I have a Miller 130 with gas that's about 15 years old.It gets typical hobbyist use.I keep the nozzle clean,change the tips occasionally...It's been trouble free and fine for the work I do.Lately my welds seem more ****ty than usual....sometimes the wire appears to not run out smoothly,especially with .023. Maybe I should replace the wire drive wheel and or the wire sheath inside the hose?
Yeah, the liner the wire runs through gets deposits in it, and will slow, or sporadically stop the wire. They need to be replaced every so often. I think 15 years is pretty good, but change it out!! The drive wheels usually need cleaning real well, but not replacement so often.
Also on some of the small mig machines I have seen the drive wheel tension arm ***embly made out of some kind of plastic. When the machine is not in use it is a good idea to release the tension so the plastic does not distort over time.
Its been a long time since I fooled with trying to run .023, but dont you have to change the sheath and the drive wheels when you change wire sizes? I always had trouble with the smaller wire too. One thing that helps is to try and lay the whole cable out as smooth as possible, with no sharp bends or kinks....sometimes hard to do in/around/under a car. Good Luck!
The sheath does wear out and the problem I have is sometimes the 023 wire gets old too and gets some rust specks on it which causes binding inside the sheath. Also be sure your gas pressure is correct and the ground cable is as close to the weld as possible.
old wire..if i dont use my welder for a while, i pull about 10 fet off and cut, thread it, and never have it stumble..you can actually run your fingers overe the wire..it will be rough and then get smooth, thats i cut it,,
Normally the drive wheel doesn't wear out. I think I have replaced one since I started welding in the late '60s and I worked in sweat shops a lot. But the liner does wear out. As well as the connections get corroded (think ground post and hot lead inside the welder).
I replace the liner on my Lincoln 175+ about every two years and clean the drive wheel area with a blast of brake cleaner spray (non clorinated). A new contacter tip does wonders and wire brush the ground connection. Houston Summers are damp and the wire spool will start to rust when the machine sets for a week or so.
I changed the liners in mine after like ten years use, it fixed the problem for a little while. My problem was since i move the thing around a lot and wrap up the leads. It eventually got a kink in the line near the machine. I got a new gun with the spring near the machine.
Need to have the correct tip, and drive wheels for various size wire, but same liner works for .035 or .023 wire.
As an interim test, remove the wire from the liner and take an air nozzle and blow out the liner. Dirt and debris from the wire builds up in there over time and can sometimes be blown out to help the problem. If that doesn't do it replacing the liner is a cheap and easy fix, as is adjusting the feed rollers and tension. Don
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