Which welder?

[C10MixMaster]

C10MixMaster, @bucket,
I'm a welder to and I'm not going to bother to explain how much experience I have unless you want me to go into one of my loooog ass writings, okay. @wanderinthru is partially correct. Usually the motor doesn't go out or have the problems @bucket is talking about, and I know what he's talking about. It's like the wire is surging. There are three or four things that can cause problems and here is what you need to pay attention to. 1. Make sure your drive wheels are kept clean. They can pick up little bits of metal from driving the wire into the liner. If they are allowed to build up on the drive wheels it can cause the wire to slip, and dirt or anything else. 2. There isn't any good way to keep the liner clean. You might remove the wire and maybe blow it out with compressed air, but otherwise just make sure your wire spool is kept clean. Don't leave your welder on the floor where dust and dirt can blow into it or get in somehow. 3. Do invest in a can of the spray that keeps the tip and the cup clean. And buy a bunch of tips. They're cheap and can keep the weld going. Get the proper tools to service the tip and also keeping the cup cleaned out as well. Get the tool to scrap out the cup so the gas comes out smoothly and isn't being partially blocked or interrupted by spatter or that smoky stuff especially from flux cored wires.

If you can afford it @waterpirate, get yourself the regulators for Co2 and Argon gas so you don't have to use flux cored wires. They are filthy and put all kinds of contamination into the weld. They aren't good for anything that doesn't involve hours of clean up, besides all the scratches and dings from banging all the bb's off the area. You may not need the Argon but at least Co2. If your doing plate and doesn't require so much cleaning flux core is great, you can run a lot of current through those wires. When you gain experience you can introduce Oxygen and Argon and then you'd see some beautiful welds from wire. Also if you can afford it get a welder that has a voltage control so you can get the flattening you need and the penetration you want.

Tanks for the advice, I am defiantly a novice welder. With this welder I have replaced the ground clamp the original was sheet metal and not very reliable now it has a heavy brass clamp. Replaced the gas pressure regulator the original leaked from day 1 causing inconsistent gas flow, it now has a flow regulator that works much better. One of the first projects was a dedicated cart for the welder bottle and misc, welding stuff so its never really been on the floor. I have always used c25, never used the flux core. Before every use I chip the crap out of the nozzle and if it does anything weird it gets a new tip. Now as far as chasing the surging issue I have played with spool tension , feed drive tension , replaced the liner, even when as far as replacing the transistor on the control board (internet recommendation ) . When its acting up you can pull the trigger and watch the wire speed up and slow down. I do live in the desert so dust is a possibility and the other thing I have considered is I might have a bad spool of wire it takes me several years to go through a spool of wire.

 

[wanderinthru]

Tanks for the advice, I am defiantly a novice welder. With this welder I have replaced the ground clamp the original was sheet metal and not very reliable now it has a heavy brass clamp. Replaced the gas pressure regulator the original leaked from day 1 causing inconsistent gas flow, it now has a flow regulator that works much better. One of the first projects was a dedicated cart for the welder bottle and misc, welding stuff so its never really been on the floor. I have always used c25, never used the flux core. Before every use I chip the crap out of the nozzle and if it does anything weird it gets a new tip. Now as far as chasing the surging issue I have played with spool tension , feed drive tension , replaced the liner, even when as far as replacing the transistor on the control board (internet recommendation ) . When its acting up you can pull the trigger and watch the wire speed up and slow down. I do live in the desert so dust is a possibility and the other thing I have considered is I might have a bad spool of wire it takes me several years to go through a spool of wire.

Not to butt in. Are you sure the wire is coming off the roll clean, meaning the wire going to the roller isn't coming off the spool under another coil, or 2?

 

[C10MixMaster]

Not to butt in. Are you sure the wire is coming off the roll clean, meaning the wire going to the roller isn't coming off the spool under another coil, or 2?

the best I can tell, I haven't seen it bird nesting.

 

[wanderinthru]

the best I can tell, I haven't seen it bird nesting.

This wouldn't cause it to bird nest, it would change the pressure on the wire/feed rollers.

 

[C10MixMaster]

Not to butt in. Are you sure the wire is coming off the roll clean, meaning the wire going to the roller isn't coming off the spool under another coil, or 2?

ok I meant I haven't seen it bird nest or had the spool running loose which would be the most likely cause of the wire getting wrapped under itself. I have not noticed if the wire wasn't spooled correctly from the manufacture, but next time I have a problem I will look there to.