My MIG is making me crazy!!!

[Jim Stabe]

I have a Lincoln SP 175 Plus and am still on the first 10 lb roll of .030 wire. It is getting down to the last of the wire and the wire keeps sticking in the reel and not feeding. It's like it is wedged in between the other turns of wire or the other turns have crossed over the top and locked it in place. I have to stop every few swconds and pull the wire free. What's up?? I never had this problem with my HTP 140 MIG that I used for years.

Jim

[MicroZone]

Perhaps tighten down your drive rollers just a tad more. Maybe unroll it and re-roll it so it doesn't overlap? I just now got an 11lb. roll for my MIG but prior to that I've only used the small 2 lb. rolls.

[Rojodiablo]

When you opened the roll, you might have underlayed the wire on a single wrap. It can take a while to clear this issue. I usually unwind to the bind, which is easy to find, and rethread it into the cable once all clear.

[wallythacker]

Your spool has partially undwound at some time or is defective. Despool as much as practible by hand and rewind carefully. Good luck.

[Doolittle]

ooh, you gave up the 140? the kingdaddy of the 110v machines? Are you mad? heh

Open the door and run it untill you get the hang up again. look and see if the drive rolls are just spinning, if they are, tighten down on the spring. If the motor is stalling (wheels aint turning), pitch that roll of wire.

Just an afterthought, you did check that the drive rolls were in correct?

I had trouble with my gun. The switch would flake out of I squeezed too tight or just looked at it the wrong way. I took the gun apart and decided right then and there, I needed a better gun. They could have at least used a good cherry switch (Its just a copper washer on a spring that hits the wires, very cheesy).

Anyhow, good luck.

[maxyedor]

Does the SP175 use an adapter in order to run 10# spools? If so that mite be your problem. My sp135 has a little adapter and no matter what brand of wire I use there was too much bind in the adapter and it would stall constatly, I've switched back to 2# spools, and although they are a little more expensive they are far more consistant.

[David R]

I put a washer behind the screw that adjusts the tension. That or a spacer IN the threads to keep the tension nut from overtightening because it pulls the wire in the direction that tightens the screw.

David

[gnm109]

You may have too much tension on your roll of wire....or you may have too little tension on your wire feed.....or maybe the feed roller is in backwards?

I have an SP 175 + and I don't have this problem. I suspect your roller is in backwards for the .030 wire. I recently changed from .023 to .030 and I reversed the roller, changed the tip, made sure that the wire wing nut wasn't too tight and Voila! it works!

It's also possible, as mentioned above, that your wire roll is messed up. once they get tangled, you might have to toss it and get another one.

Good luck. I love my little SP 175+. When you get yours dialed in right, you will too.

:)

[Jim Stabe]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. The wire fed fine for the 1st 90% of the reel and it is just toward the end that the problem started. I have the roller in correctly and the spring tension does not help even with it just before coil bind on the spring. I actually have to reach in and pull the wire out of the reel and it snaps out when it breaks free. It only takes a revolution or two before it gets stuck again. I decided to cut my losses and just get a new roll of wire this morning, got a 2 lb spool this time to see if that helps. I'm thinking it was just a poorly wound spool of wire that was causing the problem.

Jim

[eastcoasteddie]

I have the same problem with a 2lb spool that I have used about 3/4 of the way through. It was fine until as I was installing it (switching from different diameter wires), it partially unwound on me. I kind of half-assed rewinding it, and it started sticking on me. I pulled it out and installed a 10 lb roll I just bought. I will unwind and re-wind it nicely so I can use it again.

[Thomas Clark]

I had the same problem with a new hobart and found that down to the last 1/3 of wire left would be a bird nest mess. Here the nut on the wire roll that sets the drag for the roll would lossen up. So I took the factory nut off and replaced it with a nylon type locknut and never had trouble since then. I would not use a all metal lock nut because constant changing of wire rolls, this type could be hard on the spindle threads.

[Engloid]

The winding can be incorrect. I've had times that I just sent the spool back to the welding supply. With your using 90% of it, you may not want to bother them with that little... but if you ever have a new spool that does that, I'd take it back.

Other than that, all good tips people gave you. The only way you can get the rollers too tight is if it's flattening the wire.

[Skwerly]

I recently had this prob on my Miller 135, turned out the tip was a bit clogged, or just bad. I went and got some new tips for the gun, and have not experienced the stop/start syndrome it was exhibiting for quite some time!

The gun would spit out maybe a foot of wire and stop. The drive wheel was going, but no matter what pressure I put on it the wire would not travel out the tip of the gun. Finally traced it down, and man, was I glad that I could fix it for less than 10 bucks!

[bobbowtie]

I have a Lincoln SP 175 Plus and am still on the first 10 lb roll of .030 wire. It is getting down to the last of the wire and the wire keeps sticking in the reel and not feeding. It's like it is wedged in between the other turns of wire or the other turns have crossed over the top and locked it in place. I have to stop every few swconds and pull the wire free. What's up?? I never had this problem with my HTP 140 MIG that I used for years.

Jim
Jim same thing happened it me w/my pro175 i just put a new rool of .030 wire in it and it works like new

[DesertRider33]

I had that happen to a roll of wire the other day at work. I grabbed an old roll that had been sitting for awhile partly used. We ran out of new boxes of wire, so I put the old roll in the machine. Every few welds it would hang up. Twice it burnt back into the tip. I ended up having to spool off and throw away about 100 feet of wire (I don't re-use thin aluminum wire once it's off the spool) before I found the spot where the wire was originally crossed-up. Once fixed, it worked fine. Now I know why that partly-used roll of wire was hanging around the parts area...

[millman52]

As the spool of wire gets smaller it is harder for the drive rolls to pull it off the spool. Less leverage around a smaller diameter spool. In conjunction the spring loading of the spool tensioner needs to be only tight enough to keep the spool from unwinding itself.

I don't own one of these small welding machines. But spool tensioning is key to obtaining smooth feeding.

In this case it sounds like the tension is to tight causing the pull of the feed rolls to pull the wire down in the wind rather than despool.

Someone mentioned their adapter for the larger spool caused bind. but if you can use larger spools you will most likely have less problems.

On my large machines that I normally run 44# 12" spools. I have to detension the drag on the roll when I go to a smaller spool.

There are diifferences in how manufacturers wind wire on spools. I have seen spools wound with wire overlapped & very haphasard. Others spool wind in layersvery tightly. this type will work best in any condition I know of.