Hey. I bought my first MIG welder today. Its an Esab LKA 180 amp. Bought it used, and the seller had earlier replaced the hoose from the welder to the gun including a better esab gun, complete package, dont know the english word for this hoose package
He wasnt using the welder, and the welder was just collecting dust for a long time.
When I got home and tested the welder, it was feeding wire very irregular. Not the same speed, but kind of slows down very often. When i have the speed setting at 1, the feeding wheel doesnt move at all. When i have it from 2-5 it moved, but the upper pressure wheel was slowing down every now and then, causeing the wire to just spin on the feeding wheel. When i have the wire feed higher than 5 it just spins all the time, while the pressure wheel stands still, and the wire goes nowhere.
I removed the wire, and cleaned the pressure wheel. I had to use alot of pressure on the tension/pressure wheel to get the wire to feed. I clipped the wire and feed it trough the liner again, but to get the wire moving i had to adjust the tension so hard that it 2-3 times made a mess out of the wire right after going trough the feeding wheels. When i got the wire trough, i tried to release the tension and pull it out, but it was really hard.
Feels like i've done a bad deal. He said the welder wasnt used very much. He had only used flux core wire on it, and the welder looked very good to be so old so i thinks he's honest.
Here are some things i might think be the problem, but as i said i dont know that much about welder and i would like your opinions:
1. The wire roll looks like the wire have been rolled all out, and rolled bak on. Doesnt look like its rolled on neat and nice like the new ones i looked at in some welding shops. I also saw that when the wire goes from the roll to the plastic tube before entering the feeding wheels the wire goes up and down because of how the wire is rolled onto the roll. Is this something that happens to a roll that has been opened, or should it still be "rolled on the roll" nice and neat?
2. Could it be dirt in the "tracks" on the roller wheel? I only cleaned the upper tension wheel. Im sure that im using the correct one of the two track dimesions on the roller/feed wheel.
3. I saw that the liner from the welder to the gun was a metal type spiral and not plastic. Could it be that its dirty or corroded? The guy i bought it from said something about blowing compressed air trough it.
4. I live in Norway and im a little concerned about getting spare parts, as f.example the feeding wheel or the liner if you guys think i that is the cause of my problems. I know where have a tools shop here in my town that deals Esab, but they only deal more expensive Esab welder, and not so much of those common hobby Esabs. And this is also an old welder, but it has an euro connection, but i hope i dont have to change the whole package, cause the welding gun looks really neat, with adjustable 360 degrees welding bend/tip.
Thanks from a fresh mig owner.
He wasnt using the welder, and the welder was just collecting dust for a long time.
When I got home and tested the welder, it was feeding wire very irregular. Not the same speed, but kind of slows down very often. When i have the speed setting at 1, the feeding wheel doesnt move at all. When i have it from 2-5 it moved, but the upper pressure wheel was slowing down every now and then, causeing the wire to just spin on the feeding wheel. When i have the wire feed higher than 5 it just spins all the time, while the pressure wheel stands still, and the wire goes nowhere.
I removed the wire, and cleaned the pressure wheel. I had to use alot of pressure on the tension/pressure wheel to get the wire to feed. I clipped the wire and feed it trough the liner again, but to get the wire moving i had to adjust the tension so hard that it 2-3 times made a mess out of the wire right after going trough the feeding wheels. When i got the wire trough, i tried to release the tension and pull it out, but it was really hard.
Feels like i've done a bad deal. He said the welder wasnt used very much. He had only used flux core wire on it, and the welder looked very good to be so old so i thinks he's honest.
Here are some things i might think be the problem, but as i said i dont know that much about welder and i would like your opinions:
1. The wire roll looks like the wire have been rolled all out, and rolled bak on. Doesnt look like its rolled on neat and nice like the new ones i looked at in some welding shops. I also saw that when the wire goes from the roll to the plastic tube before entering the feeding wheels the wire goes up and down because of how the wire is rolled onto the roll. Is this something that happens to a roll that has been opened, or should it still be "rolled on the roll" nice and neat?
2. Could it be dirt in the "tracks" on the roller wheel? I only cleaned the upper tension wheel. Im sure that im using the correct one of the two track dimesions on the roller/feed wheel.
3. I saw that the liner from the welder to the gun was a metal type spiral and not plastic. Could it be that its dirty or corroded? The guy i bought it from said something about blowing compressed air trough it.
4. I live in Norway and im a little concerned about getting spare parts, as f.example the feeding wheel or the liner if you guys think i that is the cause of my problems. I know where have a tools shop here in my town that deals Esab, but they only deal more expensive Esab welder, and not so much of those common hobby Esabs. And this is also an old welder, but it has an euro connection, but i hope i dont have to change the whole package, cause the welding gun looks really neat, with adjustable 360 degrees welding bend/tip.
Thanks from a fresh mig owner.