Looking to buy a wire feed welder

[Charles scozzari]

Probably a good idea. That liner has been in there at least twenty years. I used to always run a lubricated wiper on the feed, but it gave up the ghost a few years back. Time to give it a little love, it's treated me well for many years, with no major issues. Mike

Good morning, I had that burn back problem a while ago and also had the same liner for around 20 years. My machine is a Lincoln 255 wire matic and has been great. I run Harris wire .030 most of time with the correct liner for that wire. I have also had my liner in my machine over 20 years before having the burn back problem. My welding supplier was the one who suggested a liner change and it worked. I know a lot of guys run .030 wire in .035 liners and I wonder if that would prevent the problem. But after 20 years changing the liner and running the right sized liner seems to be the correct way to solve the problem. Have a great Thanksgiving and thanks for the "Like".

 

[FOMOGO]

And a happy Thanksgiving to you, and all the folks here on the forum. My larger mig is branded Mac Tools, but is made by Miller. Will do a little rehab on it and dedicate it to .030. I have a 140 Hobart that will stay setup for .023, just to make life a little simpler. Mike

 

[General Zod]

Well my yeswelder turned out to be a no I don't workwelder. DOA.

I got the welder in last week and it doesn't come with a regulator. No biggie, I have 3. But it was a problem. The gas line has some kind of weird fitting on it. So I ordered a yeswelder regulator and waited another week.

Got the regulator today and hooked everything up and the welder is dead. Won't make any kind of spark. In desperation I even tried to strike an arc on the ground clamp.

So I called yeswelder and left a message and in a short time they called me back. Went through the settings and nothing. So I'm supposed to get an email or call from amazon tonight or tomorrow.

Bottom line is it will probably be another week before i get another one, maybe even longer with the upcoming holiday.

Buy once, cry once.

 

[Aaron_W]

Well my yeswelder turned out to be a no I don't workwelder. DOA.

I got the welder in last week and it doesn't come with a regulator. No biggie, I have 3. But it was a problem. The gas line has some kind of weird fitting on it. So I ordered a yeswelder regulator and waited another week.

Got the regulator today and hooked everything up and the welder is dead. Won't make any kind of spark. In desperation I even tried to strike an arc on the ground clamp.

So I called yeswelder and left a message and in a short time they called me back. Went through the settings and nothing. So I'm supposed to get an email or call from amazon tonight or tomorrow.

Bottom line is it will probably be another week before i get another one, maybe even longer with the upcoming holiday.

Sorry for the troubles, but No welder made me smile. It reminded me of the early bank ATMs. My mother's bank installed one probably about 1980 called the YES machine, (Your Extra Service). It was frequently out of service so she stared calling it the Maybe machine and eventually the Probably Not machine.

I hope they get this right for you without too much trouble. This to me is one of the major selling points of the Harbor Freight Titanium and Vulcan welders among the cheaper imports, easy exchanges as long you have a local HF. Quality control seems to be the major issue with Chinese machines (of all types, not just welders). When they work they seem to be decent, but getting one that works is the tricky part.

 

[Boswell]

All brands/companies can have a problem. What can separate the pretenders is how they resolve the problem. Good luck.

 

[alloy]

i'm supposed to be getting a phone call or email from amazon today about the welder. So far nothing. Very disappointing.

Edit. I called amazon and they didn't know anything about it. So much for yeswelder taking care of everything.

The lady from amazon tired to send me to tech support and I explained to her (3 times) that I had already talked with yeswelder and they were supposed to notify amazon.

Amazon will take the welder back no problem. Said I'll get the replacement in about 8-10 days. I told her that's not acceptable. Yeswelder said amazon can expedite it. She had to go to a supervisor she said and got 2 day shipping. Didn't charge for me for the replacement as long as they get the other one back.

And she wanted me to drop the welder off at ups which is a 60 mile trip for me. I told her why don't she just issues a pickup tag. She did that.

So now I wait again..........................

 

[G-ManBart]

Probably a good idea. That liner has been in there at least twenty years. I used to always run a lubricated wiper on the feed, but it gave up the ghost a few years back. Time to give it a little love, it's treated me well for many years, with no major issues. Mike

When I first started fooling around refurbishing and doing some projects updating older wire feeders to modern guns an old timer told me a trick about liners I've found really helpful. They rarely actually wear out, but they do get a fair bit of gunk in them. Pull the liner, soak it in acetone for a couple of hours, or even better, overnight and then blow it out with compressed air. The couple of machines I've had where the feed was getting that gritty feeling were cured with that process.

Many people on the welding forums who are professional welders have commented that their companies stopped using the lubricated wipers because the lube was worse about attracting dust and grinding grit than without and the liners were getting clogged up. Many suggest using foam earplugs as a non-lubricated wiper. When you change spools of wire you just run the wire through the earplug and then into the feeder mechanism.....cheap and I have yet to read of anyone having problems with that method. I just periodically blow out the liner with compressed air on my wire feeders and haven't had any issues, but I haven't kept one around more than a year or two as I've upgraded so that might change now that I'm set on my two machines going forward.

 

[General Zod]

Many people on the welding forums who are professional welders have commented that their companies stopped using the lubricated wipers because the lube was worse about attracting dust and grinding grit than without and the liners were getting clogged up.

I agree with that. That is why I use a 2nd clean wiper after the lubricated one. I use Weld Aid Lube-matic on lint free cotton pad, and then another lint free cotton pad right after it to clean any residual lube from the wire. Seems to working well for the past 2 years or so for me.

 

[lordbeezer]

I’ve been using cigarette filters unused of course for several years.

 

[alloy]

The new yeswelder arrived today and yes it does weld. I didn't play with it very long and only on the synergy
(auto setting)

The gun feels good and natural in my hand. The auto setting seems like the wire speed is too fast and the weld is crowned so to speak. A little slower wire speed and I think it would have been perfect. I tried to change to the manual mode but I didn't know much about it and was flying blind so I just shut it off and came in and watched vids on youtube about it.

I don't have the parts in yet I need to weld (new transmission cross member) I believe it will be in this friday. Atfer it comes in I can continue on building my exhaust system on my 55.