Burned up my M 25 mig torch

[mx842]

I have been having trouble with my Millermatic 252. I had it in the shop for almost 2 months and finally got it back but I didn't have a chance to use it until last week. I have been rebuilding my old wood burning water heater and had to put in new tubes in the heat exchanger. Right off the bat it started burning tips and back lashing the wire roll again. It had a new liner installed even though I had a band new one in the machine when I took it in.

I could weld for 30 or 40 minutes then boom....for no reason I would hear a pop and the wire would burn up into the tip. Sometimes the wire would free up and once the backlash was cleared it would go again. Sometimes it would go for 30 minutes or more, sometimes it would do it several times in a row. I used up more wire clearing backlashes than I was using on the tank.

Finally I just gave up on it and got out the Dynasty 300 and decided to just stick weld the dang thing. I wasted enough time on the thing to do the whole job two times over. I think the problem is in the torch head. All the parts look ok but it's something going wrong as the wire passes through it that is causing the problem. I can feel the wire sometimes as it is rounding the curved part or passing through the pieces that the gas and wire run through at the end parts.

I can't believe that they would put that cheap piece of crapolla on a machine like that. I had an old Miller 300 amp mig machine for years that had basically the same type head on it and I never ever put in a new liner and the people that had it before me doing factory production work only replaced the liner once or twice while they had it. The only time I ever had to replace a tip on the thing was when I changed wire sizes. The torch would sometimes get so hot that it was hard to hold on to but it kept feeding wire and seemed like it wanted more. This torch got hot to hold once or twice and it melted that cheap plastic piece at the base where the Alum and copper parts meet and the end of the nozzle burned off in a couple places.

I guess I'll have to look around and fine me a new heavier torch to use cause I can't afford to keep putting parts on this thing.

 

[mikehaugen]

Sorry I have no advice, just thought I would comment that stick welding with a dynasty seems like bit of a waste :laughing:

 

[BukitCase]

One of the recommendations I got from other welding sites was either a Bernard or a 300 amp Miller roughneck torch - The roughneck and my 30A spool gun both use the same consumables, so that's the way I went.

My M25 still works and is a bit smaller/lighter, so I haven't actually swapped torches yet - so I can't comment on how much better the torch is, but it looks/feels noticeably more sturdy.

Sounds to me like you may have liner and/or spool tension issues as well, possibly even drive roll tension/wear?

Anyway, if you decide on the Roughneck torch, I've had good luck/pricing with miller4less.com - their site isn't real friendly (need the miller p/n or you won't find anything) but I've had good service otherwise, and most other vendors are higher on price.

HTH... Steve

 

[Scooby074]

The M-25 is not the most robust torch in the world for sure. I havent had issues with mine yet but most of the MM25x machines Ive used at work had replacement Bernards on them. There is a reason. I should have worked out an upgrade at the time of purchase. Oh well. Ill upgrade when/if I burn this one up

 

[bumperm]

I'm only a hobby welder, but have you checked tip size, and is the wire fairly snug in the tip? Also check feed roller tension and make sure ground clamp has good contact etc. Usually when I have wire burn back issues it's cause the tip is getting too worn.

bumper

 

[Big Barn]

One of the recommendations I got from other welding sites was either a Bernard or a 300 amp Miller roughneck torch - The roughneck and my 30A spool gun both use the same consumables, so that's the way I went. ... Steve

I went with the Bernard Centerfire. I wasn't smart enough to consider 30A spool gun consumables compatibility tho.... Terry

 

[BukitCase]

See, Terry, I told ya to "stick with me an' I'll learn ya some" :laughing:

I can even offer a money-back guarantee - I'm pretty sure MOST of my advise is worth at least what ya paid fer it, maybe even a nickel more (well, some of it anyway...) Steve

 

[Big Barn]

See, Terry, I told ya to "stick with me an' I'll learn ya some" :laughing: I can even offer a money-back guarantee - I'm pretty sure MOST of my advise is worth at least what ya paid fer it, maybe even a nickel more (well, some of it anyway...) Steve

Cheque's in the mail, Steve.

Terry

 

[mx842]

Sorry I have no advice, just thought I would comment that stick welding with a dynasty seems like bit of a waste :laughing:

AWWWWWHHhh but it burns 7018 rods so nice..... Actually I'm glad the thing did mess up....well a little anyway. Once you get a nice mig machine you forget about burning old welding rods. Well, I did anyway and this gives me the chance to brush up on stick welding again. And I'll say this stick welding with a good machine beats the heck out of burning tips and wire trying to weld with something that isn't working right.

I dang near wasted a whole 35 lb roll of E 71T-1 flux core wire messing with this thing. Run a little and have to clear a backlash, there goes 30 foot or more, then grind out what you just put down and start over. At first I thought I had gotten a bad bottle of gas because the problems started about that time. Then I thought it was that I had gotten a bad roll of wire but ruled that out when I put it on a millermatic 210 and it ran just fine.

I read the manual about a thousand times and checked roll spring tension, drive roll tension, cleaned the liners, changed liners several times, tried several different type tips. Nothing seemed to help, /sometimes it would do it cold, the first time I struck an arc and other times it would weld just fine until it warmed up.

For now it will have to sit in the corner until I can get something a little more hardy.

 

[mx842]

One of the recommendations I got from other welding sites was either a Bernard or a 300 amp Miller roughneck torch - The roughneck and my 30A spool gun both use the same consumables, so that's the way I went.

My M25 still works and is a bit smaller/lighter, so I haven't actually swapped torches yet - so I can't comment on how much better the torch is, but it looks/feels noticeably more sturdy.

Sounds to me like you may have liner and/or spool tension issues as well, possibly even drive roll tension/wear?

Anyway, if you decide on the Roughneck torch, I've had good luck/pricing with miller4less.com - their site isn't real friendly (need the miller p/n or you won't find anything) but I've had good service otherwise, and most other vendors are higher on price.

HTH... Steve

Thanks for the supply site link.:thumbsup:

When I bought this machine I almost bought the roughneck torch but I wanted a good spool gun so I got the 30A and that was my budget limit. I figured the M25 would hold up and I believe the older model M 25's would. As I said before I had an old 300 amp.....well actually a 275 amp machine that had the m 25 torch on it and that thing was darn near indestructible. Heck! I ran over the cable with a folk truck one time and it still never missed a beat.

I guess in today's world they have to make stuff cheaper to compete anymore but it's still a shame.