smoking 90EN!

[novaweld]

Was doing some repair work to a freinds nova on sunday, and noticed that my 1 year-old, 18hours used 90EN seemed to be losing power. Turned around and saw a whiff of smoke coming out of the back of the welder!

I let it cool down for a bit before dong some more plug welds, I only did 5 or 6 and the power seemed to go again, with another gentle whisp of smoke at the rear of the welder.

Admittidly I was running it at max 2 settings with 0.8mm wire, but that's never troubled it before, even on repeated 6"long butt welds.

So, do I open her up and add a fan or two, or take it back to MM for replacement? It's not going to be needed again untill august, so I can live without it for a while.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Hmmm, sounds familiar! When my Butters mig did that it had blown a capacitor and the smoke was the electrolyte. If it's under warranty then take it back to MM but if it's a year old and out of warranty then open it up and you should see what's overheated. It's not worth carrying on using it if there's a problem, it'll only end up doing more damage. Parts should be easily available, they're common machines.

 

[novaweld]

Hmm, didn't get the smell from it that i'd normally associate with a cap blowing.

Think I'll look into the warranty situation, it might be just over a year since I bought it but it's barely been used, even the box looks almost new!

 

[steve nunn]

When you open it up, have a really good look around.

If you cant see any thing that looks burnt, weld some metal with it until it starts to smoke then have a look. Whatever damage has been done, is done, wozza s right tho its not worth using cos the problem will only get worse until it catches fire.

If it has a fan in it, you might have to disconnect the fan to be able to see where the smoke is coming from.

With a bit of luck itll just be the smoking component that is damaged and you may get away with just changing that.

If your unlucky, the smoking component is smoking because something else has gone that isnt obvious

good luck

 

[novaweld]

Well just recieved this from machine mart technical support after e-mailing them about it,

Thank you for your email sorry to here that you have been experiencing problems with your Mig welder.

You have an earth return problem however due to the nature of fault please feel free to contact me on 0871 410 1260 or email me your contact telephone number.

Anyone heard of this fault before, I hate calling 08 numbers and I normally get charged stupidly even when one rings me.

 

[steve nunn]

Depends what he is talking about, Ill assume its the obvious.

The earth return in this case os most likely the main aearth cable that he is talking about (or what it is connected to). Check the clamp, the cable, take the cover off and check the connections inside the welder where the earth cable connects inside.

Check all the connections inside the welder and follow the earth cable through the box to the transformer checking it all.

Youre looking for things loose, cracked, snapped, including the cable itself (although thats unlikely).

But earth return could mean a similar fault on the circuit board or anywhere else in the welder and may not be on the cable conections.

Otherwise ring them, or get them to ring you back, which they look as though they would do, sounds like its a fault they have had before so they will probably tell exactely where to look for the fault.

Good luck

steve

 

[novaweld]

UPDATE:

Had to patch up the exhaust on my vectra last week, the little 90 managed to blow through the fresh 1mm steel with ease, and no sign of any smoke!

Welded a full front panel into a mates car on sunday with no sign of any smoke too, though the overheat protection did cut in once.

Must have been the extra extension leads we were using before.