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Lincoln Precision Tig 185 PC Board

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22K views 24 replies 13 participants last post by  summerman  
M
#1 ·
I recently bought a used 185 Tig. The Potentiometer went out and the Lincoln Dealer says he can only replace the PC Board for $900..
Looking around online I found a few sites that say they repair these boards.
My question is does any one here have a place they can recomend to repair my board?
I would feel better using someone that comes recomended.
Thanks in advence for any help.
Manuel
 
C
#3 ·
try GEM or industrial electronics or York or electrical south and last choice is inovat.
Most give a 90 day warranty and be prepared to send it back for them to try again.
The more information you can give them about what is wrong and not working might limit the number of times they have to try to fix it. As a repair shop my cost on a new pcb is about $100 more than the cost of having the pcb repaired and you get a 1 year warranty from lincoln on the pcb. How old is the 185 you can read it from the serial number.
U1yrmt.......... Less than 3 years old you can bring it to me.
What makes you think the current control is broken????
I will have to check, but I think it is a encoder not a 1 turn pot.
The encoder is just a wheel with a bunch of holes and goes around and around with no stop.
Post the symptoms you know and I will see if I can help you out.
 
D
#4 ·
Wow, $900 for a circuit board! How about a photo of the defective board just to get an idea of what $900 buys you at Lincoln Welding? You know, gold is at $1400 an ounce now. Maybe we should hoard circuit boards instead of gold.
 
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M
#5 · (Edited)
Thanks for you reply.
Here is my story as short as I can Make it. I bough this 185 tig a month ago. Its about 3 years old. Looks to be in great condition when I was loading it the guy was woried about me scratching it. It was in his garage pluged in. I turned the switch on and it worked. The amp indicator was at 135 amps. So I took it home pluged it in and the amp reading was still at 135. I welded some aluminum for about 10 min at that amp setting. When I went to lower the amperage it dropped to 1 amp. when I tried to adjust it it would not change much. I took the knob off and could spin the shaft and it would go up a little at a time and got to 31 amps and thats it.
I took it to Modesto Welding Products and after they looked at it they said the only thing they could do was replace the PCB, for $937 and some change.
Yesterday I took the board to Alliance Welding Supplies (next door to where I work in Livermore) they in turn called Inovat and was told it was on there "do not repair list" !!!
The thing is encased in epoxy, kind of looks like hard wax. I looked at it pretty close and I think I could do it if I had the part. I would just rather pay someone with experienc to do it right.
I am sure someone with the skills can fix this thing. Maybe thats you. I would listen to anything you may have to say.
I see you live in Ceres so maybe you know someone close or if you want to look at it I could arrange that too.
Thanks Again
Manuel
510 714 4631 cel
209 833 1322 hm after 5
 
D
#6 ·
This is now the second PT185 I have heard of that may have a potential board. The other guy is just a few posts down. DAMMIT, I bought this Lincoln because I wanted a reputable name welder instead of the Everlast I was going to go with.
 
D
#8 ·
" they in turn called Inovat and was told it was on there "do not repair list" !!!"


What did they mean by that? Does it mean it's not worth repairing or what?
 
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M
#9 ·
I took it to mean they dont want to work on them at all. Maybe just too intricate of a board and one thing leads to another. I called them myself and the girl checked stock and said they dont have one and its not on there list?
I called five total and am still waiting for a reply from most. But one other said it was not on there inventory list but I could send it to them and they would look at it and give me a price to repair. They were in Florida.
Whats funny I live an hour away from san jose, the silicon valley, you would think some one would be in the book.
I have had a lot of good advice on this site so all is not lost yet.
Before I buy a new one I may just try to find a local tv repair shop, a ham radio builder guy (did I just date myself) or computor type guy, that has experience with tiny circuits, what have I got to loose.
Thanks all...
 
C
#10 ·
I will answer couple of the questions. This pcb is a digital control pcb. with memory and a micro controller. The current control knob is an encoder. an encoder is a wheel with small holes in it. That pass by a light beam making zeros and ones. we have a micro controller so we have simple programing. A lot of the pcb repair places do not like to repair pcbs with programs because they live is special chips they can't get. and lincoln won't sell just them.
They could repair all the dead parts on a pcb and because the programs got damaged , the pcb still does not work.
A lot of these Lincoln PCBs are now sealed in a block of plastic 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick.
Just a few reasons these boards are both expensive and hard to repair.
We sent an obsolete 1st generation meter pcb from an XMT 304 and after 2 tries to fix it they gave up on it and was made completely unusable. They made it worse. It went from the display not working, but had output and controllable, to no output and the display still not right. There is no guaranty that any of the complex control PCBs can be repaired. Some times even common parts are just no longer made making things unrepairable.
 
D
#11 ·
We've certainly all read the statements about how some people on this Board will only buy American because "the parts will always be available". I guess that technically the parts are still available, but if they are unique to the manufacturer and so expensive that it doesn't make sense to repair the machine, maybe that argument isn't all that telling anymore. I know the old transformer machines can be rebuilt fairly easily, but that was before the advent of proprietary chip programming, especially if they are "potting" the boards to keep anyone from working on them.
 
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M
#13 ·
You know, I have been wondering the same thing? The machines are very similar in appearance.

All I know is that this issue of a $900. PCB is going to stay with me for a long time.

All welders have issues i guesse, but it will be a long time, if ever, before I buy another Lincoln product (after of coarse I send them a check for $987.) to fix what I have.

It's just a matter of principle.

I am sure that they will not suffer one bit from the loss of my bussines so it is strictly a personal thing.

I am now officialy done with this issue, life goes on.

Thanks for all the advice & concerns guys.
 
W
#14 ·
I have found this post very interesting because I was going to purchase a Precision TIG 225 next Monday ( 3/28/2011). I wonder what the outcome of this gentleman problem has been. Has Lincoln offered him a solution? I think it would be in Lincoln's interest to want to keep there welders - newish or old, working for as long as possible. Having the old stuff out there, still usable and working properly is the best advertisement they can get. Lincoln is a old family name, I've heard of it all my sixty-years of life but have never personally owned on. Now I'm not sure I want one.

Manualc, if this gets resolved, i hope you will post the solution to your story.
 
D
#15 ·
Well, everyone knows that Lincoln is a good welding company. That is no secret. It appears that the PT185 was just one of those mistakes I guess? As was mentioned, I don't know if the PT225 has the same board though. It stands to reason that it would? Everything else is the same between the two except the amperage right?
 
C
#16 ·
To fill you in. The problem with his pcb was not a board failure. Is was that the encoder was broken by something hitting it. He was able to take the encoder apart and glue it back together. With some luck, every thing started working I think he told me he found one pcb repair place that would attempt to replace the encoder. That was about all they could do.
The PT225 I believe, uses a similar set up. The pcb uses encoders and has different programing.
It doesn't matter if it is Lincoln Miller , ESAB , thermal arc, Hobart ECT. The PCBs in the high end welders are all expensive. Because they are not selling millions of these units there are a smaller number of machines and replacement parts to spread the R&D and manufacturing costs to
 
M
#17 ·
The rest of the story:

When I first called the Lincoln factory they offered me no help with my PC Board.
A dealer close to me offered to sell it to me at his cost which was still $800. Two other dealers said only solution was new PCB at $970. plus change.
I did find two PCB rebuilders that were willing to look at it but no gaurentees.
I was all set to order a new board when I thought I had nothing to loose so I decided to take a look at it myself.
My computer geek friend and I took the board out. We decided to look at the encoder
( the reostat type thing).
When we took it apart we found a little part called a wiper had come apart from its seat and when the dial was turned this part did not move.
Unlike what was said earlier it was NOT HIT nor was there even a scratch on the machine or PCB!
All in all it was not an electrical or PCB problem at all. It was mechanical and the poor design of this little wiper and its seat that was the problem. (and I'm sure not a lincoln part)
And remember that my first call to Lincoln Factory help line the tech made mention of "some little wiper probably fell off" and that was it. Offered no sugestions or help. I did not even realize it until after we fixed it they knew all the time what the problem was with these machines.
Let me add the warrenty period is three years or you can buy extended and if it was still covered they would have fixed it for a small service charge. My machne is 4 years old.
I have since fixed this machine myself for no dollars and was content to just let this thread die.
After reading a request to post my results and some disinformation about the facts I decided to respond.
Since I made the repaires the machine works fine, nice little tig, nice little DC stick welder also.
Life is to short for this kind of stuff, lets go build flatheads.
Manuel
 
O
#21 ·
This is the offending dial. Not sure of the actual name but it's not a pot. I cut the potting compound away from the sides and pried out the four tabs that hold the metal casing to the plastic casting. Then, after de-soldering, I carefully pried/pulled off the metal top.

Image


These are the posts to de-solder. After carefully removing the potting compound I used a vacuum pen to suck out the majority of solder then a wick to get out the rest.

Image


This is the guts of the sucker. It works better after cleaning but it's not 100%. I'm not getting one amp per "notch". Perhaps the wipers are slipping. Anyhow it works now.

Image
 
S
#25 ·
I know this is and old thread but I am looking at a used pt 185 and wondering about it and Lincoln. Also thinking of a pt225. so they both have the same weakness? I have to say it's not impressing me. If people are afraid of buying used Lincolns then what's the point of buying a new Lincoln vs a hyperlastwood box? I'm waiting for some sharp businessman to open up a website with quality foreign/Chinese welders and 5-10 year no questions asked return policy for a small fee. Think about it... buy a welder at half cost of U.S. made and have say a 5-10 year no question warranty. Who wouldn't get one. It brakes you get a new one. Then Lincoln Miller etc. are done. Poof. gone. Its too bad that the decision makers at large corps don't read forums, but then again why would they? It's all about the money. That's why if Lincoln isn't standing up and doing the right thing, then you need to buy elsewhere. Maybe I'll get an Esab... I like Swedish women and Polish girls are cute too. lol. I stopped buying ford cars cause my mechanic told me to. Over the years we became best buds, saw him more than some of my relatives. 110 k on my Toyota.. and never been back to dealership once.
 
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