My Hobart Tig top has arrived - some advice please

[Tiggy_dorset]

Following on from one of my previous threads http://mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=35111 I wish to pick some brains from all you lovely knowledgable people out there

I missed out on the first one, so I waited for another to come up for auction. I managed to win this for £75.

I wish to use this with my Clarke inverter.


It has a switch with the option of MMA or TIG. On my Clarke invertor, to change between tig and mma simply involves connecting the correct leads to the correct poles. Would the importance of the switch on the Hobart simply be to activate/deactivate the HF and gas solenoid?

Below is a pic of the rear panel. I am interested what the 'power' socket is for. Does the unit need its own power supply as well as being connected to my invertor? Is the 'remote' socket for use with a foot pedal? If so, is it the foot pedal that needs its own power supply? A little confused here




Any clues of how to set this up will be great.

Cheers guys/gals

 

[Tractor Man]

I think the best way to start is to take the lid off the tig box and see whats going on it there - then you can see where the power socket is connected to.

If there is a tap on the main + and - welding current inputs then you should be fine as thats where the box will get its power!

However I am a little concerned that the 'power' and 'remote' sockets are designed to be connected to a specific hobart machine (big and 3 phase) and the remote actually controls this machine - e.g. the slope control controls the amps of this machine and therefore will not be usable with your inverter. If this is the case then you may have a problem...

Maybe a first port of call would be to post some pictures of the innards of the tig box so we have a little more to go on?

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

I think the best way to start is to take the lid off the tig box and see whats going on it there - then you can see where the power socket is connected to.

If there is a tap on the main + and - welding current inputs then you should be fine as thats where the box will get its power!

However I am a little concerned that the 'power' and 'remote' sockets are designed to be connected to a specific hobart machine (big and 3 phase) and the remote actually controls this machine - e.g. the slope control controls the amps of this machine and therefore will not be usable with your inverter. If this is the case then you may have a problem...

Maybe a first port of call would be to post some pictures of the innards of the tig box so we have a little more to go on?

The description from the seller is as follows:
Tig Top Add on boxes run off the arc voltage of a DC power source (MMA, Invertor or Engine Driven welders) and transforms it into a TIG Welder.

This would suggest that it is possible with my inverter. If it is only compatible with a Hobart setup, it will be a misleading description. It is still possible that the panel in question is only compatible with a Hobart, as the panel wasnt mentioned in the description. As long as the HF and gas solenoid works with my inverter, I am still happy.

 

[hotrodder]

The power source socket will be an input from the remote socket of the DC power source i.e. the welder*. The TIG/MMA switch will indeed be about HF and the gas solenoid. No idea if it'll be happy connected to your Clarke inverter but the remote/slope won't work as it needs to be able to 'talk' to the welding power source to vary welding current.


*think engine drive with miles of cable to save having to go for walk after putting in the root pass

 

[Tractor Man]

As you say it may only be the rear pannel that interfaces with the original hobart machine - if you don't need the slope control then hopefully this shouldn't be a problem!

Have you got a tig torch and leads for the unit as it shouldn't do any harm to connect up the + and - outputs from the inverter to the + and - inputs on the back of the tig box. Then just connect up the tig torch to the connector on the front of the box (I assume the switch for the torch connects in to the connector below the switch logo?). Then power up the inverter and see if any of the lights come on on the tig box and and the gas solenoid can be heard clicking when the torch trigger is pressed. To test the hf - with the trigger pressed and the tungsten close to a grounded piece of metal, see if you get an hf spark!

If nothing appears to happen then you will need to open up the tig box and investiagte - you may need to wire in an auxilariy power supply or overide some of the boxes features that could be linked to the orginal machine it was designed to be used with!

Good luck!

 

[jonnyBMX]

could that power socket be for a watercooler? my TIG has an output very similar that is for the watercooler

 

[julieanncharters]

seems like a load of hassle when a bit of extra cash would prob buy you a known used brand of dc tig welder on flea bay.
i can understand the logic if your power supply were bigger .
strange there's no information with it to give a few pointers.
hope it works out for you.

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

could that power socket be for a watercooler? my TIG has an output very similar that is for the watercooler

I have no idea


Gonna get me a torch and some leads, test it out and see what blows up

I'll let you know my results in a couple of weeks once I have sorted my credit card bill

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

seems like a load of hassle when a bit of extra cash would prob buy you a known used brand of dc tig welder on flea bay.
i can understand the logic if your power supply were bigger .
strange there's no information with it to give a few pointers.
hope it works out for you.

Yes i supose it might be, but.....its a project, money is a little tight at the moment, also my tig welder was bought for me a couple years ago, so did'nt cost me nowt

 

[ChrisJohnsSculpture]

The remote socket it the same type of connector which either the torch switch or the foot pedal connects to on a normal TIG welder. The power source is the male version of the same so it seems logical that it's for controlling/switching something.

Logic would suggest that it would be the power supply as the box has a slope function and it's hard to imagine what else it could be for.

The odd thing is that I would have though that the idea was to convert a stick welder to tig and a stick welder is unlikely to have that sort of switch input.

Some TIG welders do have power out sockets for water cooler but they are a bit more chunky than that and water cooler don;t really need much switching, they're either on or off.

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

I do also wonder if these units originally for Hobart machines are faulty, ie. the slope function and rear panel do not work. Rather than scrapping the whole unit, they could still be sold and described as a HF/Tig addon for other DC invertors (and probably work for that purpose) therefore making some money back on them.

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

Just an update and some possible advice...

I have made up the patch cables and gas fittings to link my inverter to the tig add-on. I have also connected a push button switch in the switch socket on the front. I decided to fire it up tonight.

It still seems to operate as 'scratch start'. With the switch set on number 2 (I assumed was the tig setting) I get no gas but arc still starts by scratch. With the switch on number 1 (I thought was for MMA, but seems I was incorrect) I get the gas flowing (when i press the switch) which switches off after a post flow period, which is great. I get an arc, but again only by scratch method.

Out of interest, I crossed the cables from my inverter + to -, and - to +. This lights up the light next to the MMA symbol on the front and I get no reaction from pressing the button, so pressumingly MMA works this way.

I can hear a large relay click on and off when pressing the button which seems fine, but when holding the button down I can hear in the backround something going tap tap tap tap continuously.

At this point in time, my original setup has improved slightly by having a large remote operated gas solenoid and a built in flow meter. It would be nice to have HF working though.
Does anybody have any thought or ideas on this? Pictures of the front and rear of the machine can be found earlier in the thread.

Cheers.

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

Just another thought....

The seller I bought the unit from has changed the description of their other units without mentioning the HF, although in a message to me he did state it had HF. If I opened the unit, what would I be looking for to indicate that it does have a HF system?