I have an older Hobart beta mig II welder and the drive motor does not work when trigger is pulled. any ideas

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Check the Switch on the handle. Many times the two wires from the trigger down to the Mig Unit break or get a bad connection

I was a service tech/manager for 10 years and had my repair business for another 8 years after I left the company I worked for. Can't really remember that exact machine's theory of operation, but check your weld output contactor. Sounds like it might possibly be stuck In the closed position.

Your Hobart has a Drive Motor Protection.The Drive motor protection circuit protects drive motor from overload. If drive motor becomes inoperative, release gun trigger and wait until protection circuit resets allowing drive motor to feed wire again. Or you can reset it manually by pressing the reset button located on the back welder. If these actions does not work then here's the part number for your motor:HOB 239696.Check our website for pricing you need to call since this is an old welder and pricing needs to be search at Hobart Co.
http://www.praxairdirect.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategories1_10152_10051_-1

Sound like you have a bad trigger on the gun. Does gas spray when you pull the trigger? Check the wire plug that goes from the pistol to the unit. It should be under the liner hose where it connects to the machine. Then use a voltage meter on the wires going to the drive feed motor, and see if you get current when you pull the trigger. If gas doesn't spray neither, sounds like you got a bad trigger switch

I am having the same exact problem on an old Hobart Beta Mig 200
sometimes i can weld for 5 minutes and other times as soon as I hit the trigger it trips the 50amp breaker. Any help?

If the machine has diodes check them. Also if it has a bridge rectifier check it. My 120 would not feed wire and the bridge rectifier was bad.

Take the drive motor off and blow out dust, chips, wire pieces, etc. and then rinse out with contact cleaner, blow dry, re-install. Had to do this every so often with mine. Hope that helps.

does it have a reset button? if so it has gone bad, if not there is a fuse or something inside. they protect that circuit against shorting at the working end of the gun. happens ALL the time.
Hawk

You can buy liners for torches from most welding suppliers, if the torch is very old, it may be time to update.