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I recently bought this machine to tig aluminum. It has a remote pedal and the high frq works every time however I have no control over the amperage in AC....It does have control over DC however. I am new to this type machine even though its from the 70's and I am from the late 40's. I managed to tig a aluminum kick stand for my motorcycle and I noticed the aluminum wouldn't melt unless I increased the arc length. By moveing the tip further away and then closer I could manage the puddle. The pedal didn't do anything except start the arc in AC. Is this normal for this machine? I am told this type of machine is harder to learn than the newer sq wave machines, however I am not having a problem. I am self taught in most forms of welding, stick, mig, gas welding and brazing as well as cutting. While not a welder in the broad sense of the term I manage to get er done.
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Jim,
When you refer to CT-100 are you talking about the number on the panel in the center of the machine with the hot start, current control, post flow, power on/off, remote/local current, & HF start/off/continous on it ? If so you probibly have a Cyber-Tig 300 they had two switches in the bottom third of the front panel, one selected AC, DC-, & DC+, the second had three current ranges 3-50, 3-100, & 3-300
If so you would need to set the current control to remote and turn the ten turn current control to mid range 5.0 on the 3-300 range to see if you have control of current from min. to 150 amps.DrIQ -
Cybertig
Yep thats the one. I set the amps on the 3-100 range and the dial at mid way (5) and I didn't notice any change in the pedal. Meaning it had no effect. Now it works on DC but on AC I am not noticeing any changes. I will set the switch to 3-300 and the dial to 5 and try it again. Then I will post my results. Thanks for the reply.
JimComment
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Cyber tig
As an aside I also went to 10 on the mid scale 3-100 and I didn't notice any control. Again I will try the seting I mentioned in the previous post Thanks
JimComment
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Cybertig
Ok set the machine to 3-300 amps and set the dial to 5 also set the high freq to 5 on the dial in upper right corner. I started an arc and pushed the pedal down...no change in arc strength..was the same regardless of position of pedal. AC setting of course. I tried to read the amp meter while trying to maintain an arc and just couldn't get a good read on the guage and maintain an arc as well.
I bought a manual after buying the machine and it has some items in it but not how to adjust the points or where to go to look for them. It mentions it but that is it.
Jim FComment
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Ok had my neighbor read the meters as I started an arc with the machine set a 3-300 and the dial set to 5, High freq knob also set to 5 (Upper right corner). AC Amp meter jumped right to 150 amps part pedal. Had him check again with full pedal...same way. So no foot pedal control in AC. I can and have used the machine by dialing in the amps I need but pedal would make it sooo much nicer. What is wrong with this unit? And can I fix it or does it need to be checked by a qualified repair person? And where does one find a repair person for this 30 some yr old machine?Originally posted by DrIQ View PostComment
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The foot control should have 5 wires to the 10 pin amphenol.
Pins A & B are the contactor , that is currently working.
Pins D, E, & F are the remote current control potentiometer , currently not working - make sure that you have selected remote current control on the panel. The pot. value on the old cast alu. foot control was 25K ohms if it is the later steel case foot control it may have a 10k that was used for the Tigwave. In either case check continuity of the wires and make sure the potentionmeter is working. I may have D & F reversed its been a while since I have seen one of these and I am going from memory .
D - min.
E - wiper
F - maxDrIQComment
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Ok I will check that. The control is aluminum and someone has been inside doing something. Wires are crimp connected to the potentionmeter (Romote was selected on the panel). I put an ohm meter across the terminals of the Pmeter...I didn't check to see what values, just to see if it ran the ohm scale from all three terminals to each other and it did. If the Pmeter is working in DC why not AC?Originally posted by DrIQ View PostComment
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If the remote is working in DC there isn't a problem with the control. What do you have the Hot start set on (the first dial on the programmer), I would suggest 30 initially. Also for DC the HF switch should be set for start and changed to continous for AC.DrIQComment
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Well after taking the remote apart and checking pin to p meter I had sporatic continuity. First its there then its not...had me baffled for a second. I first thought was a poor splice connection which was 5 connections in the foot pedal box. Not that.. so checked again...NOW I had continuity...and all I did was take the wire clamp apart at the pedal box....yep two broken wires at a joint where I wouldn't have suspected any breaks. Just goes to show you that picking the pedal up by the cord does cause problems. I now have full control of both AC and DC tig. E-D was 25,000m ohms. E-F was zippo- NADA. now E-D reads down to 2 ohms when the pedal is depressed and E-F reads up to 25000 when the pedal is depressed. Thanks for the heads up and having me go back to step one. Check continuity!! By just checking the P meter I only determined that yes that works......not that the wires were broken. Thanks again Jim FOriginally posted by DrIQ View Post
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Hot start is set low...20 -30. I assumed hot start was gas flow and not electronics?. However the High Freq knob I suppose is part of the clean and penetrate cycle... correct me if I am wrong...lower setting 10-40 is clean...higher setting is more penetration-- 60-100with 40-60 kind of center of the road.Originally posted by DrIQ View Post
As for the HF switch am I right in assuming that it needs to be set for continious on AC and only start for DC. This I didn't know either. If this is so Thanks again..
Sure wish the manual I bought had more information on this type machine. Thanks again
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The Hot Start is the amount of current used to start the arc.
The HF control controls the intensity of the high frequency, it helps to start the arc and in AC it stabilizes the arc during the change from positive to negative on the 60 hz output. It will not change the cleaning (wave balance) of the machine. You are correct in the HF start for DC and continous for AC.
You can run a bead on aluminum with DC electrode negative and one on electrode positive to get a better understanding of what each half of the AC wave form does. A 1/8" pure tungsten will handle 150 amps on DCEN but only 40 amps on DCEP. On DCEN you have roughly 70% of the heat on the work and 30% on the electrode the values are reversed with DCEP.
The cleaning action that removes the aluminum oxide is the DCEP half of the wave form on your machine, and the DCEN half provides the heat to form the weld puddle.
That is a short basic discription and easy to see by trying it out. The pure tungsten is recommended for the sign wave machines like the CyberTig, the newer square wave machines with balance control and the inverters run better with the tungsten alloys.Last edited by DrIQ; 08-14-2007, 09:52 AM.DrIQComment
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Cybertig
I have tried to dc tig with reverse polarity...it starts fine with the dc in straight polarity but the hf start will not work in reverse polarity. As I mentioned ac works fine now. And now I know what hot start is. The HF switch in the upper right hand corner is for HF setting. What is a normal setting? What does moving the dial do? Lower that 50? higher than 50? Like I mentioned I have a manual but it is sketchie at best. An operators manual that describes each dial and its use would have been nice. Also as I have mentioned, I am not a welder, nor have I gone to welding school, other than being self taught I haven't had much training in any of the types of welding but I manage to get things done. Stick, Mig, Tig, ox-acty, ox-propane. I inductance braze copper at work using hf inductance machines. Not every day but 3 days out of 40 usually. The beauty of my job, I don't do the same thing day after day. 3-4 days of one then 3-4 days of another operation.
Jim FComment
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1. Set the HF intensity dial around 40-50 and forget it is there.
2. For mild steel or stainless set the machine for DCEN and HF on start
3. For aluminum set the machine for AC and HF on continuousDrIQComment
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Cybertig
Thanks for all your help. I appreciate everything you have done for me. Thanks again..Jim F
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