Riland Plasma Cutter

[Kenny O]

Hello... I have a Riland cut60 with less than 2 hours of usage. It was in storage for 2 years.

Now it it does not work, the fan doesnt spin etc. any one know of a source for troubleshooting steps.

I have some electronics experience, of the 101 variety.

 

Thanks to all

[DSW]

PM sent.

[Kenny O]

Well it still does't work.... any help?

[Glenn]

Did you contact Riland? What did they suggest?

[Dodge]

What Glenn said but, I have heard of electrical thingys (including auto wiring) being invaded by mice during long storage. Any chewed wires? ;)

[Kenny O]

Riland doesnt exist any longer...sadness. It was only used for about an hour total. Nothing chewed or obvious, therin lies the problem....I am searching this area for a OCD electronics guy that might find this a chalange. I will continue my search...

[KRS]

Any melting fuses in the cutter?

Next I would look for damaged capacitors, bottom right in your second picture. If the top is warped they are very likely damaged but easy to replace.

Look for any signs of a arc or heat damage, the transistors on the aluminum plate look good as far as the picture goes but they tend to burn out quickly if overheated.

A burned coil can be harder to spot because a shortcut can happen inside the windings.

Good luck 

[DSW]

A lot of those older imported cutters used Mofsets vs the newer IGBTs. Poor quality control often led to units that self destructed after only a few dozen hours of use. That wasn't a big deal if someone used the units and the grenades under warranty, but the occasional user who only used it once and a while didn't realize they had a ticking clock on their hands until it was too late.

 

 

Also one of the problems with inverter based electronics like this is that these failures are seldom a " one broke, one fix" problem. When electronics handling high voltage goes, it often creates a cascade failure thru the system blowing out other components. It's these 2ndry components that often show up as "blown". I know a bunch of guys who have replaced whole boards on inverters only to destroy all that new money as soon as they powered up the "repaired" item. Issue is the original fault hadn't yet been determined and they didn't do any prepower checks to identify any major errors. Even with specific procedures from companies like Miller, from what I understand powering up inverter units are still often a cross your fingers and pray you didn't miss anything type of repair. Trying to do so with no schematics, instructions or replacement boards, is often an effort in frustration at best and many places simply won't bother touching stuff like this knowing the gamble they have to take and the fact that if something else blows, the cost instantly exceeds a new replacement unit.

 

 

 

I was hoping Mechanic416 over on WW could at least point you in the right direction if anyone could. Since it's not fixed, I'm guessing he couldn't help much. Sorry about that.

[Kenny O]

Thanks for all your input, It was a foolish move to purchase this unit. Poor impulse control... I will check the recomended parts... :)

[DSW]

I find a lot of these importers prey on the new guy or the uninformed/under informed. They have a slick sales pitch that can sucker in some one who doesn't know the right questions to ask. That combined with an inexpensive price and the fact many will most likely use it to a limited extent as a hobbyist.

 

I'll be the 1st to admit as a young college student just getting into metal working and restoring cars, I bought the slick sales pitch when I got my 1st mig welder. When it broke 3 years later having been only used a few times, I found the seller was long gone and all the supposedly great support was all smoke and mirrors. After I replaced it with a Miller ( that had been my 2nd choice originally) I ended up spending more in the long run to "save" money. That machine is now over 20 years old and when I had an issue with a broken gun last year, parts and service were no problem.