[Phil]

Hello
I was in touch with a Welding Service center today , have been having a
problem with a Lincoln Precision 185 TIG welding machine , seems the Encoder
for the amperage control has decided to go Nuts , man says there $50.00 PC
board will cost me $ 980.50 , I thought he was kidding at first and he said
no he wasn't , the thing really will cost that much , I have mostly used
Miller over the years and have had pretty good luck with there units , I
live fairly close to Cleveland and a lady called me several years ago and
wondered why I didn't patronize my local Lincoln Co. , if see calls me again
I'll have a reason to tell her I prefer BLUE , I think this Lincoln 185 cost
just a little more than the PC Board and it's just over three years old.
Phil

[Jon Elson]

Phil wrote:
Hello
I was in touch with a Welding Service center today , have been having a
problem with a Lincoln Precision 185 TIG welding machine , seems the Encoder
for the amperage control has decided to go Nuts , man says there $50.00 PC
board will cost me $ 980.50 , I thought he was kidding at first and he said
no he wasn't , the thing really will cost that much , I have mostly used
Miller over the years and have had pretty good luck with there units , I
live fairly close to Cleveland and a lady called me several years ago and
wondered why I didn't patronize my local Lincoln Co. , if see calls me again
I'll have a reason to tell her I prefer BLUE , I think this Lincoln 185 cost
just a little more than the PC Board and it's just over three years old.
You might check around, especially on the net, there might be
somebody that will repair it rather than replace. When PC
boards get that expensive, it is very likely somebody who knows
the system can fix it much cheaper. It is unfortunate that
Lincoln doesn't give out circuit diagrams of their boards, only
the machine wiring. I had a bad capacitor in my post-flow
timer, and it cost me a tank of gas before I realized what it
was doing. It was easy enough to trace that back to the bad
component in my case.

Jon

[Jim Wilkins]

On Sep 24, 10:31 pm, "Phil" wrote:
Hello
I was in touch with a Welding Service center today , have been having a
problem with a Lincoln Precision 185 TIG welding machine , seems the Encoder
for the amperage control has decided to go Nuts , man says there $50.00 PC
board will cost me $ 980.50 ,...
Phil

When my Square Wave 175's amperage control failed the repairman told
me to wiggle a few main board connectors first, and that fixed it.

Jim Wilkins

[Jim Stewart]

Phil wrote:
Hello
I was in touch with a Welding Service center today , have been having a
problem with a Lincoln Precision 185 TIG welding machine , seems the Encoder
for the amperage control has decided to go Nuts , man says there $50.00 PC
board will cost me $ 980.50 , I thought he was kidding at first and he said
no he wasn't , the thing really will cost that much , I have mostly used
Miller over the years and have had pretty good luck with there units , I
live fairly close to Cleveland and a lady called me several years ago and
wondered why I didn't patronize my local Lincoln Co. , if see calls me again
I'll have a reason to tell her I prefer BLUE , I think this Lincoln 185 cost
just a little more than the PC Board and it's just over three years old.

I've taken some guff from the local welding
shops about my decision to buy a Thermal-Arc
TIG, mostly along the lines of "you can't get
service for that thing and we can fix a Miller/
Lincoln.

I feel better now.

[Ignoramus30458]

Can you clarify just what is wrong? What kind of encoder is it? Can
you replace it with a generic part?

i

[Pete C.]

Ignoramus30458 wrote:

Can you clarify just what is wrong? What kind of encoder is it? Can
you replace it with a generic part?

i

I expect that there are few to no custom electronic components in any of
these machines beyond a microcontroller chip and perhaps a PAL chip.
Most of the components should be readily available from Digi-Key. I
expect the encoder in question is about $10 from Digi-Key.

[Ignoramus30458]

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:36:16 -0500, Pete C. wrote:
Ignoramus30458 wrote:

Can you clarify just what is wrong? What kind of encoder is it? Can
you replace it with a generic part?

i

I expect that there are few to no custom electronic components in any of
these machines beyond a microcontroller chip and perhaps a PAL chip.
Most of the components should be readily available from Digi-Key. I
expect the encoder in question is about $10 from Digi-Key.

When I hear "encoder", I do feel like it is probably generic. What
kind of isolation testing has the OP done so far? What makes him or
his dealer conclude that it is an encoder?

i

[Pete C.]

Ignoramus30458 wrote:

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:36:16 -0500, Pete C. wrote:
Ignoramus30458 wrote:

Can you clarify just what is wrong? What kind of encoder is it? Can
you replace it with a generic part?

i

I expect that there are few to no custom electronic components in any of
these machines beyond a microcontroller chip and perhaps a PAL chip.
Most of the components should be readily available from Digi-Key. I
expect the encoder in question is about $10 from Digi-Key.

When I hear "encoder", I do feel like it is probably generic. What
kind of isolation testing has the OP done so far? What makes him or
his dealer conclude that it is an encoder?

i

I found a previous thread discussing this a few months ago. In there it
is indicated as a device that looks like a pot, has three connections to
the PCB and continuous rotation. I suspect it's a $5 mechanical rotary
encoder that is quite standard, available from Digi-Key, and could be
upgraded to a more reliable optical version for a few dollars more if he
can find a 5 volt supply for the optical version.

[Ignoramus30458]

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:45:39 -0500, Pete C. wrote:
Ignoramus30458 wrote:

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:36:16 -0500, Pete C. wrote:
Ignoramus30458 wrote:

Can you clarify just what is wrong? What kind of encoder is it? Can
you replace it with a generic part?

i

I expect that there are few to no custom electronic components in any of
these machines beyond a microcontroller chip and perhaps a PAL chip.
Most of the components should be readily available from Digi-Key. I
expect the encoder in question is about $10 from Digi-Key.

When I hear "encoder", I do feel like it is probably generic. What
kind of isolation testing has the OP done so far? What makes him or
his dealer conclude that it is an encoder?

i

I found a previous thread discussing this a few months ago. In there it
is indicated as a device that looks like a pot, has three connections to
the PCB and continuous rotation. I suspect it's a $5 mechanical rotary
encoder that is quite standard, available from Digi-Key, and could be
upgraded to a more reliable optical version for a few dollars more if he
can find a 5 volt supply for the optical version.

That makes sense, but how does the OP know that it is malfunctioning?

i

[Too_Many_Tools]

On Sep 24, 9:31 pm, "Phil" wrote:
Hello
I was in touch with a Welding Service center today , have been having a
problem with a Lincoln Precision 185 TIG welding machine , seems the Encoder
for the amperage control has decided to go Nuts , man says there $50.00 PC
board will cost me $ 980.50 , I thought he was kidding at first and he said
no he wasn't , the thing really will cost that much , I have mostly used
Miller over the years and have had pretty good luck with there units , I
live fairly close to Cleveland and a lady called me several years ago and
wondered why I didn't patronize my local Lincoln Co. , if see calls me again
I'll have a reason to tell her I prefer BLUE , I think this Lincoln 185 cost
just a little more than the PC Board and it's just over three years old.
Phil

You really need to check the comparable prices from Miller...you will
see similar prices.

The welding industry really needs some competition.

I hope Thermal-Arc does well.

TMT