Welder broken?

Wrenching and Technical Information

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Jwlman
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Welder broken?

Post by Jwlman »

I have a hobart 175 mig welder and it started recently having problems. It will only weld well for the first second or two then starts acting like it is not getting good contact with the metal and it welds come out like I am welding on dirty steel. It seems to be getting worse every time I use it even though I have made sure to clean the steel very well and have plenty of gas flow.

Any thoughts?
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BadAssEddie
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Post by BadAssEddie »

Ive had a similar problem before, my wire was corroded...

Also maybe you have a bad connection in the welder.
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zach119
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Post by zach119 »

Bad ground would be my guess
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Jwlman
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Post by Jwlman »

I had harbor freight wire in it and switched to hobart wire but no improvement.

It was grounded to a clean area on the steel but the ground clamp is the original so I might need to replace it
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Arya Ebrahimi
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Post by Arya Ebrahimi »

Check and see if your stinger is fully seated in the machine. I had the gun pull out a bit on my Miller and it caused really shitty welds intermittently.
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Fonger
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Post by Fonger »

Don't mean to sound like a jerk here, but is the gas turned on?
I feel like a hundred bucks...
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Jwlman
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Post by Jwlman »

Arya Ebrahimi wrote:Check and see if your stinger is fully seated in the machine. I had the gun pull out a bit on my Miller and it caused really shitty welds intermittently.
Will check the next time I am in the warehouse
Fonger wrote:Don't mean to sound like a jerk here, but is the gas turned on?
Yep it was and I could feel it flowing
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VerticalTRX
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Post by VerticalTRX »

Check the trigger contacts inside the gun. They may be either burned/pitted, or corroded. I had to replace the contacts in the gun on my Lincoln SP-175 after a few years. It would weld sometimes, then just cut out, or go intermittently.
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Jwlman
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Post by Jwlman »

The new ground clamp fixed it up

Thanks everyone for all the ideas
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