irratic wire feed?

[powemo1]

Hello fellas,
I'm about to do some light car body resto with a clarke mig 150, using it gasless at the minute which so far has been fine, no problems.
I put a new roll of welding wire in but now for some reason the wire feed has become irratic making the welds terrible. The wire roll turns for about half a turn, stops briefly then turns again, stops, etc, etc making the wire feed inconsistant and 'jerky' . The roller is fine, iv'e tried adjusting the tension on the wire and everything obvious but it still doesn't feed properly.
Anyone come across this sort of thing before or can offer some tips i would be most greatfull.
Many thanks,
Mark.

 

[Porschemaniac]

Hi Powermo.

I have a Calrke 150TE, which is prone to doing exactly this after a reel change.

If your welder is anything like mine, the spool goes on, with the label facing inwards. Always worth making sure that the surface that it sits against is nice and clean. Spool tension is as important as wire tension - make sure it's not over-tight.

Also, how fresh is your new spool and how has it been stored? A light cooating of moisture can lead to a very thin film of corrosion; which gives the feed rollers a hard time. May be wort feeding out a good few feet of wire - to get down to a 'good' layer.

These Clarkes do seem a bit precious about wire tension - even if it feels right, it may be worth a bit of a play just to be sure.

You also mention that you have been using it gasless. From memory, gasless wire is a lot thicker than no-gas. Always worth checking that the tip is the right size for the wire.

Other than that, I'd check that the feed rollers are still in good shape.

Doesn't sound like a liner issue - if it was working OK before - must be related to the feed mechanism.

Ian.

 

[powemo1]

Hi mate thanks for the quick reply.
i've been through all you points.
The welder is brand new, and i only got the new wire yesterday!!!
I've wasted loads of it already, adusting the tension and watchin the wheel to see a difference but its just the same. It's the same wire that came with the welder so i can't see where the problem lies.
I will have another play with feeding it through.
Cheers,
mark.

 

[malcolm]

Does the wire look like it is trying to pull from underneath another turn of wire? Badly would reels, or ones that have been accidentally allowed to unwind themselves would cause the wire to stick once a turn.

Try releasing the feed rollers and pulling the wire down the torch by hand while looking at the spool - you should get a better feel for what is causing the resistance.

 

[Wozzaaah]

It's quite possibly as Malcolm says, a bad reel of wire.
I had one once that did exactly that, threw it away and put a fresh one on and had no issues whatsoever.
If the reel is new then take it back to wherever you got it from and exchange it for another.
New machine, new wire, should be the smoothest it's ever likely to be.

 

[Welderpaul]

Had the same issue myself today. Half way through a 15kg reel of 1mm wire the feed went mad: same as you describe. The last reel did the same half way through. Pulled off 10 metres or so, put it back on and it worked fine till it ran out at 5.29pm
Badly wound wire can waste loads of time messing about, not to mention consumables.

 

[Robotstar5]

Badly wound wire can waste loads of time messing about, not to mention consumables.

We even had it with a batch of big name 475Kg marathon packs tangling and jamming - soon had the suppliers and manufacturers in sort it when we threatened to go elsewhere!

 

[brookie456]

Badly wound wire can waste loads of time messing about, not to mention consumables.[/QUOTE]

...and how You can change tips, liners etc. and get nowhere, not 'til I stacked the wire on another reel, you could see the difference, measured it - miles out diameter and round. Knocked any confidence I had straight out. As a rank amateur at welding, I always doubt myself, only natural I suppose, but in todays more/faster/money world, even the big players can have a lapse(or two).

 

[powemo1]

Sorted.
Got another reel as sugested, from a different place! and put a dab of grease inside the reel to aid it spinning and now it's working back as it should. Very annoying that was!!!
Many thanks for your sound advice.
Powemo1.