Just remember if the battery is ever dead or too weak to crank it, don't jumpstart it. Either charge the battery or buy a new one. I'm not sure about all Millers, but Trailblazer circuit boards for sure don't like jump starts.

I guess whatever you've been doing when you store it is working. But using it more frequently would be a lot more fun. :waving:

 

I wonder why that is?

 

Its usually a bad idea to leave an engine sitting for so long whether needed or not. Depending on the conditions it was stored in you can end up with a short lived engine just firing them off.

If it was mine I would just power the house with it once a month or so.

 

More than likely its not neccessarly the jump itself, but the fact that when people typically jump things they use a running car to do so. The alternator in a running car is where the overcharge comes from. I think it was my motorcycle manual that states "only jump from a car battery if the car doesnt have the engine running." Because my motorcycle has a completely different charging system.
This could be completely different with engine drive welders, i have no idea. Im glad i read this though, thanks for the heads up!

 

That is true. Too much juice for a motorcycle system.

 

In instances I've seen, voltage overloads and back feeds sometimes affect control circuitry. This happened a few different times in the tubing plant with inverters they were using the 115 aux plugs to run grinders, hoists and power strips with multiple loads on them. After they smoked the third board in the third machine, I told them that they could either find another source to power their grinders and hoists or at the rate they were going, I was going to run out of boards pretty fast.

Then, they could pay $700 each to get them repaired.

When the same transformer powers both aux outlets and provides control voltage to operate the output of the welder, if you overload one part of it, you can have problems with it in other places.

I'm guessing it's much the same with the TBs.. The voltage going into the machine is generally more than normal operating values when it's being jumped. Once you put that additional load into the machine, it has to go someplace. Usually right into expensive circuit boards. I know it's not BS and I've seen it happen a number of times.

IMHO of course

 

This is why I believe we should have stuck with vacuum tubes instead of embracing the transistor.

 

That would be awesome if 7A749 would convert a TB to tubes! Steampunk weldor!

 

It would be for display purposes only.

I'm good at taking things apart and having them not work when I put them back together :laugh:

 

7A749, your not the only one that does that. But its fun and interesting taking them apart. Then the real fun begins to figure it out.

 

Yeah, I get lucky once in awhile lol

 

I usually try to run my Bob Cat at least once a month when have not been using it. Crank it up and let it run for 10 minutes or so. Part of the time in idle speed and some at normal operating speed. I try to keep the tank close to full with Sta-Bil fuel stabilizer in it, too. Not long ago, knowing the fuel had been in it awhile, I siphoned out about 6 gallons and refilled with fresh gas & Sta-Bil. I then fired it up and let it go to idle, and went inside to get a beer. Just when I came back out to drink the beer, I heard the RPM increase some, probably 100 RPM or so. At first I thought it was going to jus keep speeding up, but it only did that little bit and leveled out. I figure that it was just then getting a taste of the fresher fuel when I heard it speed up. So make sure you got some fresher fuel in it with Sta-Bil added. That stuff works better than not having it in there, if you are going to let it sit for extended periods.
I need to plug the house into it to run it for an hour or so loaded, to make it grunt some and make power output.

 

These brushes don't look all that bad, at least from a quick glance. The slip rings are good. One has some minor glazing, but nothing horrible.

I'm pretty sure it's not gonna be a quick fix.

$1400 retail for the field control board. Checked this morning. No thanks. I do have both LEDs lit as it's running, but I have to check all the wiring off the board for correct outputs.

Guess I'll give the brushes a look see. Hopefully that's all it is. The machine doesn't even have 300 hours on it. I doubt it the problem.

 

Those new jump packs they got must be reaking havoc. I don't own one and have not had to jump something in ages. I admit I was impressed when I first became aware of them though from a, "Hey that looks cool point of view."

 

I usually use my 302 more in summer then winter. Stabil and running once month welding and a load on the generator will help. I was told that the generator could fail if not used for extended periods. I plug in a couple electric heaters for a load .

 

i have a $30 battery tender..i let it feed my ranger 8 , then switch it for a few days to the corvette, then to my sons subaru, and in winter the harley gets a few days too..great item to have for unused engines.. and everything gets run and warmed up at least once a month..

 

Well, I've been messing around with my TB280 recently, trying to work towards an Amateur Farmer Weldor Certificate. I thought I'd embarrass myself a bit and post pix of my handiwork. I'm using 5356 through a Spoolmatic. For this work I know it would be easier to TIG, but I don't have a TIG so...

Argon's set to 40 static and 20 with the gun on. The plate is some scrap 3/16" 5052 I have laying around from my boat project. The pipe and angle are 6061. I don't trust myself for mission-critical work, but these aren't in that category. Anyway, thoughts on my welding? Machine settings?

I don't have a welding table or a steady hand, but I think I'm seeing some fair penetration in this weld separated by intervals where the penetration's no good. Is that from inconsistent hand speed? Also, it looks like it's porous. What causes that?

Welding round pipe is a pain, but to my eyes this weld doesn't look too horrible. This is an upright support for the salon (living room) floor that'll go from the engine stringer up to the overhead wooden floor framing. The angle attaches to the underside of the wood and is in compression, so even if the weld fails it's no biggie. Anybody think it'll fail?

This is 1" square tube with 1/8" wall thickness. It turned out OK, but it was tough to do such short little welds.

 

I first welded a tab of plate to the angle because 6061 has an inside radius that the upright needs to clear. It looks like there's lots of spatter on the angle and the welds are crap in spots, but I think it'll hold.

After sitting for 1.5 years, the machine started up and ran like a champ. I don't think I can blame it for the welds! :laugh:

This one doesn't look too bad, but again there's lots of spatter.

 

For 3/16" aluminum material your voltage setting of 20V is too low and I'd have to say you're still operating in short circuit mode rather than spray which would explain the presents of spatter. You don't say but I presume the filler is .035 which should be run around 24V for spray mode with a WFS of ~425-450ipm.
http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/calculators/mig_solid_amperage_calculator.php

I'd also recommend increasing your argon flow to 25-30cfh and a little preheat with a propane torch may help on the cold starts.

Are you pushing or pulling the bead? Should be pushing for aluminum MIG to minimize soot formation. You'll never eliminate it but pushing helps to minimize.

You should also see better results if you could switch to 4043 wire which flows a bit better than your 5356.

 

Thanks, Duane.
I bumped up the volt/amp dial and, sure enough, the sound changed and the spatter stopped. But on the 1/8" square tube, I found myself burning through quite a bit. Then I ran out of wire and decided to use .035" 4043 instead of 5356. That certainly does flow better and doesn't carbon up nearly as much. My argon's running on empty, though, so I'll have to hold off playing around some more until I can get to my LWS.

 

The sound should be a hissing rather than frying bacon for the proper spray transfer and if you're burning thru you're travel speed is too slow for the material thickness.

 

It's definitely changed to a hiss. The problem I'm having with the travel speed is that the tube is 1" square and my reflexes aren't anywhere near what they are for pros. Staying on a spot to try and backfill when my unsteady hand causes me to not get penetration on a side is maybe the problem. For 3/16 material and thicker and for longer welds, I'm not having the burn thru problem.

My reading of the vertical weld is that the volts were too low, so it was short circuiting and the resulting spatter. For the horizontal weld, I'd bumped up the volts. And I was still using the 5356 .035 wire.

For this one, I'd switched to 4043 .035 wire and higher voltage. I clearly don't have a smooth hand, but there's less spatter and (to my eye) it looks like the penetration was OK.

Still struggling to get good looking welds all the way around a pipe, but again there's not much spatter and (I think) the penetration looks OK.