buy a bigger roll of wire?

[sparkykilowatt]

I have a hobart 175 handler its 220 and gas equipped. My question is my welder came with small rolls of wire, what is the part number for bigger rolls of wire. I dont want to buy something I can't use. At this time I have L-56 wire 0.030 2 lb ER70S-6. THANKS!

 

[irondarren]

22lb of wire would be a kg roll here in the uk, the next size up is a 5kg roll (or 10lbs to our American cousins). If i remember correctly the 5kg roll has a large hole in the centre of the reel and might not fit without an adapter

 

[R Kraft]

One of these M15445 ?:
http://www.buyweld.com/m15445-1.html
Robert

 

[GeorgeB]

Isn't the use of a larger roll of wire putting extra strain on the wire feed drive motor? This won't be a problem for a heavy duty, industrial wire feed unit, but I do wonder about most motors fitted to relatively small MIG welders. Aren't you better off sticking to the small reels of wire (approx 0.5Kg).

 

[shenion]

It should have come with an adapter for large reels of wire (8" reels.) Should be a 2" tube with a small hole in it. Could also be 2 big stepped plastic washers.

The L-56/ER70S-6 wire is good. It comes in 11lb/8" rolls also.

 

[irondarren]

You probaly raised a good point there George. My portamig has a 4 wheel wire feed system, get you fingers stuck in the pinch rollers and you would soon find your self being forced up the mig torch. It has a large motor 110% designed for a 15kg roll with a good amount of pressure on the friction brake and requires absolute minimum pressure on the pinch rollers.. Now take one of the small clarke machines it has a small wire feed motor, and even tightening the pinch rollers all the way wont put massive pressure on them. Both are designed for different scales of welding.
One other thing to take into consideration is how quick you use the wire roll, after to long a period the wire will oxidise and cause problems with the liner clogging up. So a smaller roll might be a benifit if it isnt used with a month

 

[shenion]

The Hobarts are good machines and designed for 11lb (5 kilo) reels. It will not take the 30lb (15 kilo) reels.

I have a roll of L-56 wire that is 2 years old that still looks like new even being keft in my often flooded garage. It does not tarnish or rust like cheap wire.

 

[GeorgeB]

My portamig has a 4 wheel wire feed system, get you fingers stuck in the pinch rollers and you would soon find your self being forced up the mig torch.

Wow - these were the industrial type wire feed systems I referred to, as I've seen (via web images) fitted to heavy duty gear from Miller, etc. I'm impressed that Portamig fit 4 wheel systems. Could you post a photo, please?

 

[Luke]

FWIW, I believe it's only the larger Portamigs that have 4 roller feeds. the smaller ones have 2 roller (still industrial size) feeds.

 

[shenion]

Here's a pic of the Hobart 4-roll feeder I had. The motor was huge, about 8" long and 5" in diameter.

My Airco and Lincoln feeders had 2-roll feeders. Unlike hobby MIGs, all rollers are driven, so eve a 2-roll feeder will have more drive than a hobby MIG with a driven roller and an idler. You can barely see the teeth behind the upper rollers where they are driven from the lower ones.

I tested the Hobart to see if it could grip the wire well as the rollers were a mix of sizes. Gripped the wire with pliers and hit the trigger. It nearly rippled the pliers out of my hand and broke the wire.

All 3 I had were designed to support 1.6mm wire. You need lots of torque to drive it and more rollers as it is a lot of drag and a single roller will just slip. All 3 feeders came with 15' torches.

 

[GeorgeB]

Here's a pic of the Hobart 4-roll feeder I had. The motor was huge, about 8" long and 5" in diameter.

Thanks for posting this image. It may be the heaviest, most impressive-looking wire feeder I've seen so far. What a difference to the module fitted to entry-level SIPs and the now defunct Aldi-Wolf. It must surely help with pushing wire down a 3m + cable to the gun, as well. Are you still using it?

 

[shenion]

I sold the Hobart on ebay. I bought it to go with my Miller CP-250 as no one was interested in just a power supply. I ended up keeping the Miller and using my Airco feeder. Sold the feeder and gun for twice what it cost me. It was huge and awkward to use as the gun came out one side, wire in opposite side, controls in front and door in back to change wire. So, it needed access to all 4 sides .

The Lincoln R3S-325 welder I had came with an LN-7 feeder that was similar in design to my Airco. Was probably 25 years old. Sold with welder. Lincoln sill sell the LN-7 feeder with little changes (now you can get digital meters.) The LN-7 does have a 4-roller option. Here's a pic of it after I restored it (mainly needed new paint

My Airco feeder is fine for my use:

Made in 1973, case is beat up but it still works fine after 30+ years