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Century/Snap On ya2230 plasma cutter woes

FrogWithWings

Banned
Joined
Sep 9, 2011
Location
TN
Consumables good, torch switch (pink and blue wires) must be bypassed to turn on the air nozzle. Machine makes an uncharacteristic grumbling and does not make an arc.

One red LED only illuminated on the circuit board. Nothing looks burnt although I haven't taken the torch head apart.

Any ideas? Schematic and/or troubleshooting charts?

Thanks

btw.... nobody seems to have consumables for this machine.... will any others interchange? The Snap On guys around here pretty much have no interest in calling on any shops where every or anyone there isn't signing up for a revolving account.
 
Well, it's worked fine for several many years. It's not mine, it belongs to a friend who uses it only for light stuff.

The torch does look fine, besides the micro switch being nfg.

Does anyone have troubleshooting information, wiring diagram or any other helpful suggestions?

I'd at least like to know what the LED's are supposed to indicate although full diagnostics would be useful to have with the machine.

Thanks
 
Well...........as a former Tech Rep for Snap-on..................

You need to talk to Snap-on for help. Those machines were made for them to their specs.

If memory serves me(?) the phone number used to be on the machine for Tech help.

If not contact Snap-on for it.

Realize now you don't own the machine, but that torch has expensive parts, reason for the change.
 
From here it kind of looks like Century has parts.
118-008 YA2230 Snap-On 22 amp plasma cutter

Grumbling sounds like it could be a fan could also be that the control is cycling, trying to come up but shutting down. Most plasma units will shut down if either of air pressure, temperature, or ground current are faulty.

Unit will bleed a small amount of current through the cup for arc start but wants to see full current via the return or it shuts down. A short in the gun between tip and cup will cause an immediate shutdown. This short is usually caused by either slag blowback during piercing or just static pickup of grit.

There may be a switch in the gun to detect the presence of a cup. If this is faulty the HV wont power up. The first thing a shop tech would try is to substitute another gun/cable assy.
 
There is a switch that detects a cup. Once all the new consumables were installed correctly, the gun's trigger switch started working.

Now it triggers, but, still no arc, still only one lone LED, of several, illuminated.

Parts are available. The 8 buck manual Century will sell you appears to be merely a copy of the same owner's manual that came with it. It does not explicitly state that it comes with a wiring schematic or bench diagnosis information. I'll assume it does not.

From here it kind of looks like Century has parts.
118-008 YA2230 Snap-On 22 amp plasma cutter

Grumbling sounds like it could be a fan could also be that the control is cycling, trying to come up but shutting down. Most plasma units will shut down if either of air pressure, temperature, or ground current are faulty.

Unit will bleed a small amount of current through the cup for arc start but wants to see full current via the return or it shuts down. A short in the gun between tip and cup will cause an immediate shutdown. This short is usually caused by either slag blowback during piercing or just static pickup of grit.

There may be a switch in the gun to detect the presence of a cup. If this is faulty the HV wont power up. The first thing a shop tech would try is to substitute another gun/cable assy.
 
I have a different brand but, judging from the parts list, the circuitry is very similar. I've never seen anything in the way of a maintenance manual for my cutter but the circuitry inside is actually very simple. More simple than it appears from the number of components on the PCB.

The basic circuit is a HF voltage doubler to generate -250 VDC. This goes through some big transistors on a headsink then to a big custom resistor/coil thing to the torch head. Most of the PCB is taken up with the HF signal and all the interlock stuff to keep the HV from working if anything is wrong.

There are only a few components that are not on the PCB but these are critical and easily tested. Air solenoid, pressure switch and gun switches. The way I trouble shot mine was to disconnect each valve and sensor, one at a time, and use an ohm/volt meter to see if the component was working, i.e. see if I could see a change when the component was activated. There should be a big aluminum angle, plate, or fin with the transistors mounted on it. This should sit at -250Vdc or there abouts. If you can't find HV then you probably have bigger problems than we can work out here. Funny thing was, I never found the problem. I just put it back together and the thing started working. My wife calls it my magic fingers.
Probably it was an oxidized connector.

P.S. One thing I learned was that I had to have way more air pressure than the manual indicated due to drop in the line when triggered.
 
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I have a different brand but, judging from the parts list, the circuitry is very similar. I've never seen anything in the way of a maintenance manual for my cutter but the circuitry inside is actually very simple. More simple than it appears from the number of components on the PCB.

The basic circuit is a HF voltage doubler to generate -250 VDC. This goes through some big transistors on a headsink then to a big custom resistor/coil thing to the torch head. Most of the PCB is taken up with the HF signal and all the interlock stuff to keep the HV from working if anything is wrong.

There are only a few components that are not on the PCB but these are critical and easily tested. Air solenoid, pressure switch and gun switches. The way I trouble shot mine was to disconnect each valve and sensor, one at a time, and use an ohm/volt meter to see if the component was working, i.e. see if I could see a change when the component was activated. There should be a big aluminum angle, plate, or fin with the transistors mounted on it. This should sit at -250Vdc or there abouts. If you can't find HV then you probably have bigger problems than we can work out here. Funny thing was, I never found the problem. I just put it back together and the thing started working. My wife calls it my magic fingers.
Probably it was an oxidized connector.

P.S. One thing I learned was that I had to have way more air pressure than the manual indicated due to drop in the line when triggered.

Thank you, I'll slide over there today and see what I find.
 
if the air flow from machine out of torch has been ruduced (kinked line,smashed flat, ect.) the machine should sence not enough air flow and shut down. if this does not apply to anybodys p/c please disregard. dont ask how but it does on esab p/c 's. just my no count 2 pennys
 








 
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