Buddy of mine called me up early this morning in a panic. His ancient Airco (Miller 300) was doing all manner of wierd things while he was trying to weld some aluminum A/C bits in his automotive garage.
I suggested some things to try..nothing worked, so I loaded up one of my spare tig machines (Airco/Esab 250 Squarewave) in my trailer and took it the 45 miles over to his shop. He had some hot jobs that needed to go out today. He is also my mechanic..so we try to keep each others backs scratched.
Firing up his machine..it really DID act wierd, burning back the electrode, leaving soot and smoke (which should have been my first clue..sigh) so I disconnected his hardwired machine, moved it out of place and installed my machine. Fired it up.
And damned if it didnt do the same thing.
This particular machine is a sweety, which is why I hang on to it as a hot spare, so I know how good it will weld.
I was scratching my head..and in an offhand manner, one of his mechanics mentioned swapping out the argon bottle last night with a full one.
Eureka! Checking..it was indeed marked Argon. So I hooked it to one of his MIG machines..and damned if it didnt act like every bottle of C25 Ive ever run, same color to the welds, same bead etc.
So we called the welding supply company and told em the problem and they said they would being down another bottle and swap it out. About 3 hours later..they did, and after hooking it up...both machines were welding great again. (mine welds better neenerneenerneener)
So the refillers DO f*ck up now and then. Just thought Id mention it.
Shrug
Gunner
"Abortion is self defense" Bob Kolker