Thread: Cigweld Transtig 150 ac/dc /hf tig/arc Amp Control issue

Hey everyone, looks like there is some very knowledgeable folks here when it comes to welders/repairs etc so thought ide give it shot by asking if anyone can help me/point me in the right direction!

i have an older Cigweld Transtig 150 i picked up rather cheap a few years back, it seemed to work rather well for the small amount ive used it with Arc and Tig welding but suddenly it started having a bit of an issue with the amp control.

seemed to be rather intermittent at first, where it would get "stuck" at higher amps or even jump up to maximum whilst welding, seemed to sort itself out turning it off and on and ide get done what i needed to, but now it seems to just be stuck on max, where the amp control knob does nothing, so far ive pulled it apart and checked for anything obvious/burnt and re plugged everything in a few times etc but no luck.

potentiometer seems to be fine/checked it with a multimeter so im leaning towards the control board having a short, although reading a few other posts/forums it could be something else i just dont know where to look! im biased both ways towards sending it away to get fixed, or buying a cheap new one, i feel fixing this would last me longer than buying a new one.

i am rather competent in giving any fix a go.

if anyone has some input into helping me that would be great.

thanks,
Bowen.

Pulled it apart for the umpteenth time, cleaned every electric contact, reassembled, done a few arc welds and seemed to be working good. Amp control definitely was changing the amperage of the output. I think it may of been working fine with arc welding beforehand though, I just didn't test it enough.

Attached the tig torch etc, set up for test welding some alloy and it was working for two or three small welds, went to carry on with a half finished alloy project and wambampow, it's on stuck maximum amps.

Switched back to arc welding, ran a few beads on a couple different amps, seems to be okay.

Does anyone know if these older machines were smart enough that "if" you had a foot pedal installed (I do not, just a switch) that you can set the machines knob and then sweep in-between minimum and set amps? Or did the pedal Make the knob unusable/obsolete and it was minimum to machines maximum on the pedal? I ask this as maybe I've got a short in the tig torch/switch wiring and it thinks I'm jumping to max? Going to be my next investigation anyway.

Cheers,
Bowen.