I have a fairly new Miller 'suitcase' wire feeder being driven by a Miller Trailblazer. I'm running .035 flux cored wire thru a 300 Amp Tregaskiss gun at about 160 amps at the Trailblazer.
My problem is that in every few minutes of welding time, the wire hangs up and stops feeding at the tip. Today I was stitch welding 1/2" plate with about 3" stitches. Every 3rd stitch or so, I had to stop and pull the wire out of the tip with a pair of pliers, then clean the tip with a wire brush. After that, I was good to go for another 3 stitches or so. About every 10 minutes, I had to replace the tip entirely because cleaning it no longer kept the wire moving.
Any idea of why this is occuring? Running too hot? Wire diameter too small for the amount of amps? I've run this set up WITH gas and regular wire in the past, with no problems.
Any help would be appreciated!
chaikwa.
It could be that your rollers are too tight and deforming the tubular wire, causing it to gaul within the contact tip.
Try setting them as loosly as you can and still get the wire to feed. Keep your gun cable as straight as you can and see if this doesnt extend the life of your tips.
It sounds to me like the problem is in the gun somewhere...
Are you using .035 liner and tips? I like to use a size larger tips and liners than the wire size.
Are you keeping the gun relatively straight, or is it coiled? Straighter guns run smoother.
Is the tension on your wire feed rollers set correctly? It should be set to when you pull the trigger, try to hold back the wire coming from the tip with your hand. Adjust the tension to where the rollers slip on the wire when you're holding it back, but just barely. Too loose tension causes the rollers to slip when the gun is not straight, causing the wire to burn back into the tip. Too tight tension causes the wire to "bird nest" at the rollers if the wire comes to a stop for some reason.
Is the inside of the liner clean? It helps to remove the gun from the machine when you change wire spools, remove the tip and the wire from the gun and blow the dust out of the liner with an air hose.
If all that fails to fix the problem, then you probably need to replace the liner. If the gun gets abused by items being dropped on it or being run over, it can get a kink that spoils wire feed.
Good Luck!
Tim
All great advice offered so far. Only thing I would add is to use some nozzle dip, this will help some with the build up sticking in the nozzle. My experience has been that usually happens on long continuous stringers and not so much on short stitch welds. Our E71T-1/Co2 sheilded .035 wire with ESO of 3/8 to 3/4 is by ESAB and runs from 130a/22v up to about 250a/30v, so I'm guesing that you are in the ball park provided you are around 25-26volts.
The feed problems we have had were mostly operator related. Our welders would tighten the pinch wheels at the feeder too tight and they were deforming the wire like Lawerance stated.
John Wright
Thanks everyone. All great advice.
I've been working with the service tech at the supply store where I bought all my equipment, and am slowly solving the problem. Part of it was the wire I was using. I've switched to a USA branded wire instead of the imported stuff they keep on the shelf, and that's helped a great deal. The other thing that was suggested was that I use serrated drive rolls instead of smooth for the flux cored wires. I also changed tip brands, and that's helped too. I've been using tip-dip right along, but I stopped using it to see if it was making a difference... it did. Made it worse without it, so I went back to using it again.
The problem isn't totally cured yet but it's getting there thru trial and error!
Thank again!
chaikwa.
I assume you use self-Shielded flux-cored wire, there are more spatters using this process than others. Please try 3/4'' stick out, and reduce burn-back time see if it works.
Cheers
Gong
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