is as old as I am. The guy that told me this is probably dead by now. GPster

moose · March 18, 2008, 04:28:49 PM

C9,
Yep have several meters just did not have one at the remote shop. Plan to take i with me next trip...

Do not know if the "wife" was doing laundry or not We have never had a problem like this before. Suppose it could be external to the location.

Sum,
Will keep you all posted as to the final out-come. I did stop by the goody store to replace my gas cups and asked them about it. They said it sounds like a possible circuit board issue. Hope not.

GP,
It does have a duty cycle listed but I was nowhere near the limits when it happened. Probably mid range for current and only running very short time.

As I said I will keep you posted and thanks for the suggestions. I hope is that I will never find out what the problem was because it never happens again

river1 · March 18, 2008, 08:12:16 PM

Quote from: "moose"First thouight was overheating but that ight did not come on and I did not have it fired up for long when it first quit. Tim

is that light burned out?

sumner, when that light comes on does it kill the cooling fan also?

check the screw connection of the wall plugs, a loose one will create resistence AKA heat. then that heat will cause even looser screws.

good luck

later jim

crdnblu · March 19, 2008, 12:13:36 AM

Quote from: "moose"At the shop where I am welding up the frame for my Coupe we have a Lincoln Square wave 175 TIG welder. Tonight while I was welding it just quit. Acted like the power switch was thrown. No lights fan noise nothing. I took the cover off and did not see anything amiss. Did not have a meter to check any voltages. Will take it next trip if it happens again.After it sat for a while it fired back up. I struck an arc and it quit again. After sitting it again it started and welded fine no problems and good arc. Till I dropped the torch and shattered the gas cup..... No spare done :oops: :oops: :cry: for the night.

Do any of you have this welder and if so ever experienced this condition? First thouight was overheating but that ight did not come on and I did not have it fired up for long when it first quit.

Tim

moose · March 22, 2008, 05:52:26 PM

I told you good folk I would let you know the outcome of my welder problems. Went back to the shop today and the welder would not start again. I started to trace he system from the wall plug out. Turns out to be a loose wire in the adapter cord we have to convert plug styles. Wirew had pulled out of a terminal and when the cord was just right would make good contact. Luck it did not cause a bigger problem. Took the plug apart ckeaned it put back together real tight and it works great again. Thankds for all the suggestions.

Tim

1FATGMC · March 22, 2008, 07:07:40 PM

Quote from: "moose"I told you good folk I would let you know the outcome of my welder problems. Went back to the shop today and the welder would not start again. I started to trace he system from the wall plug out. Turns out to be a loose wire in the adapter cord we have to convert plug styles. Wirew had pulled out of a terminal and when the cord was just right would make good contact. Luck it did not cause a bigger problem. Took the plug apart ckeaned it put back together real tight and it works great again. Thankds for all the suggestions.

Tim

Isn't that what we told you it was all along

.

Glad you are back in business and I can worry less about mine.

Jim you asked me about when mine tripped out. I don't remember much now, but think when it did everything quit, just like turning it off, but the overheat warning light was on. Maybe the fan was on, I don't remember I just worried a lot until it kicked back on.

The other day when I quit welding something I looked over and the overheat light was on, but it was still working. I quit for about 10 minutes I think and the light went back off. Then the fan was running all the time until the light went off.

c ya,

Sum

moose · March 22, 2008, 09:04:15 PM

Isn't that what we told you it was all along

.

Yep,

That is why I turnned to you "smart" guys for the really tough questions

Tim

Crosley.In.AZ · March 23, 2008, 11:34:00 PM

LOL .... you said 'smart guys"

glad it is fixed

river1 · March 24, 2008, 01:13:01 AM

Quote from: "1FATGMC"Jim you asked me about when mine tripped out. I don't remember much now, but think when it did everything quit, just like turning it off, but the overheat warning light was on. Maybe the fan was on, I don't remember I just worried a lot until it kicked back on.

The other day when I quit welding something I looked over and the overheat light was on, but it was still working. I quit for about 10 minutes I think and the light went back off. Then the fan was running all the time until the light went off.

c ya,

Sum

my thinking was, in an overheat situation the light would be on and the the only thing working would be the fan so as to help cool it off. glad moose got his figured out.

later jim