SIP P170P Wirefeed birdnest issue

[CastingFlame]

Hello everyone. I have been struggling with my welder for a year and I wonder if you could please give me some advice.

I purchased a used SIP 170P a year ago and have had a few problems with it. Today I fixed the gas leaking problem by fitting a new gas solonoid but I still have an ongoing problem . . . .

Since I had the welder it has always been prone to create a birdnest of MIG wire at the point past the wire roller and the euro connector. There doesnt seem to be much happy medium between the feed wheels spinning (then adding adding tention to the wire) to birdnesting if i loose the wire on the mig tip. I think I may have even made it worse by fitting a longer 5m MIG torch. I changed the 5kg spool to a smaller one and it now feeds a little better but still with issues.

I am a relative novice.

Thanks, Paul

 

[Wallace]

Are you using 0.6 wire?

 

[CastingFlame]

Are you using 0.6 wire?

Yes I am Wallace

 

[Wallace]

The 5m torch with 0.6mm wire will be adding to the problem due to extra friction and any coiling or bends in the torch lead will make it worse. I try to keep the torch lead as straight as practically possible from machine to job to give the wirefeed a better chance. If you get a burn back to the tip that sticks and the roller tension is high to cope with the added friction then the wire tries to bend wherever it can. Does your torch have a steel liner? The start of the liner needs to be close to the feed rollers without touching and a steel liner also helps here to prevent bird nesting due to a little more rigidity. I asked Weldequip about upgrading to a 4m torch from the 3m when ordering my Portamig and he advised against it unless I was using 0.8mm wire or above.

There are some tips here on SIP wirefeeds and liners.

 

[CastingFlame]

Thank you very much Walace for taking the time to help.

Everything that you have said and linked to makes great sense and im heartened to see that the problems I have been experiencing is not just down to my lack of real world experience.

Decided to put the 5m torch up for sale and put better wheels on my welding cart!

Also experience the feed wheel line-up problem. I will install a new steel liner and see how that goes before trying a more stable power feed to the wire feed motor.

Don't know how I have missed thid site. Its packed full of stuff.

Thanks again. I will update on my progress in case it may help someone else in the future.

Cheers,Paul

 

[skotl]

Decided to put the 5m torch up for sale and put better wheels on my welding cart!

Nice to see a pragmatic approach!

 

[Wallace]

Glad I can help, let's hope my advice works! How old is your machine? If your feed motor is servicable then you might see an improvement from a simple re-grease, this happened with my old machine.
A couple of years ago I convinced myself the torch and wirefeed motor on my Einhell Mig after 24 years service could do with something newer so I looked into Euro torch conversions and a better wirefeed motor. After weighing up the costs I decided a new machine with a bit more power would be better value so I bought a Portamig 215 and sold the old Einhell to a friend.
Before selling I gave the machine a thorough going over and found the wirefeed motor grease had turned to glue making the motor a bit slower on start up which in turn effects initial arc striking causing burnback problems and sticking in the tip. Once cleaned and re-greased the machine had it's old sparkle back that had decayed slowly over time without my noticing and I had learnt to live with, then I started to wonder if I had wasted my money on the new machine!

 

[500e]

Seen smaller boxes on a fizzy

 

[Robotstar5]

Is there a gap between the feed rolls and the back of the Euroconnector? there should be a guide tube that almost touches the rollers to reduce birdsnesting.

 

[CastingFlame]

Glad I can help, let's hope my advice works! How old is your machine? If your feed motor is servicable then you might see an improvement from a simple re-grease, this happened with my old machine.
A couple of years ago I convinced myself the torch and wirefeed motor on my Einhell Mig after 24 years service could do with something newer so I looked into Euro torch conversions and a better wirefeed motor. After weighing up the costs I decided a new machine with a bit more power would be better value so I bought a Portamig 215 and sold the old Einhell to a friend.
Before selling I gave the machine a thorough going over and found the wirefeed motor grease had turned to glue making the motor a bit slower on start up which in turn effects initial arc striking causing burnback problems and sticking in the tip. Once cleaned and re-greased the machine had it's old sparkle back that had decayed slowly over time without my noticing and I had learnt to live with, then I started to wonder if I had wasted my money on the new machine!

Not sure how old it is but I will put some fresh grease in it tomorrow as it is quite an easy job. Every little helps. Know how you feel about getting the new welder. Not far from there myself!

 

[CastingFlame]

Is there a gap between the feed rolls and the back of the Euroconnector? there should be a guide tube that almost touches the rollers to reduce birdsnesting.

No there isn't. There is some tubing on the input side of the wheels but not between the output and euro connector. Any idea how I address this?

Please see pictures below . . .

 

[CastingFlame]

Made this anti-flex plate today. It has helped with the wire feed massively but not stopped the bird nesting. Maybe as Robotstar5 said there is no tube between the rollers and torch.

Paper template

Created in metal

First fitting


As you see in image 1 there is no pipe between rollers and torch.



Oh and yes I'm new to metalwork if you are wondering!

 

[CastingFlame]

My Welder has a euro connector. Was this standard on the SIP P170P ? Mine definitely looks like it's missing that pipe. Even on darrencambs mod his has a black pipe to the rollers.

Back to the drawing board to see if I can find something that works. I think I'll replace the case screws with sticky Velcro.

 

[Jan]

Before I replaced the liner on my torch there was an adjustable cone facing the feed rollers. Unfortunately it couldn't be swapped onto the new liner, so I merely cut the liner about 1cm 'too long' so that it almost grazes the rollers. *Fingers Crossed* So far, so good.

 

[Wallace]

My Welder has a euro connector. Was this standard on the SIP P170P ?

Looks that way. Link.

 

[Robotstar5]

No there isn't. There is some tubing on the input side of the wheels but not between the output and euro connector. Any idea how I address this?

The Euroconnector normally has a brass tube inside it that extends as far as the feed rolls but not quite touching them.

 

[the snooper]

you seem to have quite a gap between the roller and the liner (see Arrow) if you can pull the liner through a little to get it as close to the roller as possible that should stop the birds nesting

 

[CastingFlame]

After a lot of searching I found the tube.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eurofit-O...594?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item233648daaa

Exactly the correct size. Will update after delivered and fitted.

 

[Robotstar5]

Looks like the one, you may need to shorten it to suit your machine, make sure the taper faces the feed rolls. The ideal length is when the liner retainer nut on the torch pushes the tube to the correct position relative to the feed rolls.

 

[CastingFlame]

Looks like the one, you may need to shorten it to suit your machine, make sure the taper faces the feed rolls. The ideal length is when the liner retainer nut on the torch pushes the tube to the correct position relative to the feed rolls.

Thanks for that top tip!