Help fixing my Hobart 135

[JohnKH]

I'm a home/hobby user (with enough engineering degrees to be dangerous), and I've been really enjoying my MIG - been through 20+ pounds of wire and several bottles of gas... but now it's on the fritz. Doesn't fire up when I pull the trigger.

The manual has a wiring diagram, and using that I've verified that the switch and thermostat are working - the problem seems to be in the control circuit board. Specifically the regulator circuit which takes 24VAC and makes 28VDC for the switch - I only measure about 2 volts there.

So my questions are...

- Might this be covered under warranty? (I bought it about a year ago from an online place) How would I go about pursuing that? I'd rather not pay shipping for the whole unit.

- Is this a common problem? Does anybody have any experience to share on this?

- Is a schematic of the circuit board available? I'm not afraid of replacing transistors and other components, but with the conformal coating, I can't identify them to get new parts. There are no obvious visible problems.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[Hobart Expert Steve]

John;

The unit will have a three year warranty. At the top of the page is the sales/ service locator. If you hit service and type in your zip code, the three closest service locations will appear. If you would like to talk to either myself or Rock, please call 1-800-332-3281 and we certainly will help you out.

Steve
[email protected]

[JohnKH]

Update... mixed results.

Thought I'd post an update... I'm glad to have my welder back, but I'm also sorta ticked off.

I looked up the nearest service center... Imperial Welding in San Marcos, Ca (north of San Diego), and it's a place I've been going for supplies. They always impressed me, but this time all they had to offer was "we'll send it in" - I guess I thought that an official service center might have people trained, at least in the basics.

So, they were happy to take it, promising that it should be covered under warranty. Then I heard nothing from them... It took three calls, until they finally said "It's back". When I went to pick it up, they informed me that it was the switch after all, and that it wasn't covered under warranty, so that'll be $100.

Well, I paid it - how else to get my machine back? and I accept some of it as a 'stupidity penalty' based on failing to catch the obvious problem. But I'm pretty unhappy with the whole situation:

1. Nobody at the service center had a clue how to work on the unit.
2. They didn't tell me anything during the process
3. They could barely explain why this wasn't covered... just pay up, sucker.
4. $25 for a switch is a bit steep, especially one that fails so easily, and $75 for an hour's labor to install it is just plain outrageous.
5. Evidently the warranty is pretty useless.

All in all, my worst fears were realized; it was something simple, and ended up costing a lot (like 1/4 the cost of a new machine) to have it fixed by the 'pros'.

I've been a big vocal fan of Hobart welders... not any more.

[Sberry]

You should call Steve or Rock in morning,,, I have seen car dealers try to pull that crap too. I am sure Hobart wont be impressed either. I saw Ford dealership almost lose it for charging for warranty. Steve says it has 3 yrs it has 3 yrs, he probably squeeze that dealer like a zit.

[Mike360000]

Yep supposed to be covered under warranty....
That warranty covers everything but abuse.
Now I wouldn't think you abused your welder; Now would you?
And I have seen many different type places pull this same crap on people. Unfortuantly the welding supply houses in my area ain't much different. I really ain't impressed with any of the 3 welding supply stores in my area. I've been cheated or tried to have been cheated by all of them. Right now I am so ticked at the welding dealer where I get my gas from, I'm about ready to return my tanks for a refund and go somewhere else, anywhere! Buyer beware.

Mike

[Bob Post]

I had the same problem with Air Gas in Wentzville Mo. Went in to get prices on tanks and was treated very rudely. I will never go back there again.

[Al T.]

I'm also an internet customer and I can understand why a local shop would not want honor a manufacturers warranty for a machine they didn't sell. The place that sold it to me would have more of an incentive to help me than the local shop that got beat out of the sale due to my pricing around. In the case of an internet sales company (cyberweld) I would have a problem if I needed service, I don't believe they have service capabilities and I would not want to pack up and ship the welder back to them or the manufacturer due to cost and hassle.

To do warranty work a local dealer gets parts for free but needs to employ a technician and pay his salary. The warranty labor reimbursement is usually minimal and sometimes is zero. So this local shop has to use its own funds to give me a free repair. It isn't profitable to do warranty repairs except for your own customers.

So here we have a problem, we still need service, seems like the money we saved on the internet goes to the local shop anyway, sometimes more.

So the lesson I learned, get a price from the internet, go to my local shop where I buy supplies and ask that they work with me to lower the price. If not, I'll buy it there anyway because their help will be invaluable to me later.

[sreeb]

By this reasoning, it is not enough to buy from a local dealer, you need to buy from a local dealer that is also a service center.

The service centers have chosen to be service centers. They could just be dealers or they could just drop the line if Hobart isn't making it worth their while. They aren't doing this as a public service.

You wouldn't unilaterally stop doing part of your job just because you weren't happy with your pay would you?

[Hobart Expert Darrell]

JohnKH,

I read your post and the first thought thing that I would look at in the welder is the gun switch.

If the trigger leads have worked their way loose from the terminals in the handle of the gun, it will exhibit the symptom that you describe.

A quick check to see if this is the problem is to unplug the gun's trigger leads from the terminals on the center panel of the Handler. Short the terminals of the two position trigger lead receptacle out with something metal (needle-nose pliers, paper clip, etc.). It's low DC voltage (+24V) and won't shock you. If the contactor energizes and the feedmotor runs, that will tell you that it's the trigger leads in the gun that's the problem.

Make sure that your voltage range switch is in position 1,2,3, or 4 and snapped into position.

[Hobart Expert Darrell]

JohnHK,

Could you give Steve a call at the phone number listed in his post above. He needs to get some information from you to help you with your warranty issues.

Thanks,

Darrell

[cope]

Originally posted by Al T.
I'm also an internet customer and I can understand why a local shop would not want honor a manufacturers warranty for a machine they didn't sell. The place that sold it to me would have more of an incentive to help me than the local shop that got beat out of the sale due to my pricing around. In the case of an internet sales company (cyberweld) I would have a problem if I needed service, I don't believe they have service capabilities and I would not want to pack up and ship the welder back to them or the manufacturer due to cost and hassle.

To do warranty work a local dealer gets parts for free but needs to employ a technician and pay his salary. The warranty labor reimbursement is usually minimal and sometimes is zero. So this local shop has to use its own funds to give me a free repair. It isn't profitable to do warranty repairs except for your own customers.

So here we have a problem, we still need service, seems like the money we saved on the internet goes to the local shop anyway, sometimes more.

So the lesson I learned, get a price from the internet, go to my local shop where I buy supplies and ask that they work with me to lower the price. If not, I'll buy it there anyway because their help will be invaluable to me later.

Warranty work labor is not minimal or free, but the service center needs to fill out the paperwork properly. When a dealer signs up to become a warranty center, he agrees to repair any and all units, not just the ones he sold.

[ventureline]

I guess you didn't heed my repair advice on the "Industry" site, or you wouldn't be out of pocket now. I told you how to isolate the gun and welder to trace the problem.....

[Paychk]

I would say that is nether here nor there. It all boils down to a machine that should be under warranty and that means "no charge" unless it was a case of abuse. I'm sure it is a simple misunderstanding, at the repair facility.

[JohnKH]

Gun Switch

Hey gang... the switch is the FIRST thing I checked. I opened the gun and examined the switch. I put my ohmmeter on it, and saw that it was an open circuit, and became a closed circuit when the trigger was pulledr. Then I went back to the base unit, and put my ohmmeter leads on the terminals. Again, it went from open to closed when I pulled the trigger. From this, I concluded that the switch was working, and the problem must be elsewhere. I didn't try the jumper test.

Ok, I was wrong, the new switch fixed the problem. I'm guessing that maybe one of the switch leads was shorted to the liner, or even when closed, it still had enough resistance to keep the circuit from energizing. Whatever the case, this unit has not been abused, it just sits in my garage for hobby work (I build combat robots).

It's still my opinion that this should be the kind of problem that an 'authorized service center' can handle. I'll call Steve in the morning and see what he says.

Thanks for all the help!

[atucker]

Having been in the electrical/electronics service field for over 30 years, I can say that using an ohmmeter to check switches is HIGHLY UNRELIABLE. Measuring the voltage that the switch is controlling or replacement are much better options. That said - it sounds like this should have been fairly easy warranty situation for a "qualified" repair facility.

Allen T.