Broken wire spool

[Mr Fro]

I ordered a couple of 5kg reels with my new welder and have happily been chuffing away with my 0.6mm wire up until the weekend as I've mostly been doing thin stuff. However, I opened up the box of 0.8mm for some thicker stuff to find the reel had broken - there were a couple of chunks out of one of the sides and a split from the centre to the edge that spreads about 1/4 of the way round the centre of the spool.

I got happy with the superglue and some G-clamps but there's still a bit of a gap where (I guess) a few strands of wire have spread from the spool to fill the void. I tried running with it but my wire feed is a bit erratic and I ended up burning up a couple of tips. I think the erratic feed is coming when the wire feeds off the spool and drops/catches in the gap.

So my question is; shall I crank up the roller tension to hoik the wire through or is that a stupid idea and should I just bin it and get another for the sake of a few quid and to spare the rollers?

Cheers,
Fro

 

[rtbcomp]

I'd try to fix the gap

 

[rtbcomp]

Have you got an empty spool you could transfer it to?

 

[Mr Fro]

I did try pulling the errant side back in to place but a few strands of wire have already got down there - unfortunately no empty spool either (wouldn't it take an age to wind a full spool anyway:-)).

I'll take another look to see if there's anything to hack off - I must remember to check things on arrival in the future...

 

[Turbo]

I had that happen to me a few years ago. I gave up trying to get it to work after a few burnt tips. I now keep it in case I run out of wire at 6pm Saturday evening when all the shops are closed!

 

[dannyp]

just bin the roll, ocassionaly get the 15kg ones crack and the wire drops down and snags just not worth messing with