What causes this to happen?

[salvageclaus]

My 3 month old Hobart 110V machine started doing something baaaaaaadd today.
Out of the blue, when I touch the wire extending from the torch to the grounded workpiece it flashes and destroys the wire up to the tip. This is without even pulling the trigger on the torch. I replace the tip and cleaned the nozzel, it seemed to not do it for a tack or two then went right back to doing it.

Some symptoms:
The arc from the wire is not as brite as if I was welding

It caused the wire to just disappear

I havent changed anything. I am only 1/2 way through my second 2# roll of .30 flux core ever ran through the machine.

It did it before and after I changed the tip and cleaned the nozzel.

It did it on power setting 1 and 2 ( I never tried higher because of what I was working on)

Machine is only 90 days old, wire is new, clean and dry.

Hobart Handler series 110 Volt (not running gas)


Any suggestions please?

[hankj]

It's normal for a small arc to occur if you touch the wire to the work within a short period after you've finished welding. It's just the capacitor discharge from the output filter. BUT it should certainly not be sufficient to blow away the wire!

Do you have any test eqquipment? If you have a voltmeter, try measuring the voltage from the wire to the workpiece after you finish a tack, with the machine on. It should read initialy, and decline rapidly to zero. In fact, if your meter is not sensitive enough, it will read zero, period. Anything else is a problem, but I'm at a los as to what it may be.

For sure, call Hobart customer service on Tuesday. They'll get it figured out real quick.

Hank

[Goldcan]

And not to be a ****, but learn to know where your wire is going without it having to touch the work piece.

[Pipefitz]

And not to be a ****, but learn to know where your wire is going without it having to touch the work piece.

Welcome to the board. Thanks for sharing your words of wisdom with us.

[AZCoyote]

And not to be a ****, but learn to know where your wire is going without it having to touch the work piece.

Yah, that really helps the guy with his problem.

[Goldcan]

Hey, come on.

You guys were babied through your teachings? I learned the "correct way" (wire clippers and $hit like that) before I learned the quick way (snap it off on the ground and go with it). Can't baby a person dealing with molten metal.

But of course I wouldn't be above helping them.

[storts]

And not to be a ****, but learn to know where your wire is going without it having to touch the work piece.

Do you have a brother that his first intial beginges with a M????????????????

[TOMWELDS]

Dude, you're worse than me!!.......LOL

[Goldcan]

see the grin Storts, little lost on the meaning, clue me in or continue to laugh at me, either way is cool.

[salvageclaus]

And not to be a ****, but learn to know where your wire is going without it having to touch the work piece.

A little late for that .

Thanks for the advice. You know I started this thread so that people would be critical of my welding habits, and not to find information about an equipment malfunction, or did I?

[Terry Lingle]

Just ignore them your question is fine and you are on the correct forum to get it answered
A Hobart expert will post in on Tues as Mon is a holiday in the states.


Goldcan perhaps you should read the header on this board it's primary purpose is to help hobarts customers with machine and welding issues that they have. That they allow us to use the bandwidth as we see fit is a boon and you should respect it not use it as a club.

I always remember that the only dumb legitimate question is the one that you did not ask.
The only way to learn is to get as much information as you can then ask about things that you do not understand.

Rant in general not aimed at anyone in particular
Anyone that thinks a question is dumb or unnessesary can ignore it.
In fact just the act of posting causes every one that reads your post to modify their opinion of you based on the quality of each post so it is best to think before you whip out your dull razor wit and cut your own throat with it.
Rant over
Terry

[James D. Clark]

I have to agree with Terry on the extra-curricular comments. That thing about a brother with first initial beginning with M?????? is one of those things that you had to "be there." Or boys will be boys.

Back to your problem, I would experiment with some scrap material, using all the machine settings, to see if the problem stays the same and is consistant. I'm no expert but it sounds as if the power to the gun is not switching off when the trigger is off but the wire feed does switch off. I would take a couple of feet of welding wire and connect one end to the ground clamp and touch the other end to the contact tip. Wear your gloves and hold the wire with pliers. If it gets hot there is a problem. One of the Hobart guys will have a solution PDQ.

[Mike W]

salvageclaus, my Hobart (different machine) has a bleeder resistor that is connected across the power supply capacitors to discharge them when you release the trigger. My guess is that yours went open. If I run a bead and then very quickly touch the wire to the work, I will get a slight spark because the capacitors are not fully discharged yet. With the resistor open there is probably plenty of power available to do what you are describing.

[hankj]

Goldcan,

I don't understand your post. Salvageclaus's problem is not that he doesn't understand where the wire is going - it's not going ANYWHERE when his problem occurs. The short-arc process is to place the wire tip on the weldment where you want to start the bead and pull the trigger. He can't do that because he has a power supply problem that is not bleeding his filter capacitors. I can't see too many places for the wire to be going anyway. It is a "one way ticket".

Hank

[Zrexxer]

I'm not sure about this bleeding capacitors deal, but what it sounds like to me is that the machine's contactor is sticking and the wire is electrically hot without pulling the trigger. Especially given the intermittent nature of the problem.