Welding Tips and Tricks

So I'm working on my latest project in my garage and out of no where my welder stopped welding.

I'm running a Lincoln Electric 180.
The machine is only 2 years old and has been subjected to only light at home hobby projects.
While working on my latest project I had been making sporadic 1 inch welds on 1X1X1/8 box tube over the course of a couple hours. Nothing really heavy duty.
I went to lay a corner bead when the machine stopped working. Pull the trigger, the wire doesn't advance, gas does not appear to be flowing, the fan is still on.
I checked the breaker, it didn't flip. I know this machine has a thermal over-ride so I shut everything down and walked away from the project for several hours. I went back later this evening to check again and nothing.
Any ideas what would cause this?

Hey,

Hopefully there might be a fuse inside that's blown. Lincoln have very good tech support, so give them a ring. ( check to see if your gun control wires are still plugged in first).

Mick

Unfortunately no fuse. There is a circuit breaker button on the back but that's not the problem.

Checked the trigger plug a few times and everything is connected.

I'm going to take the unit into the local Lincoln service shop to have it looked at.

The shop tech explained that it's either in the gun or the machine. The machine has a three year warranty, the gun is only covered for 90 days. A replacement gun is $230

I will be very disappointed in Lincoln if I have to drop $230 on an overpriced replacement part for a well cared for lightly used machine that I've had for less than 2 years.

I would check the trigger switch wires with an ohm meter and make sure that's working before dropping that kind of cash on a new gun.

I have a Lincoln WeldPak HD, a little flux core machine. I use it for a lot of exhaust repairs, so a ton of short welds.
Mine started acting up so I took the gun apart and the switch was all corroded/ dirty. Just cleaned all the contacts/connections with 400-800 grit sandpaper, wipe with acetone, then a thin coating of dielectric grease. So far mine works fine now.

Jumper the trigger wires with a piece of welding wire and see what happens. If it works, the trigger wires on your gun are bad or the trigger itself.

If you DO have to replace the gun, you can get a different brand for alot cheaper. I have one of these flex neck guns, it fits the machine's plugs just fine, and the gun is easy to use.

http://www.usaweld.com/Flexible-Swan-Ne ... eckmig.htm

Its a process of elimination , test the trigger in the gun with a meter , check the connection to the welder ,try shorting the pins associated with the trigger at the welder, open up the welder look for anything obvious- loose connections, this machine has a circuit board that controls everything.