TA185, Major problems

[maxyedor]

Well today SUCKED!, had to show up for jurry dutty at 7:00AM, and the wireless internet was down at the courthouse, so since all I brought for entertainment was my laptop and iPod, I listened to music for a couple hours untill the iPod died and then stared at a wall from around 10:00 AM till 3:30PM, UPS normaly drops off at noon so I was expecting my new TA 185 to be on my door-step when I got home. UPS ended up not showing up untill 8:30PM, unpacked the welder, and found that the power connection isn't like anything else in my shop, so I go to Home Depot to but a new plug, they don't have the plug I need or the plugs that I currently have so I bought a couple new plugs and went home to swap a new plug to the machine and another one to my extension cord, turn the machine on hoping to run a couple beads, all I get is a buzzer.

Turns out it's throwing an error code, specificly code E85, which meens there is a malfuntion in the power source, CRAP, the only fix listed is to take it to a TA service tech, F$%#!:realmad: Checked my imput power, 240 volts nice and stable, plugged my Lincoln into the same outlet and ran it full blast, had no problems and drew a consistent 32 amps so I know imput power is not the isse. Anybody have this happen before and know a fix? Machine has exactly 0 hours on it, so far a fully regret the purchase, should have just bought a Lincoln, the big red L has never let me down. I'll give IOC a call in the morning, but had to rant before I started smashing things.:realmad: :mad:

[David R]

Had mine for a year, use the crap out of it and NO problems.

David

[kcir]

Had mine for almost 2 years no problems.

Of course it has NEVER been out of the box yet!

Rick

[Donald Branscom]

Is that TA185 an inverter machine?

[Donald Branscom]

Maybe the extension cord is not large enough to carry the load.

[maxyedor]

Okay, problem solved, sorta, and it only took 48 phone calls! Talked with IOC, they said to call TA, TA said to talk to a local service center, local service center called TA, who said to call IOC, who said to call TA, you start to get the picture. Turns out they suspect that one of the computer boards has a glitch in it, so they told IOC to ship me a new one and IOC didn't really want to pay for shipping and definitly didn't want to expedite shipping. After a lot more phone calls I got TA to 2-day a new one to the local service center and should have it next wednesday, New Years screws everything up still, but at least I don't have to wait untill mid January to actually use it.

Moral of the story, don't order from Indiana Oxygen, things would have been so much easier had they just told me honestly what Thermal was tellig them, instead of spinning the story in their favor.

Thermal Arc was a pain to deal with untill they figured out where the problem was, miscomunication through IOC, once we got that squared away David at TA got me taken care of as best he could and was very apologetic for the DOA machine.

If you are in Southern California and need to buy a welder I highly recomend Mobile Welding in Anehiem, they bent over backwards to get me taken care of as they the local TA warrenty center. Despite not making a dime off the sale they went out of their way to help get me squared away, I had never heard of them before this issue, but I know where my next welder is going to come from.

[MicroZone]

Glad it worked out for you and thanks for the follow up. I know IOC does a large volume on ebay but I've never purchase through them. I prefer to deal with my LWS. Good to see another LWS helping you out!

[maxyedor]

I was pretty shocked too, they were freindly enough, but made everything sound like they were the good guys and TA was giving me the shaft. I like to buy local, but all the local welding shops around here that I knew about either have horrible customer service, don't sell Thermal Arc or they are way over priced on the machines. One shop that I deal with quoted me $2500 for the AM185, and wouldn't price match to IOC at all. I can't figure out why theyed give up the sale, instead of making a little bit of money on the sale, they made no money on the sale. At least I found a decent shop through all of this, they are too far away to buy my consumables and gasses from, but that's where I'll be getting my machines from now on.

[Joe H]

I would rather buy through my LWS too, but the $400 price difference on my plasma could not be ignored. :)

I've bought from IOC twice. Fastest shipping I've ever seen.

[millman52]

I used to buy pallets of .045 Wire from IOC & were good to deal with on that. My local supplier became able to distribute the same wire at about .02 cents per pound more apx. 45.00 per pallet but it was worth it to deal with my local guy. They comp me way more than that in other items to test. Since I started ploping out that much cash per sale & they are drop shipping the wire to me without having to ever see it.

[xt300301nut]

For Maxyedor. Have you got the replacement unit? How is the replacement unit running? What is your impression of this unit? Looking at getting the same unit.
Thanks Gene

[knucklehead]

For Maxyedor. Have you got the replacement unit? How is the replacement unit running? What is your impression of this unit? Looking at getting the same unit.
Thanks Gene


Yes, I am curious as well..... What was the issue with the first machine???

[maxyedor]

Yep, got the replacement unit, seems the one I got was just a good old fashioned dud. The new one welds smooth and clean. I have pictures of my first aluminum welds posted over in the "projects and pictures" forum.

David at Thermal Arc was good to deal with, IOC was somewhat helpfull but I got the impression that I was more of a figure on a sales report than a customer, and they weren't too worried that I was happy and satisfied only that the problem was resolved as cheaply as possible no matter how long it took. I can'r recoment Mobil Industrial in Anehiem California enough, they are just off of Orangethorpe and went way out of their way dealing with this and helping me out, in the end I bought a couple gas lenses from them so they made maybe $3 profit on the whole deal, but I know who I'm buying my next plasma cutter from.

[Tailshaft56]

Guess you and I are in the same class. My new TA did the same thing. Fortunately I bought mine mine local LWS shipped out the old (new ) power source and TA shipped me a new one.

At least TA does have parts and service. If these were Chun King units we would have to be boat shopping. LOL

[fun4now.]

i got great service from IOC when i needed a plug for the foot control on my new TA-185 . IOC got me the phone #'s i needed for TA and i delt directly with TA, and they were the hold up not my local welding service center or IOC. in the end i got the hole foot control replaced but the TA guy left me hanging and went on vacation.:eek: lucky for me i could still use the unit wile he was off having fun. IOC will still get my next sail. they were lots of help. found a local service center for me and got me the #'s i needed to get every thing taken care of.

did i mention mine dose great on aluminum also.:cool2: ya have to make the cart out of aluminum, after all isn't that why you got the TA :blob2:

[DesertRider33]

That's a really nice cart James!

[fun4now.]

thanks, some one was nice enough to run over a bread cart i think it was to alow me to get the aluminum for it free.:D gotta love them ladies behind the wheel.:p