Spark Gap Contacts

[everlastsupport]

Or they do their welding on the weekends. We weld 7 days a week. Some only weld on weekends.

I have a bunch of old green tip tungsten I will cut up for point if mine ever go Only use I have left for them other than one I sharpened for a scribe.

[watercooler]

I have a 200DX newer version and was having arc problems at first and after opening the machine and closed up the arc a little bit(I never measured any thing)I then found out that it was my foot pedal that was bad and so my thought was if I have a closer gap,lets say than normal will this affect my machine over time and what the difference between and wider and a closer gap?

[Paul Moir]

You're tuning a circuit by adjusting the spark gap. At the optimal setting, you'll get the highest HF voltage and the highest "HF spark production rate" for lack of a better term. If sub optimal, I cannot imagine any long term hardship on the machine. If very wide, I suppose you could have some very high voltages being produced which might cause arcing over to nearby components.

I'm glad to hear about the transition to solid-state gaps, it should help solve some gap related issues. I wonder if it'll help with noise from the welder or is that pretty much all coming from the welding start arc? (I have a thermometer which crashes because of the welder, even 20' away.)

[Ron66]

It's been a year since I adjusted my spark gap and I haven't had any problems since so I gave up on this idea. It should be cooling down soon so I can get back in the garage and start my welding projects again. We'll see if the tig fires up without problems again.

[srp]

If I weld 8 hours with the Syncrowave 250 on AC, the high frequency is on for 8 hours. If I weld 8 hours on the 250EX, the high frequency is on total of about 4 minutes. That is why the newer welders can have a light weight points setup and still be dependable.

[damilfman]

Hello all...

Been on the forums now as a guest for quite sometime. Hopefully this is the right thread to post my problem. Anyways after purchasing a few Everlast from Oleg with no problems I ran into my first hiccup the other day. I recently purchased ( a week ago) the Power I-tig 200 and finally got around to setting the unit up on Friday night. The box was in greats shape and everything packaged neatly inside. Went to go lightup with HF and no arc. I could hear the gas valve kick in obviously with some pre-flow added. I tried using the unit with both pedal and torch switch. And also in 2t/4t postions. Again no HF start. I flip the switch to lift arc and no problems lighting up. Arc is pretty damn smooth. Although one thing I did notice in HF mode I could get a arc started by using a lift arc technique. Anyways I opened the covered up checked the HF contact points with a feeler as most did with HF start problems. Gap was misaligned a tad and I thought by re-aligning and setting the .30 gap would fix my issue. It didn't unfortunately. I was frustrated since it was a Friday night and no tech support available on weekends. Anyways else out there encouter this problem??? I'll be calling Ray on Monday.

[performance]

Can you see the arc when you press the trigger? I mean do you see the bright blue light coming from the vent in front of the welder, or do you hear a soft buzzing sound when you hit the trigger or the pedal? You should. If not, then you need to check for loose wires going and coming from the HF...otherwise it will probably be a bad HF board, which is extremely rare for this unit.

[damilfman]

Can you see the arc when you press the trigger? I mean do you see the bright blue light coming from the vent in front of the welder, or do you hear a soft buzzing sound when you hit the trigger or the pedal? You should. If not, then you need to check for loose wires going and coming from the HF...otherwise it will probably be a bad HF board, which is extremely rare for this unit.

no bright blue light when I hit the trigger or pedal. I also did check all the wires surrounding the HF board. Everything looks tidy and connected. I should hear the HF contacts do a check fire ( like a short zap) when the unit is turned on correct? I know my 250 ex makes that sounds.

one other note...i did notice all the rocker switches behind the main panel have connectors going to the terminals except the HF/lift arc switch. It has the wires directly soldered onto the terminals.

[damilfman]

well just to update...

spoke with Mark on Monday and it seems to be a bad HF board. That or the board isn't getting power. Either way he said he can replace the unit which is fine by me. I really didn't feel like disassembling anything. Anyways new one is on the way...just being patient now.