Lincoln Proweld 180 giving me grief.

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DozerII

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 4, 2015
Messages
4,765
Location
Saskatchewan Can.
My Lincoln welder is about 8 years old and is starting to give me grief. On anything thicker than sheet metal the only way I can get good penetration is to preheat. I have replaced the ground clamp and checked all the connectors. The gun and liner are all original, is it possible they are causing my issue. They have emptied a lot of wire spools.
 
Since you've never changed them, I would start with replacing the liner and tip.
Make sure you have 75 - 25 shielding gas in the bottle too.
 
Have you switched to a longer extension cord? Is your cord worn? Are you using a different outlet that is further from your electrical panel? These types of things can affect how your welder performs. When I was working as a maintenance man, If I plugged in at the opposite end of the building from where the power came in the welder didn't work very well. In the summer time in hot weather in the afternoon it wouldn't work like it would in the morning. I think the voltage or amperage was down because of people using their A/C. Check your outlet voltage,it may be low. I have had that happen at my home shop.
 
Have you switched to a longer extension cord? Is your cord worn? Are you using a different outlet that is further from your electrical panel? These types of things can affect how your welder performs. When I was working as a maintenance man, If I plugged in at the opposite end of the building from where the power came in the welder didn't work very well. In the summer time in hot weather in the afternoon it wouldn't work like it would in the morning. I think the voltage or amperage was down because of people using their A/C. Check your outlet voltage,it may be low. I have had that happen at my home shop.

Thanks for the reply Kenny, my welder plug is 6 inches from the panel. I have a very heavy extension cord but doesn't seem to matter if its plugged into the cord or next to the panel. I will check the voltage.
 
phil beat me to it. [cl

If all else fails, find your actual model # and source the correct service/repair manual online, so you can check your transformer, etc., etc...

The only thing I can add at this point, is welders HATE dust and dirt. You should open them up at least once a year and blow them out.

.
 
If it is a 220volt welder you could have lost one leg and only working on 110. I had that happen on a stick welder one time. Could be a broken wire, bad plug or bad breaker.

Thanks Phil I will check that when I check the voltage.

phil beat me to it. [cl

If all else fails, find your actual model # and source the correct service/repair manual online, so you can check your transformer, etc., etc...

The only thing I can add at this point, is welders HATE dust and dirt. You should open them up at least once a year and blow them out.

.

I have the manual for it, and I blow the dust out at least once a month cuz it's so dusty in the shop. Thanks
 
Dozer, my small welder had a bad circuit board ( a buddy worked on it and
got it going again, until last month ...down again,,grrr) not sure if yours has
a board or not, but it can make it do weird things ...wish I had more to add,
hope you get it sorted out...oh yeah...it turned out to be a bad diode...


[P[P
 
Dozer, my small welder had a bad circuit board ( a buddy worked on it and
got it going again, until last month ...down again,,grrr) not sure if yours has
a board or not, but it can make it do weird things ...wish I had more to add,
hope you get it sorted out...oh yeah...it turned out to be a bad diode...


[P[P

Thanks FBP I have no electronics buddy and its definitely not in my wheel house.

I checked the voltage at the plug and I have 116 volts on each leg. I ordered a new liner/gun to try.
 
Well I wish there was a red faced embarrassed emoji, seems my problems were self inflicted. Back when I installed my spool gun I reversed the polarity on the ground and then after taking the spool gun off and selling it I forgot to change it back. This getting old thing sucks:mad::mad::mad:
 
Dozer, I'm on the same page as you are on the 'getting older thing', it's not for sissies. But I do have a question for you. You talked about trying a spool gun out and then taking off and selling it, so I assumed you didn't like it. Why? I always thought it would be a good idea.
 

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