Handler 140 overheating?

[chicoseay]

Hi; new to welding and new to the message board. I have a new Handler 140 and I am welding with .030 flux core on some pretty big metal (about 3/8"). I'm on Voltage 4 with feed rate about 45.

My problem is I think i'm getting an overheat situation but I'm not sure; the drive wheel on the wire still spins but no wire is output; is this the characteristic of overheating? Sometimes the wire gets folded at the feed to the pistol and breaks, which is making me think there's a problem with my nozzle?

Thanks for any advice.

[MAC702]

If it overheats, it'll just sit there with the fan running and do nothing else.

Sounds like a problem with the feed path for the wire. Inspect everything. Take the tip off and see how easily it feeds just through the liner and gun. Do you have a tip also marked.030"?

This is just artwork, right? Nothing structural?

[chicoseay]

You're absolutely right; the nozzle seems to be gumming up quickly. I put a new one on (checking the correct diameter, .030) and it worked fine for about 10 minutes welding and now I'm having difficulty again. Do nozzles have to be switched that often?

I'm doing structural stuff, yes; I am having two different neighbors inspecting my stuff as I go and they are seeming to think the welds are sufficient structurewise.

[BRK]

You might also want to check the tension on the drive rollers. Sometimes my MM175 requires more tension with different wires that are the same diameter. If you are truly overheating the machine, the warning light should come on.

BRK

[Clay Walters]

Bet you mean the contact tip and not the nozzle. If so, you might try using a .035 tip on that .030 fluxcore incase its just getting hot and expanding a tad.

[BillDaCatt]

Sounds like something is on your wire and gumming up the works. Try a different spool of wire and a fresh tip. Preferrably a spool from a sealed package.

As long as you dont melt the tip or have trouble like you are describing, a tip should last quite a while. I have had them last for an entire 10# spool. Your milage may vary though.
Dave

[MAC702]

...I'm doing structural [3/8"] stuff [with a 120V FCAW]... I am having ... neighbors inspecting my stuff ....

I realize I'm taking a few choice words out of context, but may I please ask what it is that you are building?

[MMW]

Try pulling the wire out of the gun & blow it out with compressed air. Put a wiper on the wire between the spool & the drive. (You can run the wire through a foam earplug as a wiper.) Make sure the wire slides through the liner easily. An .035 tip might just help & it shouldn't hurt. Run a tip cleaner through the tip to make sure it's smooth inside. Check tension on drive as outlined in your manual. Make sure your not twisting the gun or any tight kinks in it. Keep it as straight as possible. A tip should last way longer than 10 minutes.---MMW---

[Hotfoot]

Makesure your work clamp cable connection at the machine is clean and tight, then the same up at the clamp end. Are you clamping as close to the weld as possible? Is your polarity set correctly for flux core?

[Zrexxer]

You might also want to check the tension on the drive rollers.

Also make sure your tension isn't too tight. You can crush flux core wires with too much pressure causing feeding problems at the contact tip.

[harcosparky]

You're absolutely right; the nozzle seems to be gumming up quickly.

I notice when I use Flux Core in a MM210 that I frequently have to clean the nozzle/tip assy. Was worse before I started using Nozzle Dip. This made the cleaning much easier and with Flux Core I was cleaning it a lot.

Could it be so simple as this???? I guess it depends on what he means by " gumming up " !


Also when you say the " wire gets folded at the feed to the pistol " are you talking about where the wire enters the liner inside the machine? -OR- at the end where the pistol is mounted to the cable./hose???

Could be the Nozzle is so dirty the wire gets impeded and the drive rollers keep pushing the wire, it has to go somewhere.

[hankj]

I'll add my vote for an oversize tip.

Unless you have a properly prepared joint, and are using a wire rated for multi-pass, I would suspect the structural soundness of any weld deposited on a 3/8" mild steel weldment by a 140-amp FCAW machine.

Hank

[Jerry]

I'll add my vote for an oversize tip.

Unless you have a properly prepared joint, and are using a wire rated for multi-pass, I would suspect the structural soundness of any weld deposited on a 3/8" mild steel weldment by a 140-amp FCAW machine.

Hank

My exact thoughts, not enough machine.

[chicoseay]

I will answer several posts at once:

More info; I got this spray stuff that is supposed to keep the contact tip clean-ish, and that
seemed to work for the rest of the spool (small one, not the big one). then it gummed/stuck
again and I put another one on, and within a few minutes it stuck again; this time i'm
pretty sure I did some welding on the tip. Next round I will get a larger diameter contact
tip.

My tension issues were my first guess; the spool itself WAS cranked down pretty good at first.
Tension at the roller I've been pretty sensitive with, once I figured out what its purpose
was.

I'm building a shop building. posts are 11ga, and the frame going around the top of the
posts are 3"x5" angle, either 3/8" or 1/4". Pretty stout stuff.

"Also when you say the " wire gets folded at the feed to the pistol " are you talking about
where the wire enters the liner inside the machine? -OR- at the end where the pistol
is mounted to the cable./hose???"

-- Answer: the first, at the roller inside the machine.

"Could be the Nozzle is so dirty the wire gets impeded and the drive rollers
keep pushing the wire, it has to go somewhere."

-- Answer: that's pretty much what's happening. I am cleaning around the tip after each
weld with a wire brush.

"Gumming up" I really should say just the wire is stopping coming through the contact tip.

I also pretty much agree the machine is too light for the job at hand, but one of my neighbors is an inspector for buildings like Wal Marts and he says the welds are sufficient. So i'm getting votes on both sides of this issue. I was making 2-3 passes on a weld but i'm getting good enought to get a 'good' weld on one pass now; didn't know some wire isn't rated for multiple passes.sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

[Sundown]

If you are going to keep using fluxcore in that HH140 you should invest in a few fluxcore nozzles, the Hobart part number is 226190. They work great, nothing to clog up ... and you can see much better



BTW, I do agree with Hank & Jerry ... FWIW