My welder is not working. I used a multimeter to check voltage. I have 120v on both wires(2 wires) going to the switch. 120v going of the other side of the switch (when switched on, 2 wires) going down to the big block(I think it's a magnet). I only have 12.5v coming off of the block which goes up to the voltage selector. All the contacts are reading 12.5v. Has anyone experience with this situation? Thank you

How old is the machine and what kind of duty cycles have you been running on it?

It's age is unknown. It's spent many years(5-20?) sitting, unused in a barn. I cleaned it up, greased the contacts, & put new leads on it maybe a year ago. Have been using it intermittently at the farm. Duty cycles never exceeded 5 minutes max. Most welds weren't more than 4" long X 1/8" wide.

I'm not real waspy on wiring, but 120 doesn't sound right for that machine. I had the luxury of having an electrician on hand that worried about that stuff for me. Should have 220-240 available IIRC. Might be a power supply issue.

And 5 minutes of continuous run time sounds a bit high believe it or not. Shouldn't take nearly that long to burn a rod. But if you were just getting after it and running rod after rod rapid fire you could definitely wear out an older cracker box in a hurry.

Check from wire to wire on both sides of the switch. It should be 240v

120 from both wires supplying switch & coming out of switch=240v. I am guesstimating on the 5 minutes. However long it takes to burn a 6011 at 90AMPs or so. Drop it, put a new one in, & continue. Maybe 30 seconds I dunno. So if that giant magnet box thing is froze up is it toast? I've been led to believe these welders last forever.

They can last forever, but being a former shop teacher I'll tell you that they will wear out. However, usually when my machines wore out it was because I was cycling 20+ kids per section on 8 machines 8-10 hrs a day. But if it's an older machine, a jump in usage from sitting idle for years may have done it in. Northern has new machines on sale right now for $279, might be worth a look unless someone who knows the guts better chimes in.

You should be able to troubleshoot this fairly easy with a multimeter. I found a schematic - link posted below. It is a .jpg. You should have one on the inside of your machine.

There are only a few components. *** Note - any resistance/continuity measurements should be done with the power off and disconnected ***

You should have 220v on the input. Did you check that from the source? I am making the assumption input power is good based on what you wrote.

I would start troubleshooting in this order (you have probably done many of these things)-

Check source power for 220vac
Check fuses
Since you have a constant 12.5v - Check continuity of the selector switch. (power off) Place one lead on the electrode and the other to the corresponding switch positions.

Transformers usually fail with a hard open circuit. If the selector switch checks good. Then ohm out the transformer & reactor.

Ohm out the primary side of the transformer.
Then each tap of the secondary.

You can ohm x5 - x4 x5 to x3 x5 to x2 x5 to x1 resistance should increase slightly.

Same thing through the reactor x5 to x6 x5 to x7 x5 to x8 all the way through to x12, you get the picture.

If things are interconnected and ohm through each other, then disconnect a lead so you are only ohming though the exact component you are trying to measure. There is not much after that.

Clear as mud?

I certainly wouldn't trade an older Lincoln (even the crackerbox) for a new comparable model. Just my opinion. They're typically cheap to fix and are built heavier than anything comparable today. Find a repair shop and have the old one fixed. I've used a bunch and the crackerbox I've got now is nearly 40 years old.

While looking for the wiring diagram I found someone who converted their unit to a tig machine.

http://hildstrom.com/projects/ac-225/

Ha yes, clear as mud. Where are the fuses??

I also stumbled across that article. I don't know enough about welding to even know when or why I would want to TIG weld.

I don't think you're looking at a magnet. I think you're looking at the transformer.

You are correct http://www.lincolnelectric.com/assets/ServiceNavigator-Public/LINCOLN1/P65.pdf see item #12

quote:

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You should be able to troubleshoot this fairly easy with a multimeter. I found a schematic - link posted below. It is a .jpg. You should have one on the inside of your machine.

There are only a few components. *** Note - any resistance/continuity measurements should be done with the power off and disconnected *** Multimeter will read continuity with machine unplugged??

You should have 220v on the input. Did you check that from the source? I am making the assumption input power is good based on what you wrote. Yes

I would start troubleshooting in this order (you have probably done many of these things)-

Check source power for 220vac
Check fuses-Do you mean breaker?
Since you have a constant 12.5v - Check continuity of the selector switch. (power off) Place one lead on the electrode(stinger?) and the other to the corresponding switch positions(from inside right?).

Transformers usually fail with a hard open circuit. If the selector switch checks good. Then ohm out the transformer & reactor.

Ohm out the primary side of the transformer.
Then each tap of the secondary.

You can ohm x5 - x4 x5 to x3 x5 to x2 x5 to x1 resistance should increase slightly.

Same thing through the reactor x5 to x6 x5 to x7 x5 to x8 all the way through to x12, you get the picture.

If things are interconnected and ohm through each other, then disconnect a lead so you are only ohming though the exact component you are trying to measure. There is not much after that.

Clear as mud?

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I have Q&As noted in bold & italics above.

will.mcg - Are you in BCS by any chance? We can figure this thing out in no time.

A Continuity test is really a resistance measurement. It is simply saying there is a clean connection between the two points you are measuring. *** All continuity and resistance measurements should be done with power off. *** Because you are working with a machine that is old and most likely has corroded/dirty connections, I would use resistance measurements versus the continuity test where you hear a beep.

Set your meter to read resistance and touch the two multimeter leads together. See what your number is. Then wiggle your multimeter leads around to make sure your test leads are in good condition. If you have a cheaper meter it may read a hard 0 ohms. You should have something very low close to zero.

For the fuses - I was looking at the top of the diagram. I see now it says customer connection. This is not from the factory. Sorry for the confusion

You say you are getting power so your breaker is fine. Just to make sure I have posted a link on how to check proper 240 vac wiring. The video is for a dryer, but it is the same for your welder.

The electrode = stinger. It should be connected to the big center tab on your selector switch. For at least your first measurement, I would check resistance/continuity from both the center tab of the selector switch AND the clamp end of the stinger. This will let you know if you have a good connection from the selector switch through the stinger cable. There shouldn't be very much difference (in ohms) when taking your measurement directly on the selector switch and at the end of the cable (stinger clamp).

As you measure through the cable (also check continuity of the ground cable) gently wiggle and bend the cable - especially around the areas where the cable terminates onto the clamps. See if you meter jumps or you have any intermittent dead spots. You may need a helper to hold one of the meter leads.

My guess is that you have one or more bad connections based on the age of the unit or a bad selector switch. Bad connections could be corrosion or something more physical like the wires from the cable that terminate in the stinger clamp are not touching anymore.

If you have high resistance in your connections you need to clean them up. A big pencil eraser has the right amount abrasiveness. to clean corrosion. Then use alcohol to finish the cleaning process. You can use some contact cleaner before you hook things back up. there will be a little corrosion resistance properties in it.

You could have a bad transformer, but that is the least likely. You can ohm it out or check the voltages. If you check voltages on the transformer, make sure you first have the proper primary voltage. Then you can check the voltages on all of the secondary taps.

I am not. I am near Corpus Christi.

Thank you for your help thus far. Three people I have talked to in person say that the transformer is probably bad, but they haven't seen the machine. I will check continuity this evening. I have only checked voltage thus far.

I don't know if it matters but the fan is not turning on either.

I think it may be a bad transformer. When I test continuity between one side of the transformer & the other......nothing. Testing between electrode or ground & the different amperage selections it show continuity.