Mig welder problems

TJ in KY · Oct 2, 2016

I have a Hobart Handler 140 and all of the sudden the wire feed stopped working, The feed wheels are not turning. It has the gas attachment and and the gas valve is opening, I can hear gas flowing when I pull the switch. I took the gun apart and jumpered at the switch and the gas flowed but the wheels did not turn.I can pull the wire thru the gun easily. Any ideas about what to check next.

504 · Oct 2, 2016

Fuse in the case.

Steve@Advance · Oct 2, 2016

I agree, check the fuse.

If you can't find the fuse, or that doesn't fix it, you can download the owners manual here. It will probably have a trouble shooting guide.
Owners Guide

TimV · Oct 2, 2016

Does it have a purge setting that you might have engaged accidentally? That will let gas flow but the wheels won't turn. Probably not the problem, but I've done that on my Handler 135 before and it's a quick check to eliminate it.

NCWayne · Oct 3, 2016

I'll go with the others and say check the fuse. I've had them blow more then once, so I know it's not uncommon.

Hoenes · Oct 3, 2016

I had to rebuild the trigger on my lincoln one time. A connection failed.

dr sportster · Oct 3, 2016

My Millermatic 210 did that exact same thing Saturday. No movement on the feed wheels for several minutes , then suddenly the rollers started to feed again. Weird. Exact symptoms.

Jerry F · Oct 3, 2016

A problem I had a few times over the years with my miller migs is the small wire right at the face of your machine that goes into the liner up to the trigger gets broken from all the turning and twisting every which way. I usually was able to confirm by twisting pinching and turning that wire with trigger held down until it started feeding wire. simple to repair small pigtail from welding store or patch it yourself.

Welding man · Oct 3, 2016

My friend you have popped a diode. I have owned 3 hobart handlers and have had to replace
diodes in all of them.

TJ in KY · Oct 3, 2016

I hate when this happens, IT FIXED ITSELF!!!!!!! I checked it this morning and it was still broken, would not feed wire. I checked to make sure it was not on purge as was suggested and it wasn't. took it off the cart and set it on the work bench and took the cover off looking for a fuse and saw none. Two wires run from a circuit board down to the wire feed motor, I disconnected them at the board and checked the connections for corrosion and found none. plugged it back in still no wire feed. I got my multimeter out and was going to check for voltage at the motor with the switch squeezed. I moved the wires just a little bit to get better access with my probes, squeezed the trigger and IT WORKED... The wires are soldered to the back of the motor so I don't think they are loose. The wiring diagram on the inside of the cover shows no fuse.

If it was a diode, would it start working again?? Like I said, I HATE IT WHEN I "FIX" SOMETHING, but I have no clue as to why it started working again. It will probably fail again at the most inconvenient time.

Thanks for all the replies, for now it is working.

guido · Oct 3, 2016

Hello Tj in KY,

Take a good look at the solder joint. It may have got hot and the solder joint got loose. The fact that it
started to work when you moved thwd wires is a clue of a loose connection,

Guido.

Stan in Oly, WA · Oct 4, 2016

If it worked after you moved the wires, I'd agree with Guido that that's where I'd look for the problem. I've had some amazing experiences with wires going bad inside power tools. I can think of two cases that almost drove me crazy---they seemed to make absolutely no sense. Once I solved them, they made sense, but still seemed like one in a million types of problems. I wouldn't be surprised if you could find the problem with a simple continuity tester---now that it seems to be isolated to those wires.

Stan

petehall · Oct 4, 2016

Ive had the same issue once
It was the connection at the cable lugs that you use to change polarity
Cleaned them up and no more problem

dr sportster · Oct 4, 2016

That is how mine went . Several minutes of pulling the trigger and nothing ,then I prodded the roller a little and it kicked in again . Don't really care as long as it works.

Den N Ms · Oct 4, 2016

TJ in KY ,I have found on several wire feed machines that the rheostat for the wire speed gets corroded inside and loses connection. Twist the knob all the way back and forth several times to clean up the contacts inside the speed control switch so it makes connection.

DENNIS MIN · Oct 5, 2016

TJ,

Perhaps an overtemp resettable switch?

D.

gab · Oct 5, 2016

Don't know anything about your Hobart but I spent most of last summer trying to fix the wire speed cont. on my 20 year old Century mig. I don't think it ever worked right, some times it was ok, next time the wire would stop after a few minutes. Finally figured it would weld with a small vise grip on the end of the control shaft but couldn't control the speed. Finally found the solder cracked where the rheostat is soldered to a little circuit board, resolderd it and it seems to work good now, don't use it much, think it's only on the 4th little spool of wire.

Mig welder problems

TJ in KY

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504

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Steve@Advance

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TimV

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NCWayne

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Hoenes

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dr sportster

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Jerry F

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Welding man

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TJ in KY

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guido

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Stan in Oly, WA

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petehall

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dr sportster

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Den N Ms

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DENNIS MIN

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gab

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