Snap-on 130 feeding but no weld

[Animal Mother]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this welding lark so please be patient. I've also used the search facility with no luck.

I've been lent a Snap-on turbo 130 to do some work on a motorbike frame, however, I can't get it to work.

I took the trigger apart to clean the contacts and grease the o-rings in the trigger "piston". It now makes good contact and the gas flows and stops as it should. However, when the wire hits metal it doesn't arc.

So far I have:
Cleaned the rollers.
Cleaned the tip.
Removed the gas nozzle to ensure it's not shorting.

All switches seem to work as I hear changes in the welder when I flick the switches.

Does anyone have any pointers?

The wire is a little rusty but I didn't want to start throwing money at it until I know I can get it working. When it works I will get some new wire.

 

[madkayaker]

try pulling off wire till it stops being rusty with rusty wire your going to get no were fast. can you hear the traformer hum when the trigger if pulled?

 

[Animal Mother]

try pulling off wire till it stops being rusty with rusty wire your going to get no were fast. can you hear the traformer hum when the trigger if pulled?

Will do.

I've not noticed a change in tone. I'll have another look.

Out of interest, at what point does the wire get its current feed? Is it at the rollers?

 

[madkayaker]

not sure on that make its normaly noticable the tranformer hum

 

[Animal Mother]

Ok. Nice clean wire. Clean nozzle, clean shroud.

Wire flows lovely but definitely NO change in transformer hum when I press the trigger.

I do hear a relay (or some other switch) trip over when I press the trigger.

 

[madkayaker]

its time to take the side off and check for output voltage so see if there is any life in the tranformer. if there isn't then it could be terminal tranformer or a dead relay

 

[Animal Mother]

its time to take the side off and check for output voltage so see if there is any life in the tranformer. if there isn't then it could be terminal tranformer or a dead relay

Will do. I've got a multimeter. Can you offer a bit of guidance as to how I can do that?

 

[madkayaker]

it might be best to find a mate who can as you will be working around mains voltages and multimeters (especialy cheep diy units) can make a mess of you if they go bang

 

[gavuk]

There is a schematic here....may help?....euro torch conversion

 

[Robotstar5]

Out of interest, at what point does the wire get its current feed? Is it at the rollers?

From the tip in the end of the torch - it's full title is a contact tip

 

[rikrobson]

OK.
if the wire feed rollers are turning then the trigger is working.
the contactor, which controls the welding current should also be heard to close with a loud clunk.
If this is not the n there is more than likely a problem wit the small pcb or a relay on it.

to test

turn power off
disconnect the two wire connector on the side of the pcb.
short the connector with a bit of wire, please bear in mind the will be at 230v.
turn on the power and the contactor should clink in.
you should also get continuity between the two large welding current terminals.
if this is ok and the contactor doesn't clunk with the trigger then the pcb is at fault.
if it does then you will need to test fro 18~30V between the output of the contactor (earth wire) and the torch. you should also get 18~30v before the contactor too

if no volts then a fault in the transformer or choke.

 

[Animal Mother]

From the tip in the end of the torch - it's full title is a contact tip

Thank you. So the whole trigger block goes live then?

 

[Animal Mother]

OK.
if the wire feed rollers are turning then the trigger is working.
the contactor, which controls the welding current should also be heard to close with a loud clunk.
If this is not the n there is more than likely a problem wit the small pcb or a relay on it.

to test

turn power off
disconnect the two wire connector on the side of the pcb.
short the connector with a bit of wire, please bear in mind the will be at 230v.
turn on the power and the contactor should clink in.
you should also get continuity between the two large welding current terminals.
if this is ok and the contactor doesn't clunk with the trigger then the pcb is at fault.
if it does then you will need to test fro 18~30V between the output of the contactor (earth wire) and the torch. you should also get 18~30v before the contactor too

if no volts then a fault in the transformer or choke.

Nice one, thank you.

 

[mike 109444]

As you say you are new to welding so I will ask the obvious. Are you compleating the circuit. Namley the earth lead is connected to the item you are testing on? try a quick weld onto the welders earth lead (big crock lead, not one inside m/c) could be you even have a duff earth lead. And welcome to the forum

 

[Animal Mother]

As you say you are new to welding so I will ask the obvious. Are you compleating the circuit. Namley the earth lead is connected to the item you are testing on? try a quick weld onto the welders earth lead (big crock lead, not one inside m/c) could be you even have a duff earth lead. And welcome to the forum

Yep, doing that. I'll check to see if the earth cable is in fact earthing.

 

[cazl1994]

not to insult you or anything have you got the earth wire on the work??
because i've done it before fiddling with all the controls to try and get it to work and then 15 mins later notice that i haven't got the earthlead on felt such a plonker!!

 

[rikrobson]

just try to arc against the earth croc clip. if that fails its a fault in the welder. if it works then clamp it to some metal and weld to the metal. it sould work..you then will need to check what yuo were doing wrong in the 1st place.

 

[Animal Mother]

Yep. Always had the earth clamp on the work. Yes, the work is bare metal. Yes, I've tried against the earth clamp.

 

[Animal Mother]

Ok, quick update.

Did a continuity test on the earth cable. All ok.

Decided to give everything a check over and a clean with contact spray. However, I gave one bit a little spray and it fell apart.

What is this? Would it stop the welder working completely?

 

[rikrobson]

That's the thermal cut-out switch. Shouldn't stop the welder working. it is designed to go open circuit on the feed to the max/min switch effectively cutting power to the welder, but allowing the fan to continue to cool. if you want to run without it you should join the two wires together.

You are getting the wire feeding, which is off the LT side of the transformer and after the rectifier so the should be ok.

Test it with a meter and it should conduct.

Remember if you run without it and do a lot of heavy welding you run the risk of over heating the unit.

just follow the diags i gave the other day and you should trace the fault.