[Dav0504]

Hi guys, new to the forum. I was wondering if anybody could help me out. I've got one of the above tig plants and I'm having a bit of bother with it. I stupidly took it out on a job to use as a stick, but the journey in the van has made a connection inside release from the spade. I've spent hours looking and I can't see where it goes. It's a ground cable. I will try and upload a pic. Thanks.

[TRACKRANGER]

Hi Dave
Welcome to the forum.
Does the welder still operate? I'm interested to know how you knew that a cable had come off inside the welder.

When you say it's a ground cable, is one end connected to the chassis?

If it is a smaller wire gauge cable (and I'm presuming it is), then it may be an earth connection for a circuit board. Usually this will be around the perimeter of the board, but also look for a broken off male spade on the board. Vibration may have caused a fracture.

If one end is still connected, physically move the wire in a circular arc (without over stretching it) to see where else it might be able to reach inside the machine.

It may also be an earth between metal panels, and not connect to anything 'electrical', so don't dismiss this option either.

Hope this helps

Best
Trev

[TRACKRANGER]

Incidentally, the Oberlikon web site did not list a "cito arc 206"

http://www.oerlikon-welding.com/en/tech ... nuals.html

[Dav0504]

Thanks for reply ranger. The welder turns on fine. Lights up, can change power setting. Gas even comes through when I press the trigger. There's just no arc coming through. U can see the ground cable on pic, sticking up the way in centre with blue connector. At the end that's plugged in its connected to a 4 way spade that is bolted to chassis of the plant so the other end must connect to a component somewhere but I can't see where. Ive looked to see if the spade is inside connector but it's not. This is my main machine and I need it going so any help would b much appreciated. Thanks

[TRACKRANGER]

Sorry, can't help anymore. Would only be guessing.

Now that you point out the specific cable, I can identify it.

Maybe someone else has one of these welders.

Keep in mind that this may not be the (only) cause of the welder fault, but because it's disconnected it 'appears' to be the cause of the problem.

[Dav0504]

Thanks anyway. Tried everything u mentioned earlier but no luck. Hopefully someone sees this who has worked on or has 1 that can help.

[dave powelson]

Thanks anyway. Tried everything u mentioned earlier but no luck. Hopefully someone sees this who has worked on or has 1 that can help.

1-determine the actual name/model of the machine (which was already mentioned in prior post)

2-From the above, get the schematic for the machine which will show the mystery wire location to
whatever component

[TRACKRANGER]

I'm starting to doubt that this wire is the cause of the fault

That cable may have never been connected to anything. Thinking 'outside the square', manufacturers use standard wiring looms that might be implemented across several models. This earth loom might fit other units that have more earth points than your model welder.

A proper connecting spade lug would normally never come off a terminal while being transported. They are generally very tight fitting. Test the disconnect pressure of a few of the other spade lugs. Do you think the van journey could make them come loose? I'd be quite surprised.

I might be wrong, but I think that the fault is possibly not this stray earth wire. Especially seeing you cannot locate a terminal that it supposed to connect to.

Use compressed air and a soft brush to blow all dust off everything, do a complete visual inspection of absolutely every other connection, remove and refit every connector plug, etc. Dust tracking on a circuit board might be enough to cause this problem.

Hope this helps some.

Trevor

[Dav0504]

Appreciate the replies guys. The reason I checked the wiring str8 away is because it happened before with a different cable. I'll have another look at it later and check I've got the model right and disconnect and reconnect all the cables. The scenario was, I took the plant out the van, tacked on a couple gate lugs on with stick, moved the plant a couple metres then it stopped working. It was as if the earth clamp was not on. So I took it back to my unit and tried the tig gun in. Same outcome. The fact that a cable was disconnected made me think this was the problem. It's an old plant but it's been good to me over the years so I'd like it going again. Cheers again for replies.

[TRACKRANGER]

Good luck

Keep us in the loop

Trev

[Dav0504]

Kev. You're the man. Got it going. The ground cable had nothing to do with it. The cable that came loose the last time was burnt out at 1 end. A new connector and bam. It worked. Thanks again.

[Dav0504]

And the model is cito arc tax 206. Not much info online about this machine. It is pretty old tho.

[TRACKRANGER]

Kev. You're the man. Got it going. The ground cable had nothing to do with it. The cable that came loose the last time was burnt out at 1 end. A new connector and bam. It worked. Thanks again.

Dave, thanks for the positive feedback, and you better believe I'm more than a bit pleased that my suggestions helped.

Great to know that it wasn't serious, and that it's running again, now go weld something. Ha ha

[Dav0504]

Haha. That was supposed to say trev not kev. Dam predictive txt. I was pulling amp putting back in all the connectors and as soon as I felt that particular one I knew what it was. I'll go weld something now. Lolz