is it my welder or my technique?

[hooblah]

I've got a cebora pocket 130 mig, I was trying to weld upside down yesterday at full power and I would find a heavy buildup stuck between the tip and the shroud. The tip would then have to be ground back to allow the wire through and the shroud would need cleaning up.
It doesn't help that my wire feed isn't the greatest thing in the world as it can get a little jerky and the burn back causes the wire to fuse to the tip.

Another thing is that when I'm pointing the torch into a corner for a fillet it doesn't tend to weld right into the corner. The arc would find anywhere other than the bit I wanted to weld! There's just no accuracy.

Yes I did clean both areas prior to welding and my co2/argon was set at 5lpm.

So am I doing something wrong or is it time to upgrade to a better mig?

 

[rikrobson]

try turning the speed up.

 

[BrokenBiker]

crank the wire speed up. When doing overhead keep torch pointing straight into joint and keep tight arc

 

[hooblah]

Tried that. It became more jerky and would start balling up more around the tip. After that it would start dripping off and onto the floor lol.

The plastic liner was replaced for a steel liner a while ago. If the liner is anything but straight, the feed tends to become jerky.

Holding it closer would result in the wire fusing to the tip. And a massive blob fused between the tip and shroud.

 

[BrokenBiker]

loosen off the feed rollers and try pulling the wire through. Should be smooth and free. If not the liner may have kinked or there is drag on the reel

 

[Bill Edwards]

I'm not a fan of cheap MIG wire feeds, but it should be perfectly possible to do an overhead weld to the same standard as any other weld the machine can do.

To stop the spatter that sticks to the tip and nozzle use some tip dip - it really is great stuff and I can't stand MIG welding without it!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TIP-DIP-PASTE-/301004962273?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item46154b39e1

Just stick in the tip/shroud while hot and it'll work wonders.
That may not be the solution for this as it sounds like you've got a setting wrong or an actual problem with the wire feed, but it'll help keep the tip clear.
Can you still make a good weld on the flat/vertical? Make sure there isn't something drastically wrong with the machine, then it shouldn't need much tweaking to do overhead. It may then be you that's wrong, I know I found overhead MIG quite tricky to pick up.

 

[hooblah]

Yes it welds OK on flat if nothings wrong lol. Its rare that I do anything vertical or overhead.
My only gripe is the wire feed. It becomes jerky if the cable is bent too much and welds come out crap. This can't be right?

I'll try some tip dip thanks.

 

[BrokenBiker]

are you using a standard torch or a euro torch? It should work the same whether its straight or curled

 

[hooblah]

Standard.

 

[Tigman]

its a matter of practice and setting the machine just right are you pushing or pulling ?

 

[Rig Pig]

Strange I have the Snapon version and it works fine, there must be a fault, is the wire rusty or the drive slipping?

 

[hooblah]

Pushing or pulling, it makes no difference.

The wire isn't rusty but the feed does slip now and then, which is why it can be jerky. It doesn't matter if I tighten or loosen the feed roller, the looser it is the more it slips. Its all set up correctly so I can't see why it would do that?

 

[BrokenBiker]

right, if the feed rollers are slipping on the wire then the problem lies with the spindle the reel is on. what size reel are you using. my mig, along with a few hobby machines cant cope with the weight of a 5kg reel, and others have cheep spindles with low grade springs on them that cause drag

 

[BrokenBiker]

either that or your feed rollers are either worn or have the next size up groove in them

 

[Rig Pig]

Is the wire cheap stuff or a brand?

 

[hooblah]

I have no idea what size or brand the wire is. I bought the machine a few years ago 2nd hand and its using the same wire that was in it when I bought it.

As far as I can tell, the feed roller only has one groove. It doesnt look worn, but I have nothing to compare it to.

Im considering upgrading to an mb15 euro torch. This any good?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=131197141829&alt=web

 

[BrokenBiker]

I have that torch, I like it, but ive never really used the likes of parweld torches so nothing to compare it to, but it does the job for me. I didn't buy the kit though, bought the connector and solenoid separately so cant comment on the quality of those in the kit

 

[Steve Gray]

Id be tempted to measure wire diameter and check if drive rollers are of the compatible size.

 

[MoreWellie]

Another thing to check when the feed snags is for plastic moulding pips on the wire reel. I had one on a reel and I tried lots of things before finding the pip and it all worked properly when I cleaned off the extra plastic.

If you are sure it really is the torch, try holding a euro torch before buying as the handle an shroud are quite a bit bigger than the original manufacturers torch on my Clarke 150. Also I think the shortest euro torch is 3 metres so if you already have feed issues you may find things are worse after a conversion. After advice on here I bought the correct spares for the Clarke and re-built the torch and it was glad I did as it cost less and was a straight forward job

 

[Jan]

Are you holding the torch so that the shroud is pointing directly upwards or angling it to one side? If the former it's not surprising that any drips will fall back into the shroud and stick inside it. Giving the torch a slight tilt, a bit more stick out and pushing the gas flow to a minimum of 10 litres/min could help quite a bit. It should even help when welding into blind corners.