250ci plasma cutter problem

[pontiac467]

The cup light keeps coming on and shutting the machine down, If i unscrew the cup and put it back on it works for a little while then dies. Does anyone know if the cup is bad or is it a bad switch or something

[Pumpkinhead]

have you tried a new tip and electrode?

[pontiac467]

yes i have and it didnt make a difference, it started to act up when i went to use it for the first time in 3 months. It has always worked good i dont know what would go bad just from sitting.

[ventureline]

I believe the cup(nozzle) has a copper contact ring which when installed comes in contact with a couple of pins on the torch head. This tells the machine that the cup is on and there is no danger to the operator if it tries to fire. All torches have some sort of protection system. It may have a spring, not sure. Anyways the pins on the gun may not be making a good contact, or the spring inside the cup may be broken. That would be my guess.

I don't recommend you opening the torch up and connecting these teminals together, as it is for your protection, however if you are the only one running the unit are are not to forgetfull, then ........

[Roger]

Air pressure switch?

[Hotfoot]

I'm with Roger...do you hear air flow when the trigger is depressed? No air, and the unit will choke-off. This could be a simple "dope slap" moment of forgetting to turn on the air...double check it!!

[kdb]

Plasma Problem With Pak3

I Purchased 3 Thermal Dynamics PaK3 At Auction The Air Flow Switch Works It Flows Air But Main Contactor Want Pulls In Does Anyone Have A Service Manuel For This Unit

[pontiac467]

It has a built in compresser and it does work fine, As soon as I turn on the machine the cup light comes on and it does nothing. If u unscrew the cup off and on and mess with it sometimes it will work but only for a little while then the light comes on and it stops. Whats weird is i used it a ton this past spring and went to turn it on last week and it started to act up. I Build derby cars and i miss it so much, i didnt realize how much i used it until it broke. The only thing i can think of just by looking at it is the cup is kinda melted were the tip sticks through the top and somehow its messing it up.

[Hotfoot]

It has a built in compresser and it does work fine, As soon as I turn on the machine the cup light comes on and it does nothing. If u unscrew the cup off and on and mess with it sometimes it will work but only for a little while then the light comes on and it stops. Whats weird is i used it a ton this past spring and went to turn it on last week and it started to act up. I Build derby cars and i miss it so much, i didnt realize how much i used it until it broke. The only thing i can think of just by looking at it is the cup is kinda melted were the tip sticks through the top and somehow its messing it up.

"As soon as I turn on the machine the cup light comes on and it does nothing"...so, the machine is powered, but, by "does nothing" I assume the air compressor part is not working...that may be the problem. No air, no cut.

[pontiac467]

i meant when the machine finally turns on or works (makes a noise) the air compresser works fine and it cuts fine. What i meant by the light comes on and does nothing is, as soon as you hit the switch to on the machine displays the cup light and the machine doesnt make a noise or do anything until you shut it off then the compresser kicks on and blows air for a few seconds like it has always done then shuts off.

[Wyoming]

Replace the consumables exactly as shown in the manual. Sounds like what happens on my Hypertherm when I get the parts mixed out of proper order...which is all too easy. You may have a consumable past its work life in there somewhere or not, but replacing everything, and in the proper order, will at least take that factor out of the equation.

[pontiac467]

i ended up taking the machine to a dealer, well they called today and said that they are getting a new torch sent to them. I dont know if its the whole gun or what, anyways they said it would fix the problem and that hobart said that alot of these machines have been having the same problem.

[Badfish]

I am having the same issue with the cup light, works for awhile then cup light comes on, progressively got worse. Even after changing too and electrode. Did a new torch solve the problem??

[Badfish]

Both pin springs seem to be fine as well, and checked wires inside torch but didn’t see any damage, blew out inside the machine as well and couldn’t see any issues...

[Ke5lly]

My plasma cutter was not producing an arc. I found one side of D16 on the main board was shorted.
It shows in the schematic as a 43CTQ100 and on the main board is a 63CPT100. Which both are not available.
I had to use a DSA70QC100HB and you can get it from Digikey. It is working great now.