I rolled out my Hobart Handler 125 this past saturday to weld my trans mount. I haven't used it in over a year but it worked fine the last time I used it. I ground a nice spot to put the ground lead. I proceeded to strike an arc and blew the fuse in my garage(yeah I'm a **** and still have gl*** fuses). It was a straight line right from the box, the only thing plugged into it was my radio and the welder. I shrugged it off thinking it was to small a wire/too long of a run. I had to run for fuses and when I got back put one in and plugged the welder into the receptical comming right out of the box. I've used this before with no problems, well I tried to strike an arc again and it popped the breaker in the welder. It hums in a low tone and pops the fuse. I took notice the cord gets a little warm but not hot when this happens. I talked to the maintenece guy up at work('cause he works on the miller welders up there)and he said about the contacts being dirty. I looked around inside and didn't find any contacts. All the wires are clean, I checked them out. I see there is a circuit board there, don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. I bought this welder used and by the looks it was not used very much. Can anyone help me out with this? Thanks, later shawn
I'm not sure about that particular welder, but if you open the hinged cover of the welder, there might be a fat power lead that connects to the base of the Mig gun cable and another one that goes to the ground cable. They're often screwed on with wing nuts so that you can reverse polarity. You might want to check to see if the wing nut had jiggled loose and the power lead is just dangling around in there shorting out. Or the base of the Mig cable could have come loose and something's shorting out there. It sounds like it's working okay until you pull the trigger, so that's what makes me think it could just be a loose cable in there shorting out. Good luck.
That welder should be on a 30 amp 120v fuse. Chop saws and many other shop tools that run on 120 need 30 amp service to operate smoothly. Try checking the wire and the capcity of the wire. I know it worked fine last year, but you always look at the obvious every time. any good electrician will tell you that.
Well I checked both lugs and they are tight. The fuse is a 30 amp fuse and the wire is 14/2 into a grounded recepticle. Thanks, later shawn
14/2 needs a 15 amp fuse. If you pull enough current to blow the fuse the 14/2 is going to act like a resister and the voltage will drop. You need 10 awg for 30 amps. The setup you are running could burn the coils in your tools and the small wire if you try to use it that way. Also check to see if all connections are tight.
I agree, it sounds like a power problem. A quick test is to try another circuit at a friends house or work. If your welder is capable, you could convert to a 30 amp 220 circuit & use 14 ga wire. Its just 2 hot legs (15 amps each) and one neutral. You'll need a circuit breaker, outlet, a few feet of 14 ga 3 wire, and power cord for the welder. Since your circuit box is right in the garage, it should be a piece of cake.
Also try turning the power all the way down and see if it still blows the fuse. I had a 110V Mig before I stepped up to a 220V machine about ten years ago. I know it worked lousy trying to run it on a 15 amp circuit for anything other than sheet metal. I added a separate circuit for it with the outlet about a foot away from the circuit breaker panel. I think I used 10 gauge wire and a separate 20 amp breaker and 20 amp receptacle. It worked a whole lot better after rewiring it. With 14 gauge wire, you're probably not getting all the juice you need for that welder. If your welder's broken, you might want to trade it in on a new 220 V machine. You can do a few side jobs with the new welder to pay for it (that's what I did).
Well, where do I begin. What I don't understand is that it worked before with no hiccups. No blown fuses and it penetrated pretty good. The recepticle is about 5" away from the fuse box. I do plan on rewiring my garage when my brother-in-law gets all of his stuff out of my garage(it once was his, I bought the house) so thanks for the wiring suggestions. I tried turning down the power and it still does the same thing, which makes me think that it's the contacts.I'd like to step up to a bigger welder, but I don't really do a whole lot of welding yet(trying to teach myself) and the finances won't alow for it at the moment. Thanks for the tips and help, I appreciate it. later shawn
A 30 amp 220 circuit is two 30 amp legs, they are not additive like that. For a 30 amp 220 circuit you should have 10 ga wire. I think the 125 is a 20 amp machine. It is my impression that the plug wiring on the welder is likely 14 ga. If you are truly only a couple of inches from the main box and you are not using an extension cord, you likely have enough juice to the welder. I would not run anything else on that circuit while you are using the welder, not even the radio. As said above, if you used 30 amp fuses and you blew the fuse, you could have easily damaged the wiring in the wall or in the welder. If the welder tried to draw more than 30 amps (blowing the fuse) it is likely that there is a short in the machine.
The Jalopy Journal
