# can't get wire to feed in flux welder



## SE18 (Jun 23, 2013)

I never liked mig but I got one yesterday, although I think it's not a true mig but rather a 90amp flux wire welder from good old central machinery in chicago. Guess there must be a chicago in china.

So it's a long story why I got one b/c I was looking on CL to get a stick or inverter and found a deal I couldn't pass up, meaning for $30 I could get a HF helmet (which I needed) AND this flux wire welder and extra wire that came with it.

So I cleaned the tip and the spool turns OK but the place the wire goes right before it enters the cable (I don't have instructions so I don't know what it's called), has a thumb tightening wheel and when it turns, I notice it just spins against the wire.

I tried tightening and loosening it and it still spins, just occasionally griping the wire for a micro-second to feed out a tiny bit of wire. I also tried different wire feeds and faster just causes it to spin and slip faster.

Anyone with advice appreciate.

(the other problem is it's hard to see what I'm doing with the helmet, even when set on lowest 9 reading. I did some test welds, but had to pull wire out with pliers)


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## Tamper84 (Jun 23, 2013)

On those rollers, they are used to set the tension. There should be grooves in them. Different sizes for different size wire, make sure you have the correct size for the wire you are using. 

When you pull out on the wire with no tension, does it pull easy or hard? You may need to take the gun assembly off and blow out the liner. 

HTH
Chris

P.S. make sure your spool tension is not set too tight. Where the spool mounts there should be an adjustment there also. When you have everything set correct, you should be able to pull the trigger and the wire will lift the gun up a little bit off of your table.


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## SE18 (Jun 23, 2013)

thx, I'll try that out. Got to do some honey do things at moment


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## tripletap3 (Jun 23, 2013)

Chris covered it pretty good but I just want to add to watch out for the wire being welded to the tip in the nozzle. People will short the tip to the work piece causing the wire to weld itself up into it. Even if the tip looks good from the outside unscrew the tip and make sure it is free. Second thing is to look for kinks of bends in the liner that pinch the wire. Final thing is any of these things may have happened and someone has "spun the rollers" on the wire causing premature wear to them. Rollers do wear out and I have heard some of the Asian machine use plastic ones and if that is the case they would wear out very fast just spining on the wire.


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## Shade (Jun 23, 2013)

I am assuming you are running the correct sized wire, liner and gun contact tip.  
Likely 0.035" size wire, make sure the liner and contact tip are the for that size wire. 
 What you have is a flux core wire welder, 90 amps is not going to weld much more
 than sheet metal.  Generally on the low end FCAW welders you have a single drive
 roller with a V groove or U groove in the driven roller and a flat bearing that provides 
pressure.  If you can remove the gun and cable from the machine, some cheaper 
machines the gun is not easy to remove, if so do not.  Pull a couple of feet of wire
 off the spool and cut if off.  FC wire if hollow and delicate if it gets flattened, easy to
 do to it, it will not feed.  Back off almost all the pressure from the drive assembly and
 see if the wire will feed, if you have removed the gun this should feed wire out of
 the machine, if you cannot remove the gun do the following.  remove the nozzle and 
the contact tip from the gun and used compressed air to blow back to the machine, 
liner's like to collect all kinds of dirt in them, blowing back to the machine can dislodge 
blockages, I do not like blowing dirt back to the machine but often if you have 
blockages you will just make it worse trying to blow them down and out the gun
 end.  Also I will blow out my liner every time I change my spool of wire, I run 33-44
 pound spools on my machine, FC Wire is a lot dirtier so I would still suggest every
 spool.  Once your liner is clean and you have wire feeding out the machine reattach
 the gun (if you removed it) release the pressure screw off the bearing most machine
 the screw just flips off and manually feed a few inches into the gun.  They replace
 the pressure spring/screw and pull the trigger the wire should feed.  Run until you
 get a few inches out of the gun then slide the contact tip over the wire and screw in
 snug.  They take a piece of wood, a 2x4 works well hold the gun at a 45° degree 
angle and feed the wire against it, if the wire does not feed add pressure to the drive 
assy. until it does, the Miller manuals explains this well.

Look at sections 4-10 and 4-11 yours should be similar, Miller has good pictures and 
explains it well.
http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o225311c_mil.pdf


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## SE18 (Jun 23, 2013)

Shade, Triple 3, thanks. I'll save your advice in a word doc for future reference.

After my honey do project, I discovered, thanks to Chris, that the wheel has 2 groves. I had to remove the assembly with allen screwdriver to flip the wheel over and behold, it took this time.

Barring further incidents, I need to practice now with it.

And for heavy jobs, I'll rent the 2 or 3K miller mig at Fort Meade where I work. It's around $12 an hour to use there and found it better to use their O/A welding setup than my own, as gas is so hi

thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DaveV


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## SE18 (Jun 23, 2013)

well, I guess I've got the hang of it. Did what a million people probably did for a first project. Welded up bedrames (the top, 4 sides) for a welding table.


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## Shade (Jun 23, 2013)

SE18 said:


> well, I guess I've got the hang of it. Did what a million people probably did for a first project. Welded up bedrames (the top, 4 sides) for a welding table.



Bedframes weld okay, but don't try drilling them.  They are hard SOB's


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## Ulma Doctor (Jun 23, 2013)

SE, believe it or not they can make some decent welds.
I would highly recommend getting some Lincoln Innershield NR-211-MP welding wire. IMHO it's the best mass available wire you can get easily. Most box stores have it, i Know Home Depot does carry it.
For the 90 amp machine go with the .030" you'll be a lot happier. if you can plug the welder into a 20 or 25 Amp circuit you'll also have a better experience in welding heavier pieces of metal. Keep in mind you'll only weld 2 minutes out of 10 on max setting to keep the unit alive for more than a month.
Don't use the HF  wire it's really crappy and spatters badly. also food for thought the Chinese wires are generally not good for much than hanging pictures, and scarcely suitable for that if you spent more than $10 for your art.

the 90amp units are sweet little 110v units if you try to use them within their capabilities.
Enjoy the new tool!!!!


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## Tamper84 (Jun 23, 2013)

Glad you got her all up and running!!!

Chris


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## SE18 (Jun 24, 2013)

1 I didn't know that about 20-25A circuits. I think mine are 15 except for the washer/dryer and a plug I installed for 220V welder I never got (yet).

2 Yes, the chinese wire looks like rabbit turd

3 Quick question: I welded outside yesterday in no wind. Can you weld in wind?

4 Regardin .30 wire, why does the spool have 2 wire slots? looks like it was made for 2 types of wire? I'm glad you guys told me about flip flopping the wheel.

5 Regarding bedframe. I thought to bolt one together for my pickuptruck to haul my sea kayak around but you're sayin "hard". I'm thinking maybe O/A cheerry red will spot anneal it? (If that don't work, cutting torch & make holes)

If I have time today, I'll weld up a little welding table & post pix

Dave


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## SE18 (Jun 24, 2013)

Just as the wire ran out and thunderstorm approached, I completed the welding table structure with the mig or flux core welder (I don't know if you can dignify it as a mig?)

The stop sign legs on top are not welded on, just resting there. Haven't decided on the top yet but open to suggestions

as I mentioned, the wire ran out. It simply quit feeding and thought there was a problem. But no problem. When I opened the lid, the end of the wire was attached to the spool and wouldn't budge

I ended up wasting the last few feet of wire, for lack of way to make it go, even after cutting it. Guess that's better than having stuck wire in the hose?

Notice the chicago electric imitates Miller blue color and all my accessories are blue as well, didn't plan that tho

Dave


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## Shade (Jun 24, 2013)

SE18 said:


> Just as the wire ran out and thunderstorm approached, I completed the welding table structure with the mig or flux core welder (I don't know if you can dignify it as a mig?)
> 
> The stop sign legs on top are not welded on, just resting there. Haven't decided on the top yet but open to suggestions
> 
> ...


Nice work, I will suggest to cut off the horizontal braces, sticking out like that will definitely catch on your knees or shins.
I would leave the cut posts loose on the table or if you need one or two stay in place just tack weld them so you can reposition them later.
Glad to see you got the welder running.

MIG is Metal Inert Gas and is generally considered an outdated term, but still regularly used term.
MAG is Metal Active Gas also outdated but seldom used in general discussion, carbon dioxide is an active gas, as is hydrogen.
FCAW is Flex Core Arc Welding, and is the correct term for flux core welding whether it is gasless or gas shielded.
GMAW is Gas Metal Arc Welding, and is the correct term for solid or metal core wire with shielding gas and covers both inert and active gases.

GTAW is Gas Tungsten Arc Welding, or often referred to as TIG welding or Heli-arc.
SMAW is Shielded Metal Arc Welding, or often called stick welding.


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## Ulma Doctor (Jun 24, 2013)

SE18 said:


> 1 I didn't know that about 20-25A circuits. I think mine are 15 except for the washer/dryer and a plug I installed for 220V welder I never got (yet).
> 
> A) you may have a 20 amp plug in you garage dependent on how old your house is. it will be a single plug by itself
> most 15 amp circuits have 2 plugs, one on top of the other, the 20 a will be a single plug all alone.
> ...


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## DaveD (Jun 25, 2013)

If it hasn't been mentioned already....be very careful/cautious welding that galvanized 'sign post' material. It looks like its galvanized and it will give off some very toxic fumes. You do not want to breathe those fumes.

I've welded something similar over the years and its a real pain to take a gulp of air, hold your breath, weld a little, stop, run outside and gasp for air like its your last gasp in life. Only to be dumb enough to repeat it for the next four or five welds.


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## Rbeckett (Jun 25, 2013)

Zinc Flu is no joke.  Whatever you do do not breath those whispey white fumes into your lungs. The zinc in the galvanizing is extremely toxic when heated to vapor, so set your welds up in a way that carries the smoke away from you and out into the air outside.  If you have a shop fan that is even better, just set it up so that it circulates the air above where your welding and the fumes will rise and get mixed and taken outside quicker.

Bob


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## sniggler (Jun 25, 2013)

[h=1]Metal fume fever[/h]It used to be a right of passage send the kid to burn (torch cut) some hot dipped galvanized steel in the morning and watch him turn pink. You actually develop a tolerance to it. You also learn to keep your head out of the plume. New welders always hover right over the weld and some never learn not to when you can you get yourself back from the plume. 

bob


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## Hawkeye (Jun 26, 2013)

Any time you're faced with the risk of inhaling zinc fumes from any source, drink milk before and after. The calcium will help displace the zinc in your system. It was a legal requirement at the mine where I used to work, any time we were doing a liner change with a zinc pour.


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## Tony Wells (Jun 26, 2013)

Always makes everything I eat taste sweet for a couple of days if I get a dose of Zinc. I've done my share of it, but learned to grind off, or even acid remove it where I couldn't grind. Not worth the risk. I've welded lots of bridging for pipeworks in refineries scattered all over the world, except they were just steel at our stage. Steps, ladders, safety cages....platforms, etc. We built them, customer had a hot dip outfit in Corsicana with large enough tanks to do the dip. Came out all silvery gray. Nice looking. Shipped overseas for the most part.


On the amperage rating for the plugs. All 120 VAC outlets should be on 20 amp breakers, and rated for 20 amps. Light circuits are always separate and can be 15 amp. The 20 amp circuits are usually 12 AWG and the 15 amp circuits are allowed 14 AWG. Of course, distance to source has to be considered to comp for voltage drop. Anything requiring over a 20 amp supply should have it's own circuit if at all possible.


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## sniggler (Jun 26, 2013)

Iron workers used to get milk money as a line item in the check for exposure to metal fumes.

Bob


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## SE18 (Jun 27, 2013)

completed the welding table (I think)

the top angles are spot welded in place so they can be moved

the only piece not angle are 2 bottom supports which are steel tubes from a curling bar (I use olympic bars for lifting now so didn't need it)

also ground all corners round on outside where you might hit them and cut off all overhang

I'm wondering how long it will take to rust thru if I leave it outside

next project is to turn that dolly in the picture into a real welding cart by putting braces around the FCAW and making a holder bracket above it for miscillaneous stuff


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## Pmedic828 (Feb 5, 2014)

I certainly don't profess to be a welder - I have a miller 180 wire welder that is used frequently but not to excess.  When I 1st purchased the welder, everything was feeding correctly, then, the wire stopped (and didn't come back like the cat).  I checked tension, feed rollers, cleaned out the tube, etc. and still no go!..  I was wondering about the copper tip, I changed the tip to another 0.035 and it still didn't feed.  I unscrewed the tip from the handle, allowed a few inches of wire to feed thru ( which flowed easily), cut off the wire about 1/2 inch back from the end, pushed the wire thru the copper tip, and then screwed the tip back into the handle.  I don't know what I did differently, but it started to feed perfectly and has continued to feed for years now.  Maybe the wire was flattened while passing thru the feed roller, had a burr, or something, but it started working.  Guess I was holding my mouth right.  You could try this, if you have tried everything else and maybe you will be holding your mouth right, er... left, or just right.  Hopes this helps.  (I also use a gel tip cleaner after every 5 minutes of welding and it seems to keep the tip cleaner - around $8 for a jar that has lasted years!


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