Ouch!!!

[BajaFand]

Hey guys I have an older Miller Syncrowave 250DX, I forget what year it is but I know it was the last year this version was made before Miller switched to the digital readouts. Anyways, every single time I try to start an arc I get shocked to hell by the welder if I'm touching the steel that the its grounded to. It hurts but it startles me more than anything. It does this literally every time, even through my gloves. The only way I can avoid being shocked is if I start the arc with my hands in the air off of the material, then once the arc is started it's fine and I can rest my hands back on the material and weld, but having to freehand at the start is kind of sketchy.

Does anyone have a solution to this problem? I don't have the manual with me, it's at home. Is there something hooked up wrong? Are the contacts in the machine dirty and that's what's causing this? This welder sat for about two years without being used, would that have anything to do with it? Because when I used it a couple of years ago after I bought it it never did this to me. Any help would be great, thanks in advance.

 

[tmathews]

I believe Miller Electric has a technical service department.. I think the number is 1-920-735-4505

 

[atomicjoe23]

I would suggest calling Miller as well. . .nothing pops into my head that would be a likely culprit that you get shocked at the start, but are OK once the arc is established.

The only time I have ever been shocked while TIG welding was when I absentmindedly picked up the piece that I was gonna weld on to get a better angle and didn't have it touching the table anymore. . .I dropped that piece pretty freaking quick!!!

 

[5racer]

I would suggest calling Miller as well. . .nothing pops into my head that would be a likely culprit that you get shocked at the start, but are OK once the arc is established.

The only time I have ever been shocked while TIG welding was when I absentmindedly picked up the piece that I was gonna weld on to get a better angle and didn't have it touching the table anymore. . .I dropped that piece pretty freaking quick!!!

been there also ,man it hurts i tossed crap all over the place .

 

[manicmechanic]

Take a close look at your wand, Tape the heck out of it and try again since you have already been using it this way. Otherwise I would just say shut it down until it"s fixed.
A bad ground lead on a wet floor? Bad ground at the wall plug.
Somewhow your body is a the path to ground.
I have welded with junk up to my knees in salt water and never been bit.
Get to the bottom of it!

 

[BajaFand]

Good idea, on Monday I will check the ground wire in the plug. Anybody else experience anything like this?

 

[ZTFab]

My digital Sync 250 has done that to me. I found that I had a cracked torch handle...replaced the handle and it hasn't done it since.

 

[BajaFand]

Thanks Paul, I will check that out. The torch was sitting in a toolbox virtually unused since it was bought until about a month ago when I put it on so I think it is fine. Maybe something was dropped or set on it and that could have cracked it.

 

[tmorgan4]

Does the ground clamp get hot after welding for a while? Only time my Dynasty has ever done it is when I forget to connect the ground clamp and I'm touching the table.

 

[mikeyfrombc]

sounds like you have a short or a bad ground happening , we used to have a belt polisher on a old lathe at my old shop i used to get one hell of a zap turning it off or on at times , turned out the welding table beside the lathe had some steel just touching the lathe , it was a partially connected ground and it would short out when the welder was on and the lathe was running .

also do you get zapped when you ground the part being welded directly ?? i know i,ve been zapped by my 200syncrowave if i ground the table and have both my tig hand and filler hand touching the table when i hit the pedal if i touch with torch hand then hit the pedal and then rest my filler hand on the table i,.m fine

 

[RIT_Nosh]

2x on the Cracked Torch handle. i have that get me a few times. The people in the School Shop are not the best about taking care of the equipment. For the the most part you can fix it with a few wraps of of Electrical tape. also check the connections under the Handel to see if any chip have worked there way under there that can case trouble too.

 

[piratelab]

My syncrowave did the same thing...

New torch fixed the problem.

I have an old extra one lying around, want it? HA!

 

[BajaFand]

The torch is basically brand new, I checked it this morning and that wasn't the problem. I found out the problem was the female plug on the wall. There are two large gauge wires for the power but a small gauge wire for ground, I don't know if that is correct or not but I think the real problem is that the ground wiring is kind of "mickey moused" inside the box. There are two wire nuts holding the ground wire together just inside the box, and the actual ground wire terminal is loose on the plug. Anyway I'm no electrician so I didn't want to mess with it, it works fine with the MIG welders in the shop. I plugged the TIG into a different plug today and didn't get shocked all day.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[randy1123]

The torch is basically brand new, I checked it this morning and that wasn't the problem. I found out the problem was the female plug on the wall. There are two large gauge wires for the power but a small gauge wire for ground, I don't know if that is correct or not but I think the real problem is that the ground wiring is kind of "mickey moused" inside the box. There are two wire nuts holding the ground wire together just inside the box, and the actual ground wire terminal is loose on the plug. Anyway I'm no electrician so I didn't want to mess with it, it works fine with the MIG welders in the shop. I plugged the TIG into a different plug today and didn't get shocked all day.

Thanks for the help everyone.

If a ground is loose, the arcing can cause more than a shock to you. I pulled the cover off the back of my Synchrowave and replaced the cord and plug. These get tossed and worn out. It was about a $80 replacement and I re-terminated all the connections and found multiple problems:
1. The bushing for the cord (at the blue entry point) had worn through the cable insulation.
2. The terminals were loose and stripped too far back.
3. The transformer jumper was on the WRONG voltage tap.

This replacement will avoid future problems at the wrong time. I am glad I did it, and feel safer and worry free now.

 

[BajaFand]

Thanks for the advise.