Miller 175

[just learning]

I purchased a Miller 175 around Feb. I am using 35 flux core wire. I am having trouble with the wire feed. You can weld for about 30 sec. and it will stop feeding. I have been every route tring to fix this problem, from adjusting, new tips, even taking tip off and holding gun on a block of wood, and it still stops feeding. I called Miller Tech and he told me to order a knurle drive role. I spent $27.00 on that and still not feeding.. I new to welding and thought I was getting the right rig for my budget. Any help or advice would be good.

[storts]

I purchased a Miller 175 around Feb. I am using 35 flux core wire. I am having trouble with the wire feed. You can weld for about 30 sec. and it will stop feeding. I have been every route tring to fix this problem, from adjusting, new tips, even taking tip off and holding gun on a block of wood, and it still stops feeding. I called Miller Tech and he told me to order a knurle drive role. I spent $27.00 on that and still not feeding.. I new to welding and thought I was getting the right rig for my budget. Any help or advice would be good.

This will probably get me in trouble, its that stupid tracking sys, Big red, has whwere you can fine tune, wire and heat, Just my opionion,Jack

[cope]

Be sure that yourspool tension is loose enough as well as the pressure on the wire feed itself. Flux core is less forgiving than solid wire.

[just learning]

I have tried the adjustment and role tension, but still no luck. It seems if I hold cable straight out it will do some better, but if I turn gun the slightest bit it will stop.

[TOMWELDS]

I purchased a Miller 175 around Feb. I am using 35 flux core wire. I am having trouble with the wire feed. You can weld for about 30 sec. and it will stop feeding. I have been every route tring to fix this problem, from adjusting, new tips, even taking tip off and holding gun on a block of wood, and it still stops feeding. I called Miller Tech and he told me to order a knurle drive role. I spent $27.00 on that and still not feeding.. I new to welding and thought I was getting the right rig for my budget. Any help or advice would be good.

Is the wire sticking to the tip? Is it the right size tip? Are you welding stainless or aluminum (in which case i would go up one tip size)? Does that machine have a "run in" adjustment like the 251? Try millerwelds "ask andy" forum.

[just learning]

I am welding 1/8 mild steel. Using 035 tips. As I said before you can take the tip off and put wire against block of wood and it will feed for a few seconds, then stops. Only thing left is there is some restriction in gun or cable. this unit has been used a total of 10 mins. since bought new.

[hankj]

Have you run it while watching the feed mechanisim? Open the drive door, and sit in front of it and pull the trigger. That should tell you something. If you are not "birdsnesting" (not likely with .035, but possible) and the wire spool turns freely, the drive rollers continue to move, and the tension is set correctly, then the problem has to be in the gun liner, gun, or tip.

Hank

[Smitty]

Check your liner in your gun and make sure its for 035. Take a peice of 035 and push it down the gun liner and check for too much resistance. It should slide down the gun fairly easy but naturally there is going to be some resistance. If it doesn't slide as easy as you think it should, take the gun off and take it back to where you bought it or if you .com'ed it buy a new liner and try that. If it is not the gun than it is probably in the spool tension being too tight or the drive rollers being too loose and slipping or too tight and flattening the wire or damaging before it enters the gun.....

[James D. Clark]

Cut the end of the wire off and wind it back on the wire spool. Then attach the wire end to the spool and then check the spool on the spindle to see how freely it spins on the spindle. Back the nut up on the washer and spring until the spool turns freely. Hardly any drag at all. The spring may be extended more than it should be which will make the spool turn hard if the nut is tightened too much. I have a MM175 and the adjustment can be a bit tricky. While the wire is out of the gun turn on the welder and hold the trigger while watching the wire drive roller just to make sure it runs. Then reinstall the wire and make sure the wire drive rollers are turned for the .035 wire and that the wire lines up with the liner nose.

Check the wire on the spool too to see if the wire isn't looped under a coil. That can happen. If you can weld for a short time and then the wire stops it sounds like the wire pulling the slack out of the wire on the spool and then the spool isn't turning free. Hope that solves it.

I've never had a contact tip bind up the wire. I do weld the wire to the tip sometimes but that's operator error.

[Tucsonshooter]

I had to replace my liner in my MM210 about 4 months after I bought it. The symptom was that the wire speed was eratic and sometimes would stop. After stopping a weld gone bad, I would give the gun a quick shake and about an inch of wire would pop out of the gun. I believe that the liner was cut too short at the factory which caused it to bind at the gun end. The liner was too short to mate up with fitting in the gun. After replacing the liner it has worked perfectly for about a year so far. The folks at Airgas, where I bought it, didn't help me and I still think that Miller owes me a liner.

[BMB]

Check the condition of your wire too. I had a roll that had some "rough" spots in it. Looked like it had small scratches in sections of the wire. This would cause it to drag through the tip and stop the feed.

BMB

[Hobart Expert Darrell]

I am welding 1/8 mild steel. Using 035 tips. As I said before you can take the tip off and put wire against block of wood and it will feed for a few seconds, then stops. Only thing left is there is some restriction in gun or cable. this unit has been used a total of 10 mins. since bought new.

When you say "It stops", do you mean the feedmotor totally stops turning or is the feedroll spinning , but the wire doesn't feed?

If the motor totally stops after running for a few seconds, call the service tech back. I would suspect that you have a bad motor protection device that is interrupting the circuit prematurely. The service tech should be able to diagnose this problem and get you up and running quickly.

If the feedroll is turning, but is slipping on the wire and not pushing the wire, you may need to either reduce the drag on the wire spool braking mechanism or increase the feedhead tension by tightening the tension knob.

Take a look at these suggestions and repost to let us know what you find.

Darrell

[Sandy]

I had to replace my liner in my MM210 about 4 months after I bought it. The symptom was that the wire speed was eratic and sometimes would stop. After stopping a weld gone bad, I would give the gun a quick shake and about an inch of wire would pop out of the gun. I believe that the liner was cut too short at the factory which caused it to bind at the gun end. The liner was too short to mate up with fitting in the gun. After replacing the liner it has worked perfectly for about a year so far. The folks at Airgas, where I bought it, didn't help me and I still think that Miller owes me a liner.

I had a similar problem to Tucson, except it wasn't that the liner was cut short, it just was never installed right to begin with. I had a less extreme version of what you and he had, ie., inconsistant feeding.

I took the tip off, then the diffuser. The liner was just barely up in the gun and you could tell that the wire was not 'pointed' straight at the diffuser and/or tip. I picked at the liner just a bit and it popped out of the gun and out about another half to three quarters of an inch (can't recall exact length now). It was apparently crunched up in the tube from assembly. The liner should extend past the end of the gun, into the diffuser, past the gas ports and into the receiver portion of the diffuser. This aligns it and the wire perfectly for the tip.

After doing that little chore most times I can even install new wire on the machine without taking off the tip. Once in a great while it hangs during installation but most of the time it feeds through fine. Sure eliminated a lot of feed speed problems. At least in my head it did. Keeping the hose straight isn't even the issue it used to be for me or as you may hear it can be.

I've taken the liner out a couple of times to blow it out and put it back exactly like that every time and a lot of the little problems have gone away.

[moe1942]

Several other items to check. Make sure liner is as close to drive roll as possible without touching and in line with drive roller groove. Check to see that when liner was cut to length it doesn't have a small sharp burr projecting inward. Check both ends of liner. If that doesn't do it take it back to the dealer.

The others have pretty well covered the other bases. Good luck..

[Hobart Expert Kevin]

J.L.

As Darrell mentioned the motor circuit in that unit has over current protection built into the board (kind of like a circuit breaker that automatically resets) and a feed restriction may be kicking it out. There could also be a problem with that device itself.

Check the spool brake tension, drive roll tension and make sure the liner is up in the diffuser where it belongs as Sandy suggested.

If you are still having problems give me a call or e-mail me and we'll get this taken care of.

Kevin
KSchuh@Millerwelds.com
(920)735-4505