MIG wire feed

Bus Driver

Well-known Member
I have a Century MIG welder, about 20 years old. 120 volts, 110 amps. Light duty but at times it does the most beautiful work. Gas with non-flux wire.
The wire feed at times is jumpy. I lubed with silicone the wire spool spindle. All looks fine with the feed mechanism. The wire is not rusty. It has the original Tweco gun. This welder has used since new less than 60 pounds of 0.023 wire, so that is light use indeed. Could it be that the liner in the gun tube/hose needs some kind of lube? And if that can be lubed, what is the best lube?
 
Never ever, for any reason use lube!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First thing I would do is disconnect the gun from the feeder. Remove the contact tip, take the end of the gun that goes into the feeder, and place it on your oxygen bottle with no gauge, and blow the liner out. Re-assemble everything and try it. If it still gives you problems replace the liner.
 
Don't they sell a lub for migs? Don't they make a gismo that goes over the wire and acts like a dust remover and doesn't it have a little lub on it?

I bought a used mig from a body shop and it was full of dust, wire was rusted, the roller feed was set for .030. I had a diffucult pulling the wire out of it, things inside were so dirty.
 
Are you really suggesting he apply 2000# of pure
oxygen pressure to a liner? Sounds like a good wat
to end up dead or maimed.
 
Like thew previous post said, a dirty liner can cause problems like your describing. Another thing I've found that can cause problems is a piece of weld spatter that has gotten into the contact tip. It will cause the wire to stutter past it when things get just right. Try changing the contact tip and see if that helps. Another thing is that the feed rollers may not be tight enough. Too some machines have V notched feed rollers and if they become packed with dirt, etc they will often slip and cause a stutter also. To help prevent that, if your not already doing it, try getting some of the cleaning pads for the wire that clip onto it between the spool and the feed rollers. You'd be amazed how much crap they will take off the wire. Good luck.
 
The hole in the bottle is 3/4 inches in diameter, the liner maybe 3/16 to 1/4 inches in diameter so the two won't mate up tight. As a result all doing wehat Puddles is suggesting will do is provide a blast of oxygen through the liner to clean out any buildup. Due to the difference in size it won't build any massive amounts of pressure like your thinking it will.
 
George March, yes they do, but don't use them. If anything use an old ear plug, with no lube.


jon f mn, I've been doing it that way since I was about 16-years old. Never one problem. In fact when I was running welding crews I would have them knock off early every Friday to blow out the Lincoln K-126 guns, because in those day the liners were not replaceable, and the guns were pushing $300.00 a pop.
 
All my welders get a piece of felt folded over the wire and held on with one of those wide metal paper clips. I put a little oil on it, mostly to attract the dust and dirt on the wire. It works good for me. I don't think it does anything as far as lube, there is not enough on there for that. All the Miller welders I bought new came with that in them. Not in the Lincolns tho.
 
jon believe it or not this is not my first rodeo when it comes to welding. :wink:
Not sure why anybody would deliberately place oil or any type of lube on welding wire. Just think about this for a minute! Ever hear of the term porosity?
 
Why, after 20+ years in the business, yes I have
heard of it. But I've never had an issue with it.
It's what the new miller welders I bought
recommended so that's what I do. I don't soak the
pad just put a little on it. It's been working for
many many rolls of wire and I don't have any
intention of changing now.
 
Well, he did say to put the gun up to it and that would mate pretty well. 2000# of pressure would blow anything there right into the skin, not to mention all the other bad things it could do. Also oxygen is known to cause things to explode that otherwise would not. This actually surprises me because it's usually me getting called for being unsafe. lol
 
5 or 6 years ago this same discussion came up on the Miller board. Things got out of hand as they normally do on that site. Andy the moderator for Miller stepped in and said the same thing as the majority of the members, NEVER USE LUBE ON THE WIRE!

But if you've been doing it for 20-years, have at it. Just one question, how much code work do you do?
 
I use a clothes pin to hold the pad in place, and a drop of oil on it. Salesman must have told me that, I know I didn't think of it myself.
 
None, but then people on here are not doing code
work either. How many John Deere front fold corn
planters have you welded back together after the
broke in half in the field? How many vibrating
cable plow gear boxes have you welded back
together after they fell off a trailer at 60 mph?
How many trailers have you designed and fabricated
with just a list of needs from a customer? I've
done all these and many more, and never had any
official welding training, I just learned from a
old blacksmith and by doing.
 
jon this is what I did for a living. Standing under a 8 to 20-ton pile driving hammer all day while driving 200-feet long concrete pile. Driving anywhere from 4 to 20 piles a day. So holding a wire feed gun up to an oxygen bottle, wouldn't even raise an eyebrow for me or the guys I worked with. :wink:

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And most importantly, how many old ladies heirloom frying pan handles on the pan that came over from the old country with gramma have you welded back on after the grandson dropped it and broke it off?
 
That's impressive, and I can see why you wouldn't
worry, but that's still not something I would want
to see a garage welder do.
 
Like has been said on here Miller has a round pad that is clipped on the wire to wipe the wire clean and they have a liquid that you put on the felt, I never did ask what the liquid was but it did come with the welder. It did feel like oil and it did clean the wire.
 
(quoted from post at 14:33:06 11/29/12) None, but then people on here are not doing code
work either. How many John Deere front fold corn
planters have you welded back together after the
broke in half in the field? How many vibrating
cable plow gear boxes have you welded back
together after they fell off a trailer at 60 mph?
How many trailers have you designed and fabricated
with just a list of needs from a customer? I've
done all these and many more, and never had any
official welding training, I just learned from a
old blacksmith and by doing.
Very impressive!
Build a couple of these and get back to me.
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Impressive, but anybody can take the piece they are
given, put it where they are told, then weld it as
instructed. Build a couple a these, without a
blueprint or design, or someone telling you where to
weld and what material to use, and then get back to
me.
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The responses came fast and furious. I never intended to get a controversy started. I did find DF502 Dynaflux lube for pads. So someone does offer it. Now I have to decide which advice to take.
Puddles, do you use the 0.023 wire on your jobsites?
 
Sorry for hijacking your post. Sometimes I let my temper get the best of me. For that I apologise to both of you. As far as your problem goes, you probly need a new liner. When it's giving you problems is the gun twisted or wrapped around something? Try moving it around when you are having trouble. .023 wire is for thin material and small welders like yours. It's most likely the only size solid wire you have enough power to use.
 
(quoted from post at 15:49:18 11/29/12) Puddles, do you use the 0.023 wire on your jobsites?
Bus Driver no, no way! .068”, 5/64”, and 3/32” are the norm for structural welding.
The main reason for not using any lube. First off for solid wire you should be using V-groove drive rolls. Only use serrated drive rolls with flux core wire, be it gas less, or gas shielded wire. But no matter what there will be shavings, or little flakes from the wire, which is all bad, but why add lube / oil that will gum up the works even more? Just use a dry piece of cloth, or an ear plug clamped to the wire. In my opinion lube does nothing but run the risk of gumming everything up, and a slight chance of contaminating the welds. What little it could possibly help the risk is just too high for me.
 
Mine will handle the 0.030 and I have a spool of it. But for larger stuff I use my old Lincoln IdealArc AC/DC 250.
The Century has just 20% duty cycle, the Lincoln is 100% to 160 amps and 60% for higher amperages.
 

The new miller welders don't "require" lube, though. We just bought 14 of them in April and not one of them has ever had any lube. They function fine. We do alot of code welding and any oil involved could change the integrity of the weld.
 
You're comparing trailers to billion dollar highly specialized projects... and no not everyone can build something even if they are told exactly what to do. Nobody can build anything without some kind of design even if it's in their head. The first thing they ever teach you in any shop class is to make a drawing of what you want to build. How do you figure out your material list without a drawing?
 
First thing to check is the roll of wire itself. If it's not wound properly or has come loose on the spool it will not feed properly. DON'T lube the wire spool spindle!!! The wire has to have some drag so the remaining wire doesn't start unspooling as soon as you stop welding. If the wire has become loose on the spool, it's a good possibility the whole spool will be useless for welding unless you cut off the loose wire while keeping the remaining wire tight. You may be able to adjust the brake for the spool and I've also seen it where the brake would tighten as the spool turned. You could also have a section of deformed wire on the spool from when it was made. I've seen that before too. Try a new contact tip first.

60 pounds of .023 MIG wire is 519,120 inches of wire. That's a little bit more than light use so you may need a new liner. I wouldn't use wire lube but you can get pre-lubed pads that have a very, very small amount of lube on them. Also don't over tighten the drive rolls as it will deform the wire and cause it to get hung up in the liner or contact tip. It will also cause the wire to flake off more little bits of copper that can plug the liner.
 
Your right about the 2 different kinds of projects, which was my point. A farmer or hobbyist is not a code welder and does not use or need the same equipment or knowledge or skill to do what they want. Being a certified code welder or pipe line welder does not make anyone an expert in welding the kinds of things that most people on this board want to weld. It's like having a brain surgeon give a patient a foot massage. This is exactly the kind of knowledge that I have tho, doing this for so many years. Thats why I recomend easy and simple over absolute adhearance to the rules. It's why I recomend inexperienced welders with just an ac buz box use 6013 rods rather than 6011, they are easier to use so a lesser welder can get the job done where they may not be able to with a more difficult rod, even if it is more proper and popular. As far as material lists go, I never needed one except on large jobs. I've always been able to keep it in my head. Of course a trailer doesn't use much material so it's not a big deal.
 
The majority of hobbyist welders would greatly benefit from taking a course or learning more about welding in general. Like was mentioned before, a lot of people go to the home center, buy a welder and decide their first project is a trailer like you build. That's pretty scary! I always recommend going a step above a buzz box if you can afford it. It makes learning to weld so much easier and less frustrating.
 
Me too, actually I always try to get them to buy a small wirefeed like this guy has. They are so much easier to use and will do 90% of what farmers and hobbyists do. I do recomend the 220v tho, so they will handle up to 1/4" materiel in a pinch.
 

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