i always payout a couple feet of wire to see how much bend I'm working with. If there's a lot of curl it means that roll came from the end of the batch. Good manufacturers straighten the wiring to keep consistant. I've run straighteners on the machine to see if I could get better tip life. To biggest problem I find with tip life and wandering is if the gun cable is looped, the wire will cork screw, that and too tight on the rollers and it causes a fine line in the wire making the wire act like a reamer as it cork screws through the liner. Arch wander I find is also related to a poor ground. if your using the typical spring loaded clamp, thats your problem. The best is the screw clamp style. Here's a good test: weld at 20.0v for 15 minutes. the heat in your clamp is telling you something. The more heat the worst your grounding problem is. I've seen the clamp start to smoke from the heat. Go to a screw type clamp, problem solved.
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Wandering MIG wire
- Thread starter savarin
- Start date
Hello all,
I know this is a old post, but I have 42yrs helmet time. Just my own Miller model 35 I picked up new in 1981 has had a little over 1100lbs
of .035 ls-6 hard wire thru it. Plus my factory work. I have had the exact problem you described several times over the years.
Run about 4 feet of wire out of your gun, cut it off and clamp 1 end in a vice. Then pull the wire thru your fingers at a smooth but fast
pace. Sometimes you will feel ripples in the wire spaced 1" to 2"s apart. It will cause the wire to snake from side to side and it makes
your arc look like it is wandering. I have never had magnetic induction arc wander with spray transfer MIG like TIG welding.
If you have this it will give you all kinds of feeding problems. We had 1 full pallet of .035 that was bad this way about 25yrs age from
a major brand name supplier. I have had this crop up now and then over the years with all brands.
Just another thing to check if you are having odd feed problems. As this one is a bad one.
I hope this helps someone sometime. And run the largest spool your machine will handle. Dramatically drops your cost per pound.
Take Care,
Rick
I know this is a old post, but I have 42yrs helmet time. Just my own Miller model 35 I picked up new in 1981 has had a little over 1100lbs
of .035 ls-6 hard wire thru it. Plus my factory work. I have had the exact problem you described several times over the years.
Run about 4 feet of wire out of your gun, cut it off and clamp 1 end in a vice. Then pull the wire thru your fingers at a smooth but fast
pace. Sometimes you will feel ripples in the wire spaced 1" to 2"s apart. It will cause the wire to snake from side to side and it makes
your arc look like it is wandering. I have never had magnetic induction arc wander with spray transfer MIG like TIG welding.
If you have this it will give you all kinds of feeding problems. We had 1 full pallet of .035 that was bad this way about 25yrs age from
a major brand name supplier. I have had this crop up now and then over the years with all brands.
Just another thing to check if you are having odd feed problems. As this one is a bad one.
I hope this helps someone sometime. And run the largest spool your machine will handle. Dramatically drops your cost per pound.
Take Care,
Rick
Maybe the wire was mis-labeled or was under size? Only other thing I can think of is maybe there was a kink in the cable that was bending the the wire?
Never had this happen before. I've used a couple brands of solid wire, in both small and large spools..
I guess if it happens again, run the wire out about 20 or 30cm, and see how much it arcs. If it spins in a tight loop, then it's probably got a lot of "memory" in it.
Never had this happen before. I've used a couple brands of solid wire, in both small and large spools..
I guess if it happens again, run the wire out about 20 or 30cm, and see how much it arcs. If it spins in a tight loop, then it's probably got a lot of "memory" in it.
Maybe the wire was mis-labeled or was under size? Only other thing I can think of is maybe there was a kink in the cable that was bending the the wire?
Never had this happen before. I've used a couple brands of solid wire, in both small and large spools..
I guess if it happens again, run the wire out about 20 or 30cm, and see how much it arcs. If it spins in a tight loop, then it's probably got a lot of "memory" in it.
The wire was not mis-labled or undersize. It was 1 full pallet of 44pound spools. 3 spools were put on 3 different machines from this pallet within a 1 1/2 hour period. All had 2 inch waves in the wire directly off the spool. Everyone that was checked from that lot# from the manufacture had the
same defect. You don't get coil memory with 35lb or 44lb spools. I have seen it with the small 1lb spools and yes if you don't have a good feed system you will get resistance in your liner. this is not that problem. When you pulled the wire out straight it was wavy. When it was bad it would not feed thru the liner. When it was not as bad it would come out the contactor tip and move side to side at the puddle. I have used about 4000lbs .035 hard wire
in the last 34yrs and have seen this 4 times. It is a very rare problem and I think that is what the original poster had problems with by his description.
Each time I have seen it was with a different manufacture.
It is very rare, and I am passing it on as I have never seen anyone mention it even on the industrial welding sites. The one time I did I had guy's
with factory experience say yah come to think of it back in 84 or 91 we had a couple spools that were like that, couldn't keep the wire over the
puddle and had more spatter. I would bet it is more common with the cheep 1 to 5lb spools, but who do you know that really checks the wire
as it comes off the spool before it goes in the machine? That is this problem.
Take Care,
Rick