Nervy1543
New Member
- Messages
- 3
- Location
- Ireland
I recently picked up a faulty second hand welder. Its a SIP P214. I wanted to learn how to Tig weld, after spending a couple of months learning how to Mig weld on a cheap Lidl machine. I was also interested in a repair project.
All that the fella selling it said was that it didnt work, but that "everything lit up". He said he had it looked at who said that it was a board that was gone.
To start troubleshooting it, I added a plug, plugged it in. It powered up grand in "mma" mode, nothing seemed strange. Fans spun, amp display lit up and read 0. It came with a ground lead and MIG torch but no ARC leads. However, touching the ground on the anode made a spark, so the ARC might actually be working. Ive ordered an ARC lead so it would be great to have that working alone, if true.
When I flicked the switch to "TIG", I immediately heard the internal spark gap kick in. This happened with or without the torch connected to the anode and the anode control socket. The button on the torch had no effect. The sparking continues for about 10s and then stops until I switch to MMA and back to TIG again.
You can see the sparking below.
My guess is that the welder thinks that the button is continuously pressed. I will check and see if the gas solenoid valve is activating at the same time too to confirm this.
I checked the continuity of the two points in the control lead for the torch and it is turning on and off as expected by the switch.
I dont have any gas to test this properly at the moment, but it looks like I can scratch start a TIG weld with the torch. However, I dont want to keep going as im afraid of burning out the tungsten electrode. I can test that properly when I get some gas and a couple of spare tungsten electrodes.
Opening it up doesnt reveal much. there is no obvious burnt components. My next steps are to test the ARC (mma) welding when I receive the lead, and to remove and inspect the board shown on the bottom left below (the one with the spark gap):
As the wires from the control lead socket terminate at this board, I assume that the issue is with this board. I will check the relays and the continuity of semiconductors for shorts.
SIP do seem to stock replacement boards on their website, but I would like to see if I can find the issue myself first, or at the very least , confirm which board as the issue first.
Would anyone have any other suggestions for troubleshooting it?
Thanks!
All that the fella selling it said was that it didnt work, but that "everything lit up". He said he had it looked at who said that it was a board that was gone.
To start troubleshooting it, I added a plug, plugged it in. It powered up grand in "mma" mode, nothing seemed strange. Fans spun, amp display lit up and read 0. It came with a ground lead and MIG torch but no ARC leads. However, touching the ground on the anode made a spark, so the ARC might actually be working. Ive ordered an ARC lead so it would be great to have that working alone, if true.
When I flicked the switch to "TIG", I immediately heard the internal spark gap kick in. This happened with or without the torch connected to the anode and the anode control socket. The button on the torch had no effect. The sparking continues for about 10s and then stops until I switch to MMA and back to TIG again.
You can see the sparking below.
My guess is that the welder thinks that the button is continuously pressed. I will check and see if the gas solenoid valve is activating at the same time too to confirm this.
I checked the continuity of the two points in the control lead for the torch and it is turning on and off as expected by the switch.
I dont have any gas to test this properly at the moment, but it looks like I can scratch start a TIG weld with the torch. However, I dont want to keep going as im afraid of burning out the tungsten electrode. I can test that properly when I get some gas and a couple of spare tungsten electrodes.
Opening it up doesnt reveal much. there is no obvious burnt components. My next steps are to test the ARC (mma) welding when I receive the lead, and to remove and inspect the board shown on the bottom left below (the one with the spark gap):
As the wires from the control lead socket terminate at this board, I assume that the issue is with this board. I will check the relays and the continuity of semiconductors for shorts.
SIP do seem to stock replacement boards on their website, but I would like to see if I can find the issue myself first, or at the very least , confirm which board as the issue first.
Would anyone have any other suggestions for troubleshooting it?
Thanks!