Wandering MIG wire

savarin

savarin

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Anyone any ideas what caused this?
Never seen it before and have gone through heaps of spools.
The wire upon exiting the tip wanders around by as much as 10mm in random directions.
It made controlling the bead almost impossible.
I replaced the tip but no improvement
It must have been the wire because a new spool behaved correctly.
And as is usually the case with these things it happened over a long holiday weekend so I couldnt get a replacement.
 
What I've learned about MIG welding could fit in a paper cup. What I remember wouldn't fill a thimble. Don't different types of wire require switching polarity? Is it possible you picked up a spool of something you hadn't been using in the past?
 
A possibilty (however I think it is unlikely) might be that it isn't sized right and the rollers are squashing/deforming the wire as it goes through the rollers, but you would have problems with the wire coming out of the tip if it was too large, if the wire was larger then it was supposed to be it would be deformed as it gets pressed into the grooves in the rollers, which are made for a certain size wire and unless the pressure on the rollers is reduced it will deform the wire which may cause it to wander. Put a long strip of it through the rollers making sure it doesn't touch anything earthed and examine it for deformations.

But as I said it would be unlikely, if you have a micrometer or a vernier I would measure both the new wire and the one that gave you problems to see what the variation is. If it is a brand name spool, then I would contact the manufacturer and talk to them about it.

The other thing I would have to ask is, is it actually the wire or the arc that is wondering? Reason being, that if the work being welded is magnetized for whatever reason or has a magnetic joint holder nearby, the magnetic field could push the arc around but not the wire itself.

Cheers

Ed.
 
Same brand Charles?
Have a look with a magnifying glass. I'm wondering if there isnt a longitudanal score from manufacturing running the length of the wire. When they make the wire, it is basically drawn through a hole in a die of the correct diameter and extruded to shape. If there was a mark on the die it would transfer to the wire.
but what I know probably wouldnt even fill a tadpoles bladder...

Cheers Phil
 
Did it start happening when the spool was almost empty? I have had similar problems with cheap brand wire at the end of the spool.
 
I couldnt see any difference in the wire from new to old.
It started the wandering right from the start.
No magnetic material nearby.
Definitely the wire as if I let it squirt from the tip without welding you could see the wander, it was very pronounced.
I have used it all up as the base metal was thick enough that the extra wide bead still looked ok.
It was really weird watching it and a real pain to control the bead.
 
Mig wire takes what is called a cast. That will make it wander it the tip and is more pronounced on harder wire. To alleviate the issue I always use the 10 inch 10 or 33 pound spools. The much larger diameter of the spool helps reduce the cast and makes the wire more controllable in the weld. A good liner and tip will also go a long way to helping reduce the whipping around, but again no gaurantee it will remove excess cast from a tightly wound spool. To mesure cast point the tip in a safe direction and allow the spool to run onto the ground and lay naturally. Your cast diameter should be about 1 meter across, if it is less then you will have issues like you described. I usually return a spool if it wont lay flat and have about a one meter across lay on the floor. I also use the time that the spool is paying out to calibrate my IPM for that particular wire. Hope this helps.
Bob
 
What make and model of welding machine
What wire are you using what is the diameter
What gun and tip size

Are you sure that your tip is the same size as your wire diameter .....How is your liner.....Your rollers are smooth for mig solid wire or knurled for flux core and only tight enough to feed the wire

How much stick out beyond the tip are you using

Flux core self shield wire is DCEN but some are DCEP and those are dual shield flux core wires

Mig is DCEP

Magnetic wonder is called arc blow and stick welding is the only thing that is effected by arc blow and that is the arc it's self wondering or not going were you want it
 
Thanks for all the ideas guys but just to reiterate, I'm not trying to solve a problem as its never happened before in the last 30 years (thats a lot of welding) and I have used up the spool. I just wondered what may have caused it.
I have just moved to a 5Kg spool from a different manufacturer, again no problems with this spool.
I use gas shield copper coated steel wire 0.6mm with the correct sized tips.
I think that the idea that the wire was wound to tightly on the spool was probably the cause. Maybe it was the last one from the supply spool at the factory.
I'm awaiting a reply from the manufacturer regarding the batch number. I will post their reply.
 
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