Millermatic 130 wire feeding problem

[bruceg]

Hi Y'all. New guy here.
I bought a Millermatic brand new and it wouldnt feed the wire.
The roller just spun.
I tried another roll of wire and it worked for a while. Less than an hour. When I increased the tension, the wire drive motor stopped turning.
This was with NO wire feeding into the cable going to the gun.
In other words, no load on the wire but the motor just wont feed the wire.
It sounds like I need another motor, Right?
I have not taken it apart but I am guessing there is a gear reduction between the motor and the feed rollers. Should I look at that before ordering a $169 motor?

This machine has less than one hour of use. Thanks Bruce

[MAC702]

Since the MM130 is more than a decade old, can we assume you mean a MM135?

Why would you be worried about a $169 motor? Don't you still have three years left on the three-year warranty?

If you call 1-800-4-A-MILLER, you will get awesome customer service and be put on the line with a technician that knows the ins and outs of every piece of that machine and they will walk through any repair you can do yourself.

Usually the gear reduction is part of the motor case, and not user-serviceable.

[bruceg]

Thank you for the information Mac702. No you may NOT assume its a 135. I bought the 130 Brand New, tried to use it for about one hour and its been sitting, covered up ever since. It still looks new and yes it was 11 or 12 years ago that I bought it. Thank you Very Much for the 1-800 number!

[MAC702]

Sorry, it's fairly common to get wrong model numbers, and the odds went that way...

I have personally replaced a wirefeed motor in a MM130. But it was a VERY used unit that was given to me in the non-working condition. The blown 5A fuse was caused by the bad motor. This was about 2002 or so and the new motor cost me $105 at my Miller dealer. The guys at Miller will tell you exactly how to check it.

[Clanweld]

I have a couple of quick questions, not knowing how familiar you are with the machine itself.
When you installed the wire, did it feed through to the gun? If you never saw the wire come out the gun end, lay your lead straight and feed the wire through.
It is possible the tip could be clogged with spatter, or you may have some foreign matter inside the lead that can be blown out with compressed air.
Has the wire melted itself to the gun tip? This would result in the problem you are experiencing; check your tip, make sure it's clean, apply a spatter shild coating to the gun tip area if you find this is the problem.
How much tension did you put on the wire roll? It's a common mistake with first timers who for any reason didn't read or didn't understand the setup instructions to sock down on the wire roll all the way. This would cause way too much drag on the wire roll, perhaps causing the motor to be unable to pull the wire through. Slight drag, just enough to keep the wire from unravelling off the spool, is sufficient.
When you are attempting to weld, do you have the wire speed set properly?
When you are attempting to weld, do you have the cable fairly starightened out, or is it curled around itself in knots?
Basic stuff, but if you don't know... And the 800 number is a great resource. Do us a favor and post back if you get this worked out, or if you don't. We love to know the outcomes, and also there are a lot more experienced welders to be heard from if you're still stuck.
Good luck!

[Bobatmdt0]

I just purchase a miller matic that had a problem in feeding the wire on the very bottom end of the speed on level 1, I repair equiptement and tools so when I took the motor and gear box apart I found the motor needed to have the armature cleaned on my lathe then I used 1000 grit sand paper to smooth it , the bigger problem seemed to be the bronze bushing on the wire feed shaft had too much play and could have caused a binding problem, since I didn't find anything wrong with the 16 Volt DC motor I reinstalled it and the wire feed seems to be fine now, but I've only used it a few minutes so I can't give a definate answer but it seems to be OK, By the way I installed 2 new bushings in the gear case and that got rid of the play in the output shaft and I also installed some motor spacers on the shaft as there was too much end play for my own satifaction as well as installed a little more grease on the gears.

[Me!]

can't help you on the feed problem, but I had a MM130 and and the drive roller tension did need to be set rather high.

Not a bad welder, but the GA17C gun sucks! get a M15 or M25 off eBay and toss the GA17C in the round bin.

[forkerlane]

I've owned a handy-dandy little MM130 for years but it has always had a weak drive. No...with the correct adjustments the rolls don't slip, even with a new liner, and the wire isn't stuck in the nozzle. it is just a poor, under powered motor. It has to be turned up pretty fast to push wire at all.

[ccawgc]

try this. With the pressure roll released. tape the gun trigger on and let the motor run for 1/2 hour.
This might clean the motor commutator up enough to let it run right with out having to take it apart to clean it. risking damaging or loosing parts to the motor.