bloody thing, its started to get stiff and now the wire feed is playing up. Is there a way to lubricate it or do i just need a new one? Whats the crack with teflon liners, are they worth it for mild welding or is it just needed for stainless? Also, if i do the liner i will get a new torch, last time i complained about it someone suggested that i upgrade to a euro torch, what are these? Any good places for any of the above?!

Welder is a clark mig 135 ish.

Thanks in advance!

Euro torch is a type of screw on torch IIRC. Looks like



obviously makes it easier to swap torches...

When I looked @ Mig spares, teflon weren't that much more than normal and considering how much of a pain it is to change the liner I paid a bit more for a longer life....

You can get a euro conversion for diy mig from welduk on ebay. You don't need teflon for stainless but it's best for aluminium. Get a coiled wire liner if you want it to last but if it's your gun that's sticking it will not help. Check if there's a piece of plastic liner in the swan neck and if there is melt it out and leave it out. They cause more problems than they cure.

I put the coiled wire liner in mine. Works well and makes the whole torch lead have more spring so it doesnt bend as easy.

For as small welder i wouldnt bother with the euro conversion.

the other problem i have with my torch, is that when the wire sticks to the tip, it pushes the swan neck out of the torch, which then shortcircuits if you dont notice. So i either need to stick it in proper (might solder it?) or just get a new one. Ive had good use out of it, maybe its time to upgrade to a bigger unit anyway, im getting a bit sick of the simplistic controls.

Cheers for the help chaps.

Machine Mart do a kit for 20quid. New wire liner swan and tips , shrouds. Also the litte liner in torch neck. Fiddly to fit.
Don`t know about Clark but my Sip had a little grub screw to hold neck in place . I took it out and re-tapped a 4mm stud with a slot to scew it down flush.......more secure. I`ve upgraded to a Portamig 210......wow!! If you have the dough get another unit.

Alex

well i fitted a new teflon liner today, had to dissemble most of the machine to get it done! A pair of captive nuts rather than free nuts would've saved taking most of it apart...

Seems the main cause is surface rust on the wire. There's about 4kgs of a 5kg roll left unfortunately, so im unwilling to chuck it out. Is there owt i can do to help get it used? Oiling it seems a bad idea! I have enough liner to change it next time anyway, as it was more than twice as long as needed.

Cheers!

Once the wire is rusty it's scrap, change it for the sake of a tenner

I used to spray WD40 into the liner on a regular basis to keep it moving freely.

To prevent the wire going rusty in the first place, I use the silica gell packets that you get with new mig wire, I got about 10 of them lying in the bottom of the welder, a spray of wd40 on the wire now and then helps

Cheers
David

Clamp a bit of wire wool round it with a clothes peg before it goes into the liner and see if that helps. The rust will wear the teflon liner out in no time, it's very abrasive.

what would be good would be a wire brush and a small hoover, failing that wire wool is a good idea, unless that rusts too! Can you get stainless wire wool?!

I have a lot of welding to do over the next few days, might just use it for that and then chuck the rest before it gets worse.

well, you were right. Rusty wire is indeed scrap. Seems the flakyness stops the feed wheel gripping it properly. Thinking about it, it was a bit dumb of me buying a 5kg roll when i use it so infrequently.

hmmm, my 15Kg roll has some brown stuff on it.....doh!!!

worth unrolling a good few metres to take the outside of the roll off, its only usually that that rusts.

im gonna burn this machine soon

back to plan A, and get a coiled wire liner, as the teflon one is a bad fit:
Rescued attachment wire1.JPG

Sorry Joel I burst out laughing when I saw that. Coiled wire kit like I said before..it`s a Clark item. When your finished with welder wrap two poly bin bags around wire spool then put lid on machine. Stops wire from oxidising.

Alex

Don't disturb that till the eggs have hatched and get a coiled liner from a welding supplier, half the price of Clarkes and probably enough to do a diy mig twice.

First of all Joel you have got the wire rollers far far too tight I can see it's so tight it's putting a patern on the wire!

Did you renew the swan neck, without a good tight electrical connection it will stick as the torch moves, a similar thing happens when the tip is not tight or you have poor current return.

If your having particular problems with 0.6 try 0.8 it is much stronger and less prone to collapsing

I know the Clarke hasn't got a great reputation but they should be ok

One more thing if it sticks stop straight away!

New wire, new tip, maybe liner, tighten/replace swan neck, back the roller tension right off, feed the new wire through, leave tip off for the moment, where the wire comes out of the swan neck , grab it between fore finger and thumb, trigger it through, tension the rollers a bit at the time, until you can just stop the wire feeding and the rollers slip. The rollers are meant to slip if the wire snags for any reason, from this point you should only need to make small adjustments to tension

Cheers
David

cheers for that!

I tightened the rollers up to force it through, this happened as i was feeding the new wire in, unfortunately because the teflon liner was too small i wrapped it in insulation tape so it was still clamped, this however put a kink in it after the tape. The wire came through the side immediately, hence i kept cranking it wondering when it would come out of the torch! I had the tip off, and i believe it is 0.8mm wire anyway.

Im a bit pissed off i threw the old liner out anyway, i suspect there was nothing wrong with it, and the original slipping was caused by the rust.

Just hope i didnt burn the feed motor out with this debacle

And yes, i thought the picture would get a few chuckles!

Cheers all.