Mig Welder Problem-Need advice

[TO_Bud]

Now that I've had the welder components off and see the interplay between them looks like regular cleaning is a good recommendation.

 

[mrmikey]

It fits in the hose and/or the liner easily and with my air compressor set at 100 Lbs plus, it cleans it out very quickly.

I find the clip on wire wipers catch a lot of crap from getting in the liner. No replacement for regular blowing out but it catches a lot....Mike

 

[88acres]

To keep the wire and liner clean I put a green brillow bad folded into half then again into half then place it around the wire right before the wire enters the first tube to the left of the pinchroller and hold it in place with a black plastic Tiawan clamp, with those orange tips. This squeezes the wire and cleans it nice and shiny. Never letting any old wire coating or tarnish get into the liner.
Learned this from a guy at a welder repair shop. Make sure the black clamp you set to pinch right on the wire. I have used rusty wire and this cleans it like you wouldnt believe. The longer area of wire you cover the better scrub you give it. I actually use 2 clamps and about 2-3 inches wide of brillow pad. This gives it 2 scrubs. Really words great.

Good luck,,,,,

88

 

[TO_Bud]

It's been a few months since this thread and I wanted to post a conclusive follow-up. Although the fixes listed above improved the weld quality they were still not satisfactory, very little penetration on even 1/8 inch steel. Finally broke down and took it in to the local welding supplier. The Tech put it on a machine to measure output amperage and it read very low at all output settings. Turns out the main capacitor had burned connections on it causing the grief. Some resistors also needed replacement. Repair was going to be over $100 and the resistors were on back order. Dealer offered me $200 on a trade in and I took it, got a nice new MillerMatic 180. This is a pretty nice welder, much improved over the 172 on it's best day, I'm glad I made the change. Thanks again for the suggestions.
Bud

 

[weldermike]

I had same problem with a tig welder, a resistor got hot and melted a hose that came from the gas solenoid to the feed in the torch, drove me insane. Machine was making crazy noises inside and every time I stepped on the foot pedal and went to look inside I would get wailed on and electricuted if I touched the machine. Sent it out twice and was told bad torch, bad pedal changed both with still the same problem. Than found it myself, and realized argon is a conductor, and thats where the crazy noises where coming from, espescially with the cover on and why I was getting zapped every time I touched it. Fifteen inch piece of hose, weeks and weeks later and problem fixed! But the miller guys missed it twice. Hmmm!

 

[dstig1]

Argon isn't a conductor unless it is ionized by something like an arc:
Argon
Note electrical conductivity is zero.

Now if that part of the welder had welding current/voltage present, then it could have supported an arc to the case of the machine or other components, perhaps.