maxarc problem

[Shiro]

A bloke I (kind) of know is selling a Maxarc oil filled welder he says he has been trying to "configure the bus bars " to get it to work. Has anyone any idea how to do this, and is it worth the effort?

 

[Hitch]

Hes probably talking about the jumpers that can be used to change the input voltages, nice and simple if you have the diagram, often etched/printed inside the cover. If thats the case, it should only take 10 mins to sort.

 

[eil]

Picked this sorry looking thing up today for the grand sum of one whole english pound, took it home and cleaned the crap off it.




It was wired up like this

Changed it around a bit thanks to stevep`s post in the for sale section and then had a go on it, jobs a good un.

 

[simon718]

you jammy git eil

 

[Jay]

despite what the reps say those oil filled machines take all the abuse in the world and will go on forever!!!

 

[eil]

Aye nothing like that ever happens to me normally its the ones like the bearded Latin fella from chester that gets these, it had a starting price of 99p and a buy now of a pound, i thought to me self whats occurring here, the seller was a Blacksmith he said and his buzzbox was good enough for him, he didn't want it going in the scrap!!.

 

[Shiro]

That’s the one I was talking about, I bought it when he first listed it thinking he had made a mistake (I know him from another forum) and mailed him to let him know, but it turned out to be the right price so he relisted it after I said I wasn’t really interested in driving all that way for a welder that didn’t work, I’m kicking myself now Still when I tell him he'll be kicking himself even harder

 

[eil]

What do you mean he`s sold it cheap?. Wonder if its the guy who sold me this one because I think he didn't know how to wire it up. I wouldn't have known either except for stevep`s post as this one descent have that info on it. Shows how usefull this forum is

 

[Shiro]

What do you mean he`s sold it cheap?. Wonder if its the guy who sold me this one because I think he didn't know how to wire it up. I wouldn't have known either except for stevep`s post as this one descent have that info on it. Shows how usefull this forum is

Yep it's the same chap, same welder he was asking how to wire it up on another forum a while ago, he could never get more than half power out of it.

 

[eil]

I did try it wired up the way it was, and it was obviously not right, but now its working great.

 

[Weldingartisan]

Yep, if it was wired on the 415v primary, 230v will only give about half power and be almost impossible to use. W/A

 

[tony h 1515]

same welder different issue

Hi Ive just bought a max arc welder oil cooled. I had the same trouble with the power supply and have followed the advice here. My problem is although the plant now has full power it fades away after a few seconds right down to next to nothing! Any advice on what the problem may be ? Ive already checked oil levels which seem to be fine ! Thanks from a newbie !!

 

[decepticon]

seems odd, when you turn it up and start welding at 100 amps on the dial, after you weld and it fades down, does it still read 100 amps?
on my oil cooled some times when welding i hear a 'shunt' and the windings inside move a bit (depending on if you have just turned amps up or down). sounds like the moving part of the windings could be on the move somehow.
open the machine up and suspend the windings so you can see what is going on, get someone to run a rod and observe.
warning, inside of your welder may contain electricity which is harmful to your health

 

[tony h 1515]

Hi thanks for the reply, the dial does not move at all in fact its quite heavy to wind? But were running it on 240 single phase and without the diagram my mate the spark is unsure how wire it for 415 3phase but he feels this might be the issue . Any ideas ? Tony H

 

[tony h 1515]

or how do we identify the 415 primary for wiring ? Even my spark is confused lol

 

[keith19]

Tony, have you checked out this post below:

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=14528&page=2

If the connectors in yours are marked so he can refer to the numbers, it may give your sparks a bit of help.

 

[tony h 1515]

Hi Keith, thanks for the advice unfortunately were still no further forward the spark still is unsure how to wire the machine to 3 phases or 2 of 3 as the post suggested. Hes been drawing me wee pictures of how phases work but not much help. If anyone has a picture or wiring diagram of how to wire the machine please post, oh and typically were trying to burn lo hi rodss which may be part of the problem seemingly ! lol Cheers for the help so far. Tony H

 

[shenion]

It is a single phase machine that can operate at 190-430V depending on taps an buss bar setups.

It would be jumpered for 415V and operate off 2 of 3 phases.

 

[keith19]

Scott, I figure you're dead right.
Especially if Tony's machine connectors look the same as in that link. The plate specifies only two input wires (L1 and L2) and earth. So every other link combination must be for different input voltage from single phase.

Tony, I would double check the markings on the connectors; there's two ways around that you can link those connectors if the markings aren't legible, and only one way is correct. Looks like the wire can come in from either side.

If you have got L1 linked to D and L2 linked to C as for 240V single phase, as suggested by the plate, the machine should run. If she is still cutting out when you try to weld, it looks like something may be wrong internally.

Worth double-checking...

 

[tony h 1515]

still not having much joy here guys if anyone has a machine like this wired propery and would be willing to take a pic of it for me it would be a massive help!! Spark thinks were all winding him up !! lol thanks again for all the advice folks ! Tony H