I just picked up my very first welder. Got the cheapest mig from harbor freight, and with my employee discount, I decided to do it, practice, and if I still enjoy welding in a half year, I can sell this one and get a real decent welder. I know its not the best, especially with 2 settings, 60 or 90 amps, but it will do for now.

Anyway, I was feeding the flux core wire through, as described in the manual, next thing I know is I see this long spring come out! I was expecting wire, and after the spring/coil couldnt come out anymore the wire finally did. The spring/coil was maybe 5-7 inches long. It looks like the spring/coil is just in the gun itself. I stuffed the spring back in. Didn't even try welding yet, but is that alright?

(PS the nossle/tip thats copper in color wasnt on, thats why the spring was able to push out, but it said to remove it in the manual)

 

Pictures.

I hate flux core wire it is so sloppy. I love my welding rods.

 

ill take pics right now.

it was the only thing affordable and that wasnt a stick welder. Oh and that was 115v. I could have gotten the lincoln weld pac for $200 more. I figured next upgrade ill get a 220v setup and maybe tig.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LostAndFound &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ill take pics right now.

it was the only thing affordable and that wasnt a stick welder. Oh and that was 115v. I could have gotten the lincoln weld pac for $200 more. I figured next upgrade ill get a 220v setup and maybe tig.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I am not nocking your machine sounds likje a good buy. Play with it if you do not like it sell it. No harm done.

 

its cool I wasnt taking it offensively at all.

Its not the best pic, I tried feeding the wire through again but the spring/coil wouldnt come out, its the silver circle around the wire. basically looks like a spring, but fully compressed and about 6 inches long id say, I couldnt get it out

 

um...you need a tip on it for one thing

 

Well I have never seen that before but it looks like it wont hurt anything if it is left in. The wire is still feeding smooth, correct? I would not worry about it.

 

in response to boosted94x, obviously i need a tip on it, I took the tip off to take a pic for ninja sword to see. Wire still feeds smoothly, and i cant poke it down any farther then where its at. ill give it a try tomorrow, good thing for HF warranties. As long as I dont weld myself, its all good.

 

that spring thing is called the liner. it's what the wire travels through throughout the entire length of the whip.
a lot of cheap migs just have plastic liners which suck, the coil is a lot nicer, you can take it out and clean it when your welder starts acting up.

 

nice, i guess thats good.

it doesnt run the length of the hose that goes to the gun, its just a short section.

 

http://www.lincolnelectric.com...m.asp

^ that might help, explains about the helically wound liner and stuff.

 

you're sure it's just a short section? because it should go from the feed rollers all the way into where the gas nozzle screws on to the torch.

you might have a broken liner, in which case you can expect to birdsnest quite a bit

 

well actually now that i think about it, when i pulled it 6 or so inches out, it just stopped coming out, so i pushed it back in. So basically Im not sure if its just a short section, it just felt like it was. its brand new so if its broken, well that sucks. where i fed the wire into the hole though it was plastic, unless if it turns into that metal coil after, i dont know.

If by birdsnesting, you mean the wire getting all bunched up, that all seems fine and taught enough not to unwind.

 

birdsnest = wires bunching up and overrunning themselves on the rollers. it will happen when you're welding and you hold the gun in such a way to kink the line or if you have short tight bends in the line or if you have a broken liner and you twist the line.

doesn't sound like it's broken though,
take a picture of where the whip plugs in to the machine (open the panel so you can see the rollers as well please) will better explain to me how your machine is set up and wether what you experienced is normal or if you need to rush that thing back for warranty asap
heh

 

id have to add too, when it came out, and i pushed it back in, it went in relatively easy, it didnt feel like much resistance, or like it went the whole way of the cable/tube whatever its called. Thats why I thought it was separate, or contained to just the length of the gun. I know that sounded like some sexual reference, ignore it.


PS - can i take the gun off to check?

 

yeah you can take the gun off/apart/whatever, every lincoln, ESAB, miller, lindy machine that i've ever used has had fully servicable whip/torch

like i said though, snap a pic. i'd like to see

 

can kind of see the spool, but its not birdsnested, its still tight and i moved the welder around a bit, and kept the line kink free




torch

 

yeah it won't do it immediately, it will usually do it when you are welding along and have a nice bead going then you'll notice the wire burn back in to your contact tip and expletive it up and you'll be like 'wtf' and you'll pull the trigger some more and bam birdsnest! heh

looks pretty normal though, that helicoil liner might only be in the gun itself, unscrew that thing at the bottom of the and it should split in half, be sure to catch the trigger assembly & springs though.

 

did a bit of welding today, no birds nesting, came out decent with the right settings dialed in, tomorrow ill be experimenting with more shapes, and thicknesses.