Greasing Wire Spool spindle

[BiddyBernie]

Like so many others on here, I was struggling to weld with a cheap MIG welder, with the main suspect being an erratic wire feed, due chiefly to a tiny, mickey mouse feed motor. But over the past few months, my welding seemed to get better and better, and was going great, when the 5kg spool ran out. It then dawned on me, the as the spool ran down, it was getting lighter and lighter, and therefore gave the feed motor less resistance. So before I installed the new roll, I smoothed off the rough flash on the inside of the spool, and coated it with some axle grease, and noticed a lot less resistance as I spun it. SIlly me should have tried running the new spool dry, to confirm spool resistance was the problem, but I forgot. Anyway, reducing spool axle resistance can only be a good thing. Maybe anyone else with a struggling wire feed might tr a slap of grease and report back any improvement. Apologies if this suggestion has been posted before.

Bernie

 

[Hitch]

Not familiar with the small machines, but there should be some resistance, or the spool can overtake its sekf, and you might end up with a few layers coming loose and resulting in a bird's nest.

 

[Sparkey]

Not sure about this....greasing your wire spool could cause even more trouble, the grease collects dust, spatter and other rubbish which gets drawn into your liner...etc do i need to go on?

 

[Wozzaaah]

Go back to the 1st post Sparkles, he's greased the spindle on the reel holder, not the actual wire.
I'll edit the title to make it a bit clearer.

 

[Sparkey]

Go back to the 1st post Sparkles, he's greased the spindle on the reel holder, not the actual wire.
I'll edit the title to make it a bit clearer.

Dang, you're on my @rse or what?

Well, i still think it's a bad idea....but hey, if it works for you you should do it!

 

[Tiggy_dorset]

A dry spindle could cause the spool to judder/pulsate. I dont see the problem with a little oil as long as you can still get the tension needed with the tensioner.

 

[Sparkey]

Yes, i think oil would be better Tiggy...

But i still don't get it, the spindle doesn't turn???? only the reel holder????

 

[Wozzaaah]

All he's done is greased the spindle/reel holder to lessen the amount of friction between it and the hole in the centre of the spool.
Small machines don't have a proper reel holder like bigger ones do, the type with the locating peg that pops into the hole on the reels, they just have a fixed plastic spindle the same diameter as mini reels which you put spacers on if you run 5kg reels.

 

[Sparkey]

Ok, i get it...thanks Wozzles!

 

[Sean]

my Sip uses the spacers for the 5kg reel and so dont fill the whole width of the spool, the friction is pretty smooth there with no judder or "orbiting". What did help was putting a thin nylon washer either side so the friction was reduced.

Another problem is the spring under the thumb screw depending on the way the wire feeds and the finish on the end of the spring it can slowly start to tighten the nut increasing the friction.

 

[BiddyBernie]

I've actually bought a pulse width modulated power supply to power the feed motor (as suggested on here) but haven't come across a cheap 24v transformer yet, but anyway, the slap of grease was a lot easier for now. The wire feed that works for me is about 2.8 (out of 10 max) so I'm less likely to get bird nesting problems when I stop the feed, well I haven't yet at least..

 

[ian f]

Another problem is the spring under the thumb screw depending on the way the wire feeds and the finish on the end of the spring it can slowly start to tighten the nut increasing the friction.[/QUOTE]

i had this problem with my migmate 100 i fitted a m6 stud in place of the bolt and retained the spring with a nyloc nut and penny washers. no problems since

 

[johnakay]

you could try graphite powder ,that is a good dry lubricant.
wont attract dust/dirt etc.