Wire feeder as a source of failure

Every welder knows it: You are in the middle of the welding process and the wire feeder starts to stutter. Mostly it is small things that lead to this behaviour. Here are the most important sources of error and the solution to remedy the situation:

Incorrect wire feed speed setting

If you can manually adjust the wire feed speed on your welding machine, you should check whether the speed has been set too high. Use small steps to find the right speed for the welding current, avoid large steps on the potentiometer.

Incorrect wire feed rolls

Wire feeding problems can often be solved with the right feed rolls. It is often forgotten that for a 0.8 welding wire, a 0.8 feed roll must also be used. For aluminium or cored wires, special feed rolls must also be used, depending on the type of device.

Dirty feed rolls

Grease or oil on the feed rolls not only considerably impairs the ability to transport the wire, they are also manoeuvred into the welding seam and cause contamination there and correspondingly poorer welding results. Important: always ensure that the feed rolls are clean.

Broken feed rolls or wire inlet

The pressure and feed rolls of the wire feeder are wearing parts. If the grooves of the feed rolls are ground out too deeply over time or if grooves have been ground into the upper pressure rolls, this will lead to the problems mentioned above. It is best to replace all feed rolls at the same time in order to guarantee an even feed. Otherwise, depending on the condition of the parts, the welding wire will either jam or slip through. Attention should also be paid to the first wire feed (from the welding wire coil into the feed) as well as any capillary or guide tubes that may have been fitted: Over time, they can cause unsightly jamming of the wire.