Newbie Qs: Bought Hobart CyberTig II 200A welder

Looks like a good enough buy even if it's dead. You can get enough out of the copper in it to pay for it.

Definitely. There's enough copper to pay for the welder and picking it up. The other things are just gravy.

Probably just enough to run it.

I've not seen a good beginners book for stick that I can recommend. Hands on seems to be the best. Google this group for some good info. This is one thing that words doesn't do a good job of describing. Watching someone and taking a class helps tremendously. However it can be learned otherwise (I did) it just takes longer.

Agreed though arc isn't the easiest it's not the hardest either.

I'd say overkill in this case. It does depend on how long you want the leads but most likely I'd say that 25' of #2 would get you started. If you want longer than you might consider upgrading to 1/0 but at 200 amps #2 is probably still more than enough.

Ok. 4 gauge is good enough to get you started. I'd try to keep the leads down to 10' or less but even that's not critical if you keep to the lower amperages.

Definitely. That's pretty much the definition of TIG and this supply is definitely TIG.

As thick as you want with stick. It might take a while but as long as you don't use to big a electrode you can weld as big as you want. I'd recommend 1/8" to start. You can run 5/32 with it and still be fairly safe though there's a chance of overloading your supply or phase converters at that size. With 1/8" you can weld at thick as you want but it may take more passes to get the weld completed. You might also consider 3/32 for thinner stock but that takes a little more practice to weld with.

Definitely.

I don't see any problem other than possibly being confused by all the controls. That's one of the models with all the bells and whistles so you've got more than enough to play with. I do not see the dummy plug in the pics so that may be the first hurdle.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

Sounds nice, thanks.

Alright. Perhaps, most of the time I will actually need less amps. The circuit to the garage uses wiring that can be upgraded to 75 A breakers (hard to find but available).

Thanks. We have a most excellent community college here (College of DuPage), with many welding classes available dirt cheap. I took some classes there in the past and some were quite good and always the cost was minuscule. The trouble is that the fall welding classes already began.

Thanks. That makes life a little easier...

Okay, so, what would be some easy test of this power supply?

Sounds great.

I see. I will start small, that's for sure. Will start with some simple project, such as a frame for a homemade rock tumbler.

There are manuals for that supply, hopefully they may have some schematic for a dummy pedal replacement. I'll see. Hopefully the seller will not try to back out of the deal. I appreciate your help.

i

Figure 100-120 amps for 1/8 electrodes depending on which ones.

That's a problem but definitely keep them in mind. You could likely learn more there in 5 minutes than several days here.

Get some electrodes, some form of electrode holder (hint they can be pretty cheap), and a ground clamp (cheaper yet), and some scrap steel (preferably 3/16" or thicker for the first attempts). Strike a arc and see what you can do. This is one thing that's hard to describe till you've done it.

There is a test procedure in the manuals for this welder as well. You will need fairly heavy but short lead to run it.

Try to keep the first projects at least 1/8" thick. Preferably 3/16" or even 1/4" is easier to learn stick on.

I noticed that the manuals seem rather thick. You may luck out and get the full service manual as well as the user manual.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

What you have there is a machine designed for production tubing welds. It has a sequencer that can be dialed in precisely.

It may be able to be used as a simple manual TIG, but you will have to read the manual.

200 amps will allow you to weld 1/4" materiel single pass.

I tested mine with jumper cables. Worked.

When you pick this beast up..be damned sure you get the "dummy plug", which is a 10 pin military style connector. This machine will turn on, but will NOT give you any welding power at all (you will get a HF spark) without the plug, or a pedal installed.

here is the pinout

But be advised..its a bitch finding the proper connector anyplace, if you wish to make up your own. SSC does sell them. Once you have the plug, its easy to make your own dummy plug or modify a pedal. Get two. One for tig (pedal) and one for stick (dummy plug)

Ive never seen one of these with anything other than rotary pots in most of the program locations. This machine appears to have been designed for automated welding. Hobart made the CyberTig machines using a "in a drawer" modular system. The control and electronics guts simply slide in and out, so the machine could be configured to customer requirements using different moduals.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Btw...its one hell of a stick machine. Got one of the finest arcs Ive ever started and if you turn on the HF.. makes it really easy to strike an arc.

This is the smaller brother of the one I have..the one I struck an arc with (tap start) ..and drove a piece of 1/8" 6011 completely though both sides of a piece of heavy wall receiver hitch...when I didnt realize Id set it at 600 amps...chuckle

You really need to figure out how to get mine, Wayne, It will give ya a woodie.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

That's not as much as I was hoping for... I could redo the wiring and have 100A available in the garage... What makes me wonder though, is that at 200A and 40V, the arc power is 8 kW. That's only 36A at

220V. So, are your estimates of needed single phase amps higher due to supposed energy losses, or am I missing something?

The other issue is that, if everything goes well, I will have a baby (kid #2) next semester. Taking a class next semester will not go well. I will try to call the instructor of the class that started on Sep

12, to see if there is anything that we can do.

Will do...

Got it...

I would hope so, as well...

Thanks Wayne...

i

I hope that it is the case...

Thank you Ernie. Are you referring to the tig process, or arc process, or both?

That's pretty reasonable. Just out of curiosity (I am not going to do it any time soon), would I be able to put together a cargo trailer using this welder?

i

Sounds nice. I have some jumper cables which would not be convenient, and also some separate 4 gauge cables.

Thanks... The pinout looks pretty simple... They do not provide R1, R2, C1, C2 and C3 values though...

That's kind of pricey at $195... I will check a little more...

I hope that I can use it in some simple mode... That would only make sense to make it usable for simple manual operation...

i

I'm talking output amps. You will need to set the welder to 100-120 amps when using 1/8" electrodes. Input on a 200 amp welder is probably going to be on the order of 50-60 amps max single phase (though with the 3 phase conversion you loose a little).

Ok.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

I've found a driver willing but I need more than just the welder to justify the price of fuel there and back. I need a idea of just what you've got available so that I can justify the trip. He'll be limited to about 4000lbs by my trailer so unfortunately my big need of a large lathe is out.

BTW if he does go I'll be sending the PCM-100 sitting out in front of the shop with him. At the very least it'll provide you with some spare parts.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

Im sure I can get those values for you.

The plugs themselves are something like $15 from them, each.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Got it. Thanks.

i

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That would be wonderful.

Do you mean from SSC Controls? That's nice. Now, the difference between a plug and a foot pedal is that a plug is always "ON", whereas a foot pedal is ON or OFF, operator controlled. Is that right? Or does the foot pedal also control the amount of current, or gas, or whatever? (controls amount of something and not just the on/off setting).

i

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The foot pedal has a on and off switch in addition to a variable resister that controls the current. My welder has a switch that turns the variable part of the foot pedal on or off. I added a switch to the panel that turns the other part on and off. Thus I don't need the dummy plug anymore. I'd made one up from a spare cable that came with my welder and used it at first. But constantly having to unscrew the plug and insert the foot pedal each time got to be a pain. With the switch I can just leave the foot pedal hooked up and by the flip of a couple of switches go from foot pedal control to normal welding control.

At one time I had the schematic and values for all the components but I have no clue where I put them. It might be possible to do a google search of past RCM archives and find what I posted back then (it's been several years now).

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

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Aha, that's quite clever. I think that I see now that I have quite a few options here.

I will try to google rec.crafts.metalworking for that. Were you posting under the same name?

i

I am talking single pass TIG welds.

Using multiple passes you can weld unlimited thickness.

Out of steel tube, yes.

Very nice. Thanks Ernie. I just spoke to the seller and, barring unforeseen circumstances, I will be picking the welder up tomorrow in the evening. I already paypaled the seller $9.99.

i

My sigs nearly always been the same but back then I would of had a e-mail address of snipped-for-privacy@pan-tex.net.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX