Airco pulse arcii 400

Jardine · Sep 22, 2017

So i got this machine through trade from my father in law. He didnt realize it was 3 phase when he got it. It welds awesome when it wants to. Some mornings when i fire it up to use the voltage and wire speed are way off from the previous day. Typically way hot and slow wire feeling. After some jacking around it settles down and works. It honestly has been mothballed for about 6-7 years but have picked up some work for it recently. Any way i have done a thourough blow out and have put a couple of cans of electric cleaner through it. That seemed to help. My questons are:
1 what could cause the speratic performance?
2 it is a pulse mig. Can anyone clue me into what some of the other settings do? Ie, background, arcforce, and voltage trim.
As you know the machine is obsolete and info on it is hard to dig up.
Thanks
Jerod

dave powelson · Sep 22, 2017

Jardine said:
Any way i have done a thourough blow out and have put a couple of cans of electric cleaner through it. That seemed to help. My questons are:
1 what could cause the speratic performance?
2 it is a pulse mig. Can anyone clue me into what some of the other settings do? Ie, background, arcforce, and voltage trim.
As you know the machine is obsolete and info on it is hard to dig up.
Thanks
Jerod

A couple cans of electric 'cleaner'?? That can spew all kinds of debris into places it shouldn't be

Migs are wholly sensitive to problems in wire feeding and that's where one needs to start, addressing the 'usual suspects':
wire size/feed roll condition
wire spool feeding into the feed rolls
feed roll tension
wire alignment into the quill
condition and ID size of torch lead wire liner (bent/kinked, thumps or drags around inside liner, etc.)
condition of torch neck and liner into diffuser
diffuser and contact tip internal threads
contact tip
verify good electric cabling and connections from torch trigger to machine
All of the above need to be studied/corrected before fiddling with settings

Jardine · Sep 22, 2017

Thanks Dave. It has brand new complete Tweco gun. Rolls are allined and gun is not coiled or sharply bent from wire feed to bench. Im familiar with migs and we use them alot and know the ill efects of what you mentioned. Im aftaid something may be amiss with the board the way it acts.

Ries · Sep 22, 2017

People always gripe that millers and lincolns are too expensive- but you can find parts, donor machines, and service people who know em.
machines like these- ESAB built this for airco, in small quantities, with parts that are not common in the USA- are cheap for a reason.
Go on Welding Web, and see if anybody knows an Esab orphan repairman, or someone who is willing to repair boards at a component level.

DDoug · Sep 22, 2017

This could be one of the miller made airco's, and IIRC some were made by Linde.

either way, yes, the are pretty obsolete, and hard to repair.

Interesting how older plain vanilla transformer/rectifier supplies
(Stick, Tig & Mig) all are still able to be repaired.

It's when the 1980's came along with square wave, pulse etc, the circuit boards
use obsolete chips, schematics aren't published etc.

Jardine · Sep 22, 2017

I think thays what im up against Doug. When it wants to weld nice its hands down one of the smoothest migs ive ever used. Funny it seems to be getting better every time i use it. Maybe letting some of the smoke out is helping. Its probably all in my head.

moonlight machine · Sep 22, 2017

The wire drive gearbox on the motor may need looking at. If the grease is old and hard the motor may not have enough power to overcome the friction in the gearbox as well as feed the wire. Take it apart, clean it out and use something like Mobil 1 grease to lube it. Made a huge difference on my welder.

Jardine · Sep 23, 2017

Good idea. That may explain why it seems to be getting better. Grease is loosening up.

lars66 · Sep 23, 2017

Jardine said:
So i got this machine through trade from my father in law. He didnt realize it was 3 phase when he got it. It welds awesome when it wants to. Some mornings when i fire it up to use the voltage and wire speed are way off from the previous day. Typically way hot and slow wire feeling. After some jacking around it settles down and works. It honestly has been mothballed for about 6-7 years but have picked up some work for it recently. Any way i have done a thourough blow out and have put a couple of cans of electric cleaner through it. That seemed to help. My questons are:
1 what could cause the speratic performance?
2 it is a pulse mig. Can anyone clue me into what some of the other settings do? Ie, background, arcforce, and voltage trim.
As you know the machine is obsolete and info on it is hard to dig up.
Thanks
JerodView attachment 208528

Background is what keeps the arc going when it is on the cold side of cycle. Trim is the wire stick out before it burns off. Arc force is dig. I have two old PA-3A Airco pulse machines that will run Alum. perfect for days then the next thing they will be acting up and have to start resetting looking for the handle again.

Jardine · Sep 23, 2017

Thanks! So on mine i have a 3 way switch. Down is cc and in that pos. The knob controls arc force. Center is pulse and up is cv. Both these positions the knob controls trim. Arc force dosent appear to come into play in the cv or pulse settings. Thats how I see it anyway.

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