Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi;
New member.
I came into possession of an older Heliarc 250 HF 250 Square wave power source.
I have reconnected all of the exterior cables and lines.
The machine comes on , full fan power , and in the tig settings.
The machine delivers HF to the torch but will not strike an arc , all else seems to be correct.
When I depress the pedal , the HF is available at the torch and there is an audible HF sound from INSIDE the cabinet.
But no arc.
I have printed off a manual with a troubleshooting section for help in diagnosing the problem.
I'm pretty capable and have no prob opening the machine up for diagnostics and service.
I am on a semi-remote island so self helping is first and foremost.
Anyone care to offer advice or any other help?
Thank you

If it’s an older machine it probably has points that need cleaned and adjusted.

Can you post a picture of the face showing how you have the switches, dials and connections? One thing that comes up often is that people know DC TIG is electrode negative, and they wind up with the power lead connected to the negative terminal, which won't work...you want the power connection on the positive terminal at all times and the work cable/clamp on the negative terminal.

If you haven't already, try touching the tungsten to the work before pressing down on the pedal....tap, then pedal. If that doesn't work, try tapping the tungsten to the work after you've depressed the pedal. As mentioned, it won't hurt to check the points....remove them, run them over a wire wheel, then reinstall and set the gap around .010" (the manual should specify that setting, but I have yet to see .010" not work).

Do you have any way to see if it will stick weld on DC electrode positive?

Thank you.
A pic of the face is coming but I'm sure all the switches etc are correct.
|Electrodes are in proper position.
Reading the manual and going to open it up and look at the points.

Those are designed a lot like a synchrowave 250. It could be something simple like a bad contactor switch, bad foot pedal, or a loose connection somewhere. Or it could be something much more extreme like the SCR bridge has failed, or the main PC board has failed. When I got my synchrowave, it did the same thing and it turned out to be a loose connection to the current sensing device (hall sensor). Chech the trouble shooting section in this manual here: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... IqSQjBAt1J

Thanks this is a pre digital welder.
I have the manual for it.
Going to open it up and see whats inside.
Face;

Box on top is disconnected entirely.

Torch is connected to 'electrode' and ground clamp is 'work'

I'm not totally familiar with that machine. My cousin had an older machine (gotten from a school) and it acted very weird. Come to find out that there are jumpers that have to be reset for home power which was different from the power at the school. My old MM also has those jumpers.

Steve James wrote:T
Torch is connected to 'electrode' and ground clamp is 'work'

On another forum this comment might start a small war

You'll definitely have to pull the wrapper off and start looking around. The fact that the fan comes on (probably before fan-on-demand) is a good sign. I've had a similar style machine go crazy when one wire fell loose. It would weld max or minimum amperage, but nothing in between, and the other end of that component had a similar wire that would prevent the machine from welding at all if it fell loose....so it might be something very simple.

Thank you.
Pulled it apart and started looking around.
Got it set up and tried to weld.
With current control at maximum I was able to weld some thin gauge steel.
Everything worked well except; limited power!

G-ManBart wrote:

Steve James wrote:T
Torch is connected to 'electrode' and ground clamp is 'work'

On another forum this comment might start a small war

Thank God we're not there.

BugHunter wrote:

G-ManBart wrote:

Steve James wrote:T
Torch is connected to 'electrode' and ground clamp is 'work'

On another forum this comment might start a small war

Thank God we're not there.

LOL. I use either clamp or stinger for either job. Depending on what fits and weather or not I’m too lazy to walk back to the machine to swap leads.

Poland308 wrote:LOL. I use either clamp or stinger for either job. Depending on what fits and weather or not I’m too lazy to walk back to the machine to swap leads.

I used to frequent a forum where they would have gone off the deep end about your usage of weather. It's whether in that usage/context. LOL.

I never could spell. Figured people would get it or not. Never cared if they did! I been spelling wrong for a bit now.