Syncrowave 250 HF problems

[huafist]

Hello everyone,
I've got an old school Syncrowave 250 in my shop that has been a great workhorse. I fired it up yesterday to weld some aluminum intercooler piping, and I couldn't get a HF start - it would dance like it was attempting to establish an arc, but it would never start an arc. However, if I flipped it over to DC Neg, it would HF start on SS and weld just fine. I reset the spark gaps to .008" per the manual, but now I have no HF start whatsoever; when I hit button, I can hear the HF in the machine, and I can see sparks dance between the gaps, but nothing comes out of the electrode. If I scratch start it, it welds just fine. This happens in both DC Neg and AC modes.
Does anyone have any ideas that I can try? I tried the gap at both .008" and at .007". I lightly cleaned the electrodes with 2,000 grit sandpaper in case they were fouled. I also cleaned the machine out with compressed air. I'm at a loss, as this thing worked perfectly last time I fired it up.

[kevhead63]

Do you have HF set to continuous, also there is a dial under lower panel you could turn up.

[huafist]

Do you have HF set to continuous, also there is a dial under lower panel you could turn up.

When I weld AL, I set it to continuous. When I weld SS, I set it to start. I have tried changing the frequency. It worked perfectly last time (and every time before) I had used it without touching anything, so I'm pretty confident in saying it's not a setting.

[huafist]

Hello everyone,
I've got an old school Syncrowave 250 in my shop that has been a great workhorse. I fired it up yesterday to weld some aluminum intercooler piping, and I couldn't get a HF start - it would dance like it was attempting to establish an arc, but it would never start an arc. However, if I flipped it over to DC Neg, it would HF start on SS and weld just fine. I reset the spark gaps to .008" per the manual, but now I have no HF start whatsoever; when I hit button, I can hear the HF in the machine, and I can see sparks dance between the gaps, but nothing comes out of the electrode. If I scratch start it, it welds just fine. This happens in both DC Neg and AC modes.
Does anyone have any ideas that I can try? I tried the gap at both .008" and at .007". I lightly cleaned the electrodes with 2,000 grit sandpaper in case they were fouled. I also cleaned the machine out with compressed air. I'm at a loss, as this thing worked perfectly last time I fired it up.

Anybody?

[Dipsomaniac]

Anybody?

Hmmm...I would look at the torch very carefully, especially inside the cup area and the tungsten rod for contamination.

[duaneb55]

I agree with Dopsomaniac in checking the torch and also check the HF Intensity rheostat for a poor wiper-to-winding connection or open winding. Did you try setting the HF Intensity to maximum to see how it performed?

[huafist]

I agree with Dopsomaniac in checking the torch and also check the HF Intensity rheostat for a poor wiper-to-winding connection or open winding. Did you try setting the HF Intensity to maximum to see how it performed?

I have not turned it all the way up yet to see what it did ; I will do that this afternoon. As far as the torch, I have changed tungsten, collets, and gas lenses. I will inspect it again, but I don't really know what else to check. Someone I know at the local welding place that works on some of these machines suggested I check the caps on the HF circuit on the cabling on the left hand side of the machine near the large AL heat sinks.

[H80N]

I agree with Dopsomaniac in checking the torch and also check the HF Intensity rheostat for a poor wiper-to-winding connection or open winding. Did you try setting the HF Intensity to maximum to see how it performed?

that and check the collet and collet body... make sure they are clean and shiny...
if you have new ones trade them out as well as trying a new freshly dressed tung.... making sure to pay carefull to the torch body.... making sure there is no corrosion or burning where they mate...

[huafist]

I agree with Dopsomaniac in checking the torch and also check the HF Intensity rheostat for a poor wiper-to-winding connection or open winding. Did you try setting the HF Intensity to maximum to see how it performed?

Update: Everything looks good. I turned the HF Intensity to Max, and it worked as it should ; Works on 90% as well, but any lower than that and you don't even see it try to establish an arc. Up until this, it worked just fine on 50%. Any idea what this means?

[H80N]

Update: Everything looks good. I turned the HF Intensity to Max, and it worked as it should ; Works on 90% as well, but any lower than that and you don't even see it try to establish an arc. Up until this, it worked just fine on 50%. Any idea what this means?

did you check collet, tung and torch body as outlined in post #8........??