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A Dead Welding Machine Repaired

By Jestine Yong on August 12, 2023

A welding technician brought this machine to my shop for repair and when I looked at the machine this is what I found. Take a look.

It was already opened and the cables are all disconnected. I asked the customer what happened to the machine. He said that the machine stopped working and when he opened the machine he found one of the capacitors loose on the inside. The customer said that he soldered the capacitor back in place but the machine stopped working.

This is what I deal with on a daily bases. The customers think they will save money if they opened the machine and tried to fix it themselves and instead they make it worse.

Here is a fact that customers did not know about; the machine would work fine if one of the capacitors is missing. Here we have six capacitors and if one was gone, the machine still works fine but not as strong as having 6 capacitors there.

This is a closer look of the power board of this welding machine and I want to check it out before putting the machine back together.

I do not see any fresh solder added here on this board. I do not know why the customer is lying to me. There is cold solder but not fresh solder.

Any ways, I added fresh solder to the pins of these capacitors after checking all of them off board. They all checked fine.

One thing that I saw that caused the machine not to work was a bad power switch and bad wiring on the inside.

This photo is taken after I replaced all the bad wires inside. The wires were all bad inside (sorry no photo of bad wires).

A new power button was added as well and did more wiring inside the machine. Take a look.

As seen it looks nice and neat and I can see where every wire comes from and where it goes. I really love my job.

A moment of truth, the machine indeed powered on just fine. If you look where my meter probes are you would see dark output positive and negative terminals and there are cables actually welded to these terminals for stronger joints (according to the customer). I suggested replacing these two output terminals but he said he will do it himself but I really doubt that.

Any ways, the machine is up and running tested and was according to specifications.

Mission Accomplished.

This article was prepared for you by Waleed Rishmawi, one of our ‘Master Authors’ and currently working in the Bethlehem area of Palestine repairing electrical and electronic equipment.

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Note: You can check his previous article on A Digital Audio Player With USB Broken On Board Repaired

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Welding Machine Repaired

10 Comments

Anwar Yunas Shiekh

August 12, 2023 at 7:55 am

How strange, the story of the resoldered capacitor which was never loose.

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- Waleed Rishmawi
  
  August 12, 2023 at 2:02 pm
  
  Anwar: from experience I hear what the customer is saying which is alway the opposite of the reality I see on board. I listen to what they say but I go by what I see on board. have a blessed day
  
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Albert van Bemmelen

August 12, 2023 at 1:25 pm

Bad wiring and a bad power switch will stop any device from working like on this 1Ph(ase) 220-230V AC 50-60Hz device. These T36A fused devices for sure won't run on our with only 25A max fused main powerlines at home.

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- Waleed Rishmawi
  
  August 14, 2023 at 4:53 pm
  
  Albert: indeed my friend; thanks for your comments. have a blessed day
  
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Tito Kanshulu

August 12, 2023 at 3:39 pm

Great repair. Thanks Rishmawi

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- Waleed Rishmawi
  
  August 14, 2023 at 4:57 pm
  
  Tito: you are most welcome. have a blessed day
  
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Parasuraman S

August 13, 2023 at 10:28 am

'but he said he will do it himself but I really doubt that' Let him, so that you can get some more income from this welding machine! He will learn it in the hard way! (LOL) A good job! Professional fix!

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- Waleed Rishmawi
  
  August 14, 2023 at 5:00 pm
  
  Parasuraman: indeed, customers want to learn the hard way but the problem they do not want to pay the right fees for the repair and that is why they try to do it themselves. someday will come to this understanding that the device has to come to the right qualitfied person to do it. have a blessed day
  
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Yogesh Panchal

August 13, 2023 at 11:28 pm

Good Fix! Waleed

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- Waleed Rishmawi
  
  August 14, 2023 at 5:00 pm
  
  Yogesh: thanks man. have a blessed day
  
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