I've got a Millermatic DVI that's acting up a little. Off and on it will feed all weird. It happens on any setting rather it's 3/30 or 5/90. It will weld great, giving me that wonderful fried bacon sound and then I will go to another section to start welding and for no reason it seems like it will almost stop feeding or give me big pulses with big fizzing sounds and horrible looking puddles. I stop and let a bunch of wire feed out to see if it's hanging up, but it feeds consistantly. Every now and then I will hear a squeek from the reel and spool so I check the tension on the spool and it seems fine. The dies seems to be tensioned correctly and don't seem to slip. I will say this though. That spool is sitting on the leverage/drive pin, but overall the spool doesn't sit too firm on the drive reel. Sort of wobbly. Could this be my problem? It's starting to get annoying and I need to address it ASAP. Oh yeah... running .030 tips with .030 wire and the regular old CO2 mix for shielding gas. ***uming that's not the issue though... The welding masters inputs would be appreciated! Thanks! Scooter
I've got a generic Harbor Freight wire feed welder that'll have issues every once in awhile with feeding the wire. I usually run into one of 2 problems: 1) the wire on the spool 'jumps' and loosen a bit and give a bit of 'backlash' (think fishing reel) and bind up momentarily. 2) I'll get crud built up in the tip, which I'll just tap against the metal or ground and it'll all go away. Dunno if this is the case or culprit you're dealing with, but hopefully it'll help.
I have a MM135, and not long after I got it, it developed some similar symptoms. I finally found tha the wire had gotten out of the little groove on the pinch roller wheel. I re-set that, and been fine ever since ('bout 3 years).
maybe check your tip, run a torch tip cleaner through it, make sure its not the tip causing your problem, also, I some times have wire issues if the liner is in a hard loop, it only takes a few things to cause a wire restriction, and piss you off.
I do get my hose-wire a little bound up sometimes depending on what I'm doing. That would be a big obvious one I hadn't thought about. I have been having a lot of tip problems lately. I could see that being a problem. I will check to make sure the wire isn't jumping ship in the dies as well. ANNOYING PROBLEM and makes even tacking something a pain in the *** when it happens.
I find that if I clean the tip and keep tight curves out of the cable all goes well. sometimes it seems the little hole in the tip clogs up a bit and drags on the wire.
If its intermittent on a consistant basis. You may also want to suspect the hot and ground main cable connections too. take them off and clean them just like battery cables. Take your rollers apart and check for dirt and metal buildup in the groove and on the gearing. Pull your liner out of the whip and give it a good shaking it will loosen up buidup. After reasembly throw in some graphite into the liner to help lubricate the wire.
I've had issues like that, how much use has your welder had? The wire liner inside the hose will wear out, the more wear the more kinks or tight bends in the hose will cause drag.
Make it a point to keep your hose/cable as straight as possible, if your liner is getting a little worn it can cause enough drag to make it feed funny. Even my big Lincoln 255 doesn't like sharp bends in the hose.
Check the washer/spring cup doo dad on your roller tension adjustment set up. Just found a worn out one on a buddies Miller machine,and he had just replaced the liner,the complete"umbilical" or wand and hose setup! He would not elaborate on what he did,(he was too damn mad!!!!),but he mentioned something about "flipping over a spring cup for the tension rollers",and it works like new! His problem was intermittent as well,and would feed fine NOT under load,and occasionally weld and feed fine,although not for long! Hope this helps ya'.
I think it's something stupid though. It has to be. Unless there's something trully wrong with this welder, I can't afford to be without out while Miller sorts out the problem. That will be a last resort.
The wire itself can be a problem sometimes no matter who it's from. Usually it's that the coating is not consistant. If you have the run numbers from the wire, the manufacturer knows if they have a problem. Just another possibility to look into.
Don't bother cleaning the tip, just change it altogether. If that doesn't cure the problem, it's probably going to be the liner. Make sure you get the right tip. If your not using flux, make sure to get the shorter tips. The long tips don't seem to work right on a regular mig.
As stated above: Check all electrical connections for looseness. Start at the transformer, all straps, terminals and capacitors in the welder. Go on to the grounging lead and clamp. finish with the gun and hose set screw at the feeder end. Make sure the wire roll tensioner is working consistently. I use a screw on type ground and not a clamp on type.... Even if new, blow out the gun hose with compressed air every time you change wire rolls. They ac***ulate metal chips. GL, MIZ
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