It’s a headache when you have to deal with a MIG welder that stops midways while welding. And when this keeps happening constantly, you start to think, why the heck is the MIG welder wire feed motor not working properly?
Several things cause the wire feed motor to stop working. But the common causes include things like, lofty wire connection, dirty or kinked liner, faulty drive rolls, weary or dirty contact tips, etc. Scraping the causes first will help you get rid of this problem.
And that’s not all as to why your welder’s wire feed motor stops working. That’s exactly why I’ve put together this article so you can learn about everything as to why this happens and how you can solve this problem.
Why is Wire Feed Motor Important?
A Welder is a tool that helps you connect metallic materials by applying high heat at a constant rate. This process isn’t possible without a wire feeder.
Especially in MIG welders, it’s not possible to operate it without a wire feeding motor as it runs at a constant rate. So, let’s take a look at why it’s essential.
To make it clear for you, here are some of the reasons why the wire feed motor is important for welding.
- Operating the welder
A wire feed motor constantly feeds wire through an electrode, which gets the welder started. When you insert a wire electrode into the machine, it immediately supplies power and generates the welder.
- Control Voltage
A wire feeder can start and stop the power source. So, when an electronic power source is used, the voltage can be controlled via the wire feed Motor. Which in turn allows you to control voltage.
- Wire Feed Speed
In MIG welders, the wire feed speed is one of the most important settings. You get the flexibility of changing the wire feed speed through a wire feeder.
Smooth and clean welds depend on the wire speed. And allowing you to adjust the speed, makes a big difference in finishing the weld as a whole.
- Quality Welding
Maintaining the quality of the welds works like a big aspect when it comes down to successful welding. And without a wire feed motor, it’s hard to maintain the quality of the welds.
Feeding the electrode wire at a constant rate allows a successful weld, which in turn provides you with good quality finished product.
Reasons Why your MIG Wire Feed Motor isn’t working
If your MIG Wire feed motor isn’t working, a bunch of reasons caused it. And some of the common reasons are-
- Equipment or Feeder Issues
It’s a common problem to face issues with the feeder or types of equipment used in welding. Like:
- The drive rolls might not move for a malfunctioning feeder or a broken relay when the gun trigger is pulled.
- No response when pulling the trigger can indicate a broken control lead.
- Poor adapter connection can cause wire feeding problems when an adapter is used to connect the gun to the feeder.
- Improper guide tube installation prevents the wire from feeding on the drive rolls, which causes wire feeding issues.
- Improper Drive Rolls
One of the common causes of your wire feed motor not working is improper drive rolls. Things like wrong drive roll size, the wrong type of wire used in the drive, and improper drive roll tension cause poor wire feeding.
Other than that, too much tension in the drive rolls can cause it to crush into pieces and peeled off wiring with liner debris.
- Problematic Liner
Problematic Liner is another common cause for the wire feed motor not to work. These problems happen when you use-
- Wrong sized liners
- Dirty and crooked liners with debris buildup
- All-time clogged and damaged liners.
- Liners with wrong style wiring.
It’s imperative to have a high-quality liner as it tends to damage or get dirty for overtime usage.
- Weary Contact Tip
The cotton tip diffuser tends to wear down and get dirty by using it over time. When that happens, the shape of the hole turns into an oblong shape. This change leads down to bad wire feeding.
Moreover, long-time usage causes fuse inside the contact tip through small balls of splatter. Thus, weary contact tips lead to a faulty wire feed motor.
- Gun Length
Sometimes the wrong gun Length is the main culprit behind why your wire feed motor stops working. That’s because the long gun cable can cause kinking.
Besides, the trigger on the welding gun goes bad over time, which can cause it not to work.
Steps to Take When Your Wire Feed Motor Doesn’t Work
Though the wire feed motor stops working for a bunch of reasons, it isn’t impossible to take steps to prevent it. So here are some steps you can take to prevent your wire feed motor from working
- Drive Roll Size: Insertcorrectsized drive rolls. Like- it might slip when you use a 1.3 m drive rolls to move a 0.9mm wire.
- Type of Drive Roll: Sometimes, some wires need a specific type of wires for optimal feeding. Like- Aluminium wire needs a U-shaped grove, whereas flux-cored or metal-cored wires need V-shaped drive rolls.
- The Tension of Drive Roll: Adjust the spring pressure of the drive roll with appropriate tension to avoid loose drive rolls.
- Liner Size: Use the correct sized liners to tackle small or big sizes as they don’t fit and cause wire feeding issues.
- Type of Liner: Install Steel liners as they work smoothly for most wires. But for aluminum, it’s ideal to use nylon liner to ensure proper feeding
- Condition of Liner: Always replace a weary liner to keep the wire feed motor running. Make sure you also replace a dirty or clogged liner for the same purpose.
- Contact Tip Size: Make sure the contact tip’s size is appropriate so that the wire feed motor doesn’t get negatively affected.
- Wire condition: Avoid using too thick or thin wires, and always go for the right conditioned wire that suits your wire feed.
Conclusion
In MIG welders, a wire feed works as a boosting tool in quality welding. Therefore, it gets exhausting when you keep getting interrupted by a faulty wire feed motor.
And it’s always better to know the causes first before preventing the problem.
However, I hope you got everything you need to know about a MIG welder wire feed Motor not working properly so that you can experience a smooth weld without an interruption next time.
Cheers.