Mig wire tensioning queries

[davidni]

Ok so I've been doing a 'little' bit of welding for a while now but now that I've got my first servicable little welder I am trying to really perfect the art of wire tension.

I have read the tutorial on wire tension and my own manual.

My Sealey Supermig manual states that for the 6mm wire I should fully tighten the tensioner and then release it 2 full turns...

I did this to start but then after revisiting the tutorial and trying the 'hold mig wire between fingers trick' it appeared I had to loosen the the tensioner quite a bit more to make the little wheels 'skid.'

I thought I had it spot on but then noticed the wire seemed to be 'pulsing.' I opened the casing and could see the wire was not feeding smoothly from the business end so had another play...it seemed it wanted the tensioner a little tighter to stop the pulsing.

The actual spring tensioner for the spool is barely even compressed...seems the 5 kg spool doesnt need any real pressure to stop it 'birdnesting.'

But I am just wondering what the 'pulsing' is a sign of? Too much or too little pressure?

Everyone keeps metioning wire tension should be as little as possible yet the Sealey manual reccomends full tighten then loosening 2 complete turns?

So really just looking for further hints/tips as its a bit harder to know if what you are doing is correct when stuck by myself in the garage with no welder friends to call and show me.

I seem to be wasting a good bit of mig wire but it seems the only way to teach myself is to experiment.

Any advice would be great.

 

[cumbriasteve]

There is a chance the wire has been factory wound onto the spool badly, this is more common with the cheaper brands, so in effect you are getting little snags as the wire is pulled off.

I have known users dump a whole spool because it has been so bad.

I would not worry too much about the manuals settings, ideally as you mention you should be able to perform the 'fingers trick' but if a bit more pressure, without going that far that things begin to distort, cures the problem, then that would do me.

My machine was very similar and when it was feeding perfectly for running welds, it was nearly impossible to stop by gripping in the fingers

The spool should be as free as you can get away without it running on when you stop and once again mine backed right off without any running on problems.

So...I would check the reel is not snagging and if ok I would start with minimum pressure on the feed and keep applying in small incrememnts until it works as you wish.

Don't forget you can reel the wire back onto the spool instead of cutting it off and wasting miles whilst getting it right.

 

[chrismac]

Agree with above,

Something to think about though, say you have a snag/kinked piece of wire in the liner, this makes the wire feed spin giving you more snags, some times you have to cut the wire at the wire feeder and pull through the lengh of the liner to remove the bad peice of wire,
also depending on how much work your mig has done the liner could have a build up of dust in it, try removing the torch and blowing it through with an airline and watch for the cloud of dust which comes out the other end, a few years ago when I was working for an engineering contractor we used to blow out the liners every day,

Precision wound wire is the way forward if thats not what you already have, I binned the last roll of rubish wire I had, it would make you pull your hair out, it would not even come of the roll it was so badly put on.

 

[davidni]

Cheers guys. The welder is pretty much brand new and very liitle actual welding use so far ie - only handful of hours.

Its a 5kg Spool of Sealey Mig Wire (basically was able to choose a heap of Sealey products as part of deal and to get free delivery). I thought this stuff would have been good enough...when it runs out I'm going to replace with Linchon stuff but budgets too tight to just bin a 5 kg of mig wire...especially as most of the hiccups are probably due to me having to 'teach' myself in the garage...sometimes it takes me a while to figure stuff out as nobody to ask or show me...

THANK GOD FOR THIS FORUM!!!

 

[davidni]

Meant to say...I have gotten the wire feed pretty nice (well seems nice, but need a gas refill so will know more over weekend) but it just seems the tensioner wanted to be screwed down a bit...and I dont want to be putting the motor under pressure...just takes me so much hassle to get money together for new stuff like this...last thing I want to do is ****** them through rookie mistakes!!!

 

[mike 109444]

It can be a bit fiddley setting up the feed (as you are finding!) Much as the other guys have said really. If you want to check that the wire spool is set free enough then feed out aprox 1 foot of wire from gun, make a loop at it's end and release the wire feed rollers. Now if you use a weight (bag of sugar?) or a spring blance (if you are not one find a fisherman friend that has one for weighing fish) and use this to check/set the free running/movement of the spool AND the free movement through the liner. People that have had problems with feed and then have been recomended to "replace liner" have found a massive difference (this mainly applyes to older machines with well used liners/guns). When and if you do ge through you spool of wire then change for different brand then revisit this post and give a review on old wire vers new for anyone picking up this post in future : )

 

[davidni]

Good advice. Thankyou very much!