tweco welder problems, anyone have any ideas?

[Autism Family Travels]

I have a tweco fabricator 141i, we were using it last night to weld on a couple of washers onto a chassis and stopped for a minute. When we went back to start welding again, no output. The device would turn on but would not weld.

Any ideas?

 

[M Rose]

I have a tweco fabricator 141i, we were using it last night to weld on a couple of washers onto a chassis and stopped for a minute. When we went back to start welding again, no output. The device would turn on but would not weld.

Any ideas?

Go try it again. You probably hit the duty cycle limit and the machine needed to cool back down.

 

[jeepers29]

Maybe the wire broke or ran out?

 

[Autism Family Travels]

No. New spool. I will take out the wire and feed it through again.

 

[M Rose]

Does the Tweeko have any built in circuit breakers that could have been tripped and need to be manually reset? Have you tried changing outlets?

 

[PNW EXPLR]

This is interesting......
What process were you using it for?
I am gunna guess Mig....

I assume you have tried switching processes and still nothing?

Have you done a reset to default settings?

 

[Autism Family Travels]

I have not done a reset yet. I am going to call the company to get some ideas as well. I have to see if there is a process to a reset of the machine. It was MIG. I was trying stick first but the rods I had were junk so I went and bought a roll of flux core to run though it. Thanks for the idea about the reset.

 

[PNW EXPLR]

I have not done a reset yet. I am going to call the company to get some ideas as well. I have to see if there is a process to a reset of the machine. It was MIG. I was trying stick first but the rods I had were junk so I went and bought a roll of flux core to run though it. Thanks for the idea about the reset.

So is it dead on stick , smaw , as well? Or just mig?

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Do you know what? I never tried stick again. I will do that after dinner! opps!

 

[PNW EXPLR]

Do you know what? I never tried stick again. I will do that after dinner! opps!

If it works in stick and tig modes it may be a bad trigger switch on the mig gun.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

OK, we pulled it apart and did all the tests from the service manual. Everything came back in working order. We then proceeded to test MIG again. And.... Low and behold its working. Contrary to popular belief from esab and the guy who was using the machine at the time, you DO need to pull the trigger to arc. I was asking him he said no its just for wire feed. Doh. I never used it before so I would not know. Now it's time to get a spool, gas and some material and practice and build some stuff. Thanks for the help.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

A little update on this welder. My wood fired furnace in my shop had two cracks in the fire box. I decided to peel the skin off and fix it up. Welded both up and are now airtight again. I love this little welder. It's now under the esrb brand. I am ordering the tig footpedal setup and spool so I can start welding aluminum. I need to get the gas setup as well. For now I am using fluxcore wire which, from what I read creates more splatter and not as clean a weld. Just an update on this awesome tool!

 

[grubworm]

A little update on this welder. My wood fired furnace in my shop had two cracks in the fire box. I decided to peel the skin off and fix it up. Welded both up and are now airtight again. I love this little welder. It's now under the esrb brand. I am ordering the tig footpedal setup and spool so I can start welding aluminum. I need to get the gas setup as well. For now I am using fluxcore wire which, from what I read creates more splatter and not as clean a weld. Just an update on this awesome tool!

i use fluxcore and it does splatter, but if i prep everything really good and dial in my amp/speed just right, i get decent results on 5/16" material and thinner. it didnt do as well on 3/8", so i guess if i was doing more of that, i would try using gas. most of my welding isnt structural, so fluxcore is fine and the money i save on gas i can use on extra grinding discs

 

[Autism Family Travels]

i use fluxcore and it does splatter, but if i prep everything really good and dial in my amp/speed just right, i get decent results on 5/16" material and thinner. it didnt do as well on 3/8", so i guess if i was doing more of that, i would try using gas. most of my welding isnt structural, so fluxcore is fine and the money i save on gas i can use on extra grinding discs

For sure, the grinder. A welders best friend. I don't mind paying for the gas etc, I just haven't had a chance to set everything up. After christmas I am going to pick up a welding table, the gas and tank, some materials and see what I can do. I am also getting the tig gun and spool set up as well. Might as well go into it two feet!

 

[Autism Family Travels]

I noticed I had a spot in my vision after I was done welding, for a few min...is that normal? This is my welding helmet.

Firepower Piston & Plug Auto-Darkening Welding Helmet | (esab-wp-firepower.azurewebsites.net)

 

[Offroadtb]

I am a welder full
Time, and no that is not good. Turn your shade up. If your doing a mig process then you need to be running at least shade 11. I wear shade 1 safety glasses and run my shield at 12. This gives me good protection.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Rookie here, I was trying to see the stuff being welded as well so I had it turned down to 9. THanks for the tip.

 

[Offroadtb]

Yeah dude, you’ll burn your eyes out really fast... get a paint scraper, splatter spray, and nozzle Gel and it’ll make your clean up helluva lot easier

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Thanks for the tips! I will turn my helmet to 11 asap!

 

[Vinman]

A little update on this welder. My wood fired furnace in my shop had two cracks in the fire box. I decided to peel the skin off and fix it up. Welded both up and are now airtight again. I love this little welder. It's now under the esrb brand. I am ordering the tig footpedal setup and spool so I can start welding aluminum. I need to get the gas setup as well. For now I am using fluxcore wire which, from what I read creates more splatter and not as clean a weld. Just an update on this awesome tool!

Are you sure that machine can tig weld aluminum? I have the Tweco 211i and while it is capable of mig, tig and stick welding it cannot tig aluminum. My understanding is there is no machine that can mig weld steel and tig weld aluminum.