New Mig

[nz4x4]

Just picked up my (new to me) mig welder. Had a quick play with it before I handed over the money and all seemed good. (welded nicely)

Have given it a quick clean (was covered in what looked to be 20 years worth of grease and dirt) and it has come up looking quite nice. Just got to clean the inside now, as well as replace the power cord and plug.

Just a couple of questions though:

He said it is running 0.8mm wire, which looked about right to me. The drive roller has 2 grooves I imagine they are 0.6 and 0.8mm (the 0.8 is being used ATM) but the tip on the torch says 0.6 So i am a bit confused to what wire is running through it.

Can anyone tell me how i remove the drive roller (so i can see what size it actually is)
Also can 0.8mm wire could fit though a 0.6mm tip?

I have never had to muck around with rollers before and never changed wire size so this part is new to me.


Overall though I am really happy with how it is going especially seeing what i paid for it.


pics

[coxsy]

had a look at your pics can't see how the bottom roller comes off, have you tried to slide it off the shaft

[nz4x4]

I gave it a little pull but didnt want to force it. there is a small flat on the shaft.

[nz4x4]

Dont worry guys, I figured it out. My bad, its a .9 tip (read it upside down)

all is good now

[dixie]

Hey dude if it has a flat, there should be a grub screw locating the roller in position. If its running .8 wire i would be inclined to run a .8 tip solely for the correct direction for the feed of the wire to exit the difuser as close to the centre as possible, if the wire is given any room to track towards the housing it will tend to walk and ark towards the side of your work giving room for perosity and undercut.

But hey this is only my opinion and how I like to work, im fairly perdantic about the use of my migs in the workshop and if i caught any of my staff winding up the handpiece and cord like that I WOULD FUKIN KICK THERE ASS SO FUKIN HARD, but thats just me of course.

Be interesting to know what coin you paid for that beast?

[mercutio]

my old man has a mig welder and arc welder in his shed but he doesn´t use them any more he has told me i can look after them when i have a decent shed to put them in

unfortunately they are both 3 phaseand i don like the idea of paying daily charges for 3 phase as i won be using it often enough to justify it

[gomulletgo]

Overall though I am really happy with how it is going especially seeing what i paid for it.

cough (howmuch?)

[nz4x4]

Yea i figured that it had a grub screw.... must have been having a blond night! I will be off to see a mate of mine today so i can get some new 0.8 tips. I have no idea why he was using a 0.9 tip.

Coiling the handpiece and cord damages the liner right?

Paid $600

[De-Ranged]

jesus dixie you are pedandic the bloody box a new handpiece is sold in coils it tighter than that how do you store em if your worried about bending em
nz don't worry about storing it like that, when you weld try to keep it straight, sharp bends and kinks will course the wire as it slides to wear a grove in your liner over time (weeks of use ) the only thing to worry about when you coil it over the machine is that you don't kink the cord, most commonly happens at the end of the fitting that screws onto the machine

Cheers Reece

[dixie]

jesus dixie you are pedandic the bloody box a new handpiece is sold in coils it tighter than that how do you store em if your worried about bending em
nz don't worry about storing it like that, when you weld try to keep it straight, sharp bends and kinks will course the wire as it slides to wear a grove in your liner over time (weeks of use ) the only thing to worry about when you coil it over the machine is that you don't kink the cord, most commonly happens at the end of the fitting that screws onto the machine

Cheers Reece

You got that right I am perdantic Bastard but hey thats me and my rules in my workshops. All welders are kept in there allocated areas and all lines and handpieces are hung or hooped as large as possible resulting in long life of the liner. I focus strongly on not wasteing money and resources and pushing good practices, you kick an ass hard enough and long enough the message gets through and standards are met without bitching at people all the time.

People have different standards and that tends to show in the work.I tend to throw a liner in each machine once a year as a standard service requirement.

Each to there own dude im sure you will be quite creative in the many hours of pulling the trigger.

Another little trick I do is fit a soft earplug over the wire before it is fed into the plastic guide before the roller. this also prolongs life of the liner and keeps a nice clean piece of material(wire)to work with.

Hope that helps NZ 4x4.

[coxsy]

i do the ear plug thig to , made a cover over the reel to keep dust of it ,the tight coiling thing , jees man , thats a bit much for me , only been a welder for 33years

[De-Ranged]

Thanks for that tip dixie I'll do that with mine, I've had issues with rollers loosing grip from the dust on the wire, that little trick should stop that

Don't worry dixie my pev is putting things back in the right spot, I don't know how many people I've kicked out of my shop becouse of it

I don't have the space to leave mine out loose, hell if I did I think it would probably cost me more anyway.... I've killed more cables from work or "projects" falling on them than I've ever worn out

Cheers Reece

[dixie]

i do the ear plug thig to , made a cover over the reel to keep dust of it ,the tight coiling thing , jees man , thats a bit much for me , only been a welder for 33years

Like i said each to there own!!when you get 20-30 hrs a week over 52 weeks with no downtime and reliability, il keep doing shit my way.

As for the 33 years, you look a lot younger than you are obviously dude..Ha ha.

[dixie]

8) Thanks for that tip dixie I'll do that with mine, I've had issues with rollers loosing grip from the dust on the wire, that little trick should stop that

Don't worry dixie my pev is putting things back in the right spot, I don't know how many people I've kicked out of my shop becouse of it

I don't have the space to leave mine out loose, hell if I did I think it would probably cost me more anyway.... I've killed more cables from work or "projects" falling on them than I've ever worn out

Cheers Reece

Yeah I know what ya mean about space, some of the shit holes ive worked in and out of.

Even with all good intentions of putting shit back I use to get this office gal leaning her bike up against the exiting area of my migwire and wondered why the fukin thing kept stalling the wire, she kept bending the liner with her piece of crap push bike.

[coxsy]

yes been told i do look youger than i am but engineering is my only contact with the nasty sh*t of this world , don't smoke or drink any alchol

[coxsy]

today drill and tapped 32 10mm holes ,rotobroached 16x 26mm holes , also 8 x 32mm holes , the floor stayed like this allday