Eland 130 Problem

[Torchy]

Hi I have an Eland 130 MIG which is a real solid box but around 20 years old, but recently have had a problem which is something like low power when welding. It is like welding with the gas off. It splatters a lot when this fault appears and the weld seems porous ( loads of tiny pin holes) with thin looking poor quality welds. I had this a couple of weeks back, then it seemed OK after, so I blamed my technique and the work not being clean enough but it has come back. I've cleaned all clamp connections and checked for any loose connections, but still no joy.

Any ideas please???

thanks

 

[Wedg1e]

It's not just that your gas bottle is getting low or the regulator/flowmeter is turned down? Works fine when you first press the trigger then tails off? I've seen a similar symptom where the gas pressure drops so low it can't keep up with the demand so you get, in effect, gas-free welding.
Kinked gas hose might do the same thing.
Can you hear gas flowing all the time? Turn wirespeed to minimum and listen to the torch while you trigger up.

 

[Torchy]

Hi Wedg1e

thanks for your reply.

Yes I have checked gas and can hear a nice constant hiss from the gun. The wire speed also seems steady and responds to speed control. I have stripped , cleaned and checked all connections inside and out today. I did find that the tip was loose so I tightened this but did not cure it! The only other thing I noticed was on other voltage settings 4/5/6 it does seem to really blast, but it is on 3 which is my normal setting for sheet metal where I get this problem but then after turning the control back to 3 it seemed to give a nice crackle and a really good penetrating weld again so wondered if it could be the voltage setting switch- do these go down??? Inside there was a bank of 6 huge capacitors with screw connections onto an alluminium plate-not sure what these do but just one of the capacitors had a very small hole in the cardboard top cover and what looked like a tiny bit if white powder around it, but not sure if this would cause this as don't know what the heck they do anyway so none the wiser!!

Any further help/ideas you might have mch appreciated

 

[Wedg1e]

Yes, it could certainly be a poor connection through the switch. Might be worth squirting it full of Servisol contact cleaner (not WD40, god knows why people suggest a petroleum-based water repellant as a switch cleaner) and rapidly working the switch back and forth through al its positions. Just find a suitable point of entry for the nozzle and squirt till it drips!
Depending on the switch you could also make sure all the screw connections are tight; if you get a recurring problem you may have to opt for a new switch in which case you might be surprised how expensive they can be!

The capacitors have vents in to release pressure if they get hot, that's probably what you can see.

 

[Torchy]

My MIGS just a sparkler!

Hi folks

My Eland 130 MIG has slowly lost output over the past week and despite my attempts to solve the mystery I cannot visibly see anything wrong.

I have checked the voltage today on the 6 different output settings which range steadily up from 20 volts to 32 volts. Have stripped and checked all connections, dismantled and cleaned the earth clamp, checked wire feed and speed (okay) and gas. On number 1 setting I get something resembling a sparkler and on 6 I could possibly weld sheet metal where this would normally blow a hole straight through it.

I suspect the transformer as it is across all settings, but is there any way I can test this with a multimeter?? Any other diagnosis/ideas welcome!!

 

[the snooper]

have you checked any crimped connections as these do fail ie earth to transformer and so on just because they are physically good doesnt mean they will conduct

 

[Torchy]

My MIGS just a sparkler!

Hi and thanks Snooper

Good idea- I will check all these today. This morning I tried the machine again and it was much better than yesterday evening?? so I'm baffled

Am I right in believing once the transformer is duff its duff end of story, or can they develop intermittent loss of power?

I notice on the forum a lot of guys talk about diode packs going down, but all I can find on my machine is a bank of 6 huge what look like capacitors working in series by the looks of things. Would these be doing a similar job??

thanks for your advice and I'll test out thoise connections today

 

[Torchy]

RESOLVED! Eland 130 low power problem /spattering

thanks to Snooper and in particular Wedg1e. Spot on diagnosis! There were two problems with the gas feed, and although there was a decent audible hiss at the gun the flow obviously wasn't enough to keep pace when actually welding.

1. Where the plastic gas feed tube from the regulator passes through a grommet in the frame en-route to the valve, that small section had discoloured, hardened and reduced in diameter slightly though the rest of he tubing was perfect -fortunately there was enough slack to cut this off and refit to valve inlet.

2. While fiddling around trying to push the tube onto the valve a large thumbscrew fell off the back of the valve and with it the wired electromagnetic half of the valve block solenoid. Figured it must've been loose for some time so refitted/tightened it and it worked fine - so looks like its back to work!!

Forgotten what I was welding up now.....

thanks guys