Are wire spools supposed to fit on only one way?

[SaccharumBB]

I have just had a new wire spool delivered for my Clarke Mig 102ng ( Super 6, 0.8mm ) Tried to fit it to do my first bit of welding this weekend and It doesn't line up with the wire roller or the beginning of the liner as it has been wound in the opposite direction to the clarke stuff that came with the welder. It needs to come off the reel at 12 oclock in an anti-clockwise driectiion and it's coming off at half past going clockwise. And I cannot reverse it as the wire spindle it is mounted on is tapered so it will only fit on one way. GGRRRRR .
Is there some designiation that I am missing when ordering the wire? I can't seem to see anything like clockwise or anti-clock, etc. when ordering and searching the web briefly doesn't provided any answers.
Am I just being dumb and missing something obvious? Or is this what happens when you deal with cheap welders.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Going to need photos...ive never had a spool that has a taper and will only go on 1 way...ive just put a spool of gasless in my mig and its just a case of look at which way it needs to go on, then chuck it on, tighten the nut and stick the end of the wire down the liner

As an aside, super6 wire is junk, but ive used it in the past and it's never been an issue fitting it to any of the 3 mig welders I have had

 

[GRW]

I had one of those. I don't recall any difficulty loading wire though.
Iirc it only takes the mini reels.

 

[Mark 2]

Remove spool rotate 180 degrees around z axis and return spool.

 

[SaccharumBB]

thanks for the replies.
I will try to get some photos of the problem tonight.
I'll put a vernier on the mounting spindle and see if it's really tapered. But the clarke one is the same. Will only drop on one way; turn it upside down and it won't fit.

As an aside, super6 wire is junk, but ive used it in the past and it's never been an issue fitting it to any of the 3 mig welders I have had

How can I know??
Which one or brand would you recommend for general light mig work?

 

[BrokenBiker]

thanks for the replies.
I will try to get some photos of the problem tonight.
I'll put a vernier on the mounting spindle and see if it's really tapered. But the clarke one is the same. Will only drop on one way; turn it upside down and it won't fit.

How can I know??
Which one or brand would you recommend for general light mig work?

super6 has been discussed on here a fair few times...their stick rods can be hit or miss (ive not had any issues with the mma electrodes) but the wire is more often miss than hit. it will work, its just not very nice to use...i found the 1 spool i had just wouldnt weld, it just blobbed up and wouldnt 'melt' in properly no matter waht i did with the settings...put a spool of sip on and it was instantly fine again.

for a hobby welder, SIP wire is pretty ok, ive used a fair few reels of that, just loaded some SIP flux core into mine today. i also found the impax flux core was good so assume the solid would be fine also if you uograded to gas at any point. apart from that, any branded wire will be ok but the sip is available in halfords and toolstation, and impax is screwfix own brand.

just spoke to a mate who has a clarke hobby mig, although a bit bigger, and he has never had an issue with putting new wire on either so im assuming there is something on your welder that either isnt stadard, or theres an adapter to allow it to take smaller spools and larger spools, although on a small machine thats unlikely.

 

[BrokenBiker]

just found this pic on google which suggests it just has a standard spool holder, is this what yours looks like?

 

[Jackimus]

super6 has been discussed on here a fair few times...their stick rods can be hit or miss (ive not had any issues with the mma electrodes) but the wire is more often miss than hit. it will work, its just not very nice to use...i found the 1 spool i had just wouldnt weld, it just blobbed up and wouldnt 'melt' in properly no matter waht i did with the settings...put a spool of sip on and it was instantly fine again.

for a hobby welder, SIP wire is pretty ok, ive used a fair few reels of that, just loaded some SIP flux core into mine today. i also found the impax flux core was good so assume the solid would be fine also if you uograded to gas at any point. apart from that, any branded wire will be ok but the sip is available in halfords and toolstation, and impax is screwfix own brand.

just spoke to a mate who has a clarke hobby mig, although a bit bigger, and he has never had an issue with putting new wire on either so im assuming there is something on your welder that either isnt stadard, or theres an adapter to allow it to take smaller spools and larger spools, although on a small machine thats unlikely.

Good to know - I've just got an email for £5 off with Halfords so that's where I'll get my first roll from!

 

[BrokenBiker]

Good to know - I've just got an email for £5 off with Halfords so that's where I'll get my first roll from!

i used to buy little spools of solid wire from halfords as a back up so when my large spools ran out unexpectedley in the evening i could always keep going, never really had a problem with it. i used Impax wire and that ran out on me monday so i ended up stick welding which wasnt ideal given i was welding 10mm plate to 2mm box, but i got it to work well enough, have just bought a reel of sip from toolstation to put back in the mig as ive got 2 or 3 more stands to make up and tig is just too slow, as much as id like some pretty welds on show, its just quicker to use the mig, wire wheel it and call it a day

this is the impax wire

 

[Erie Fred]

thanks for the replies.
I will try to get some photos of the problem tonight.
I'll put a vernier on the mounting spindle and see if it's really tapered. But the clarke one is the same. Will only drop on one way; turn it upside down and it won't fit.

"won't fit" ???
as in won't start on the shaft ?
or won't go all the way so you can put the nut/retainer on ?

 

[BrokenBiker]

"won't fit" ???
as in won't start on the shaft ?
or won't go all the way so you can put the nut/retainer on ?

this is why i asked for a picture as it makes no sense...the spool has a parallel bore so doesnt matter which way it goes on...this is what leads me to think its either been modified or something is being used where it shouldnt be

 

[SaccharumBB]

Yes. That's exactly my welder in the photo you posted.
Right. I've taken some measurements and the center of the spool in the roll of super6 isn't parallel. Measures about 16.85mm at one end and 16.05mm at the other. There is also a small lip on the inside of the narrower end which would account for it not going onto the spindle. It's quite obvious really when you look at it and flip it from one end to the other. I'm not going to try to force it on as it may not turn or damage the plastic shaft, and as you have mentioned that the Super6 stuff is poor then I will just retrun it as faulty and see if I can get a roll of SIP tomorrow.

One further question, would I be able to use slightly heavier rolls, say 0.75kg or 1kg or do you think the motor will struggle to turn that?
It would be more economical in the long run but it is a bit plasticy and lightweight in there so maybe only able to handle the 0.45 rolls.

 

[bourbon]

That's a 'top loader' and is designed for the bigger rolls. You can see the place where they fit in the picture. the centre of the reel won't be anywhere near the middle spindle. As you look at it. the wire should be coming off the reel on the left.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Yes. That's exactly my welder in the photo you posted.
Right. I've taken some measurements and the center of the spool in the roll of super6 isn't parallel. Measures about 16.85mm at one end and 16.05mm at the other. There is also a small lip on the inside of the narrower end which would account for it not going onto the spindle. It's quite obvious really when you look at it and flip it from one end to the other. I'm not going to try to force it on as it may not turn or damage the plastic shaft, and as you have mentioned that the Super6 stuff is poor then I will just retrun it as faulty and see if I can get a roll of SIP tomorrow.

One further question, would I be able to use slightly heavier rolls, say 0.75kg or 1kg or do you think the motor will struggle to turn that?
It would be more economical in the long run but it is a bit plasticy and lightweight in there so maybe only able to handle the 0.45 rolls.

0.8mm on the bore isnt going to make a difference as the bore will be oversize compared to the spindle anyway...I'd just take the burr off with a knife and use the spool now you have it...it wont take long to burn through a half kilo roll of wire if you are practicing...I usually get 3 decent jobs out of one which probably works out to a few hours a real welding time.

 

[Robotstar5]

0.8mm on the bore isnt going to make a difference as the bore will be oversize compared to the spindle anyway...I'd just take the burr off with a knife and use the spool now you have it...it wont take long to burn through a half kilo roll of wire if you are practicing...I usually get 3 decent jobs out of one which probably works out to a few hours a real welding time.

Our welding robots would burn through a 250kg marathon pack in 4 or 5 shifts!

 

[BrokenBiker]

Our welding robots would burn through a 250kg marathon pack in 4 or 5 shifts!

Yeah but they can weld better than me

 

[Robotstar5]

Yeah but they can weld better than me

and they didn't stop for tea breaks

 

[Ali]

Could you tickle it with a file and enlarge the bore a bit? It’s just disposable and a bit loose shouldn’t matter. Or use the trigger to wind it onto an old roll?

 

[GRW]

I found the Clarke 0.9mm wire it comes with to be awful. This little set was my first welder to see if I could learn at all - & the Clarke wire is a hindrance as its so rubbish.
The Wire type I switched was I think made by SIP, and the wire type was E71-TGS (Halfords stocked it) in 0.8mm.
The 0.8mm went through the machine as-is, with the 0.9mm tip with no issues I noted.

 

[BrokenBiker]

and they didn't stop for tea breaks

Suck ups