Clarke 160T MIG Wire Feed Issue...

[silverzx]

Was in the process of welding a flexi pipe into my downpipe on my car last night and half way through the welder stopped working.


After a quick look it appeared the wire had clogged up in the feed.

I pulled the wire out, cut it and fed in some fresh wire and it fed all the way through until after the torch brass block (post liner) and then stopped, hit something and blocked up at the wire roller again. I tried this three times and same thing happened each time.

Obviously there is a blockage somewhere near/after the torch brass block but I'm not sure where and whether there is anything I can try before replacing it altogether with a new swan neck -


Clarke MIG 160/165 Swan-Neck Assembly
£18.45 (inc VAT)
No.5 in the diagram. Complete with Items No.4 & No.3

Should I try poking some wire down from the tip end? Should I change the tip?


The downpipe:



The problem:





I had it apart last night and it seems to get past the block, circled in red.




Am I right in thinking if I unscrew the swan neck from the brass block (as circled in yellow) if will reveal this spring that might be the problem as it could be snagging on the side of it and rotating it could cure the problem?

[darrenjlobb]

Heh the term for that is "birdnesting" it lol...

Have you removed the tip from the lance? And still the wire wont come out?

Most likely lots of dust / crud from people using dirty wire has built up in the lance / moved and jammed up the end, if you cant get it feeding behind the tip, try taking it apart further down and see if you can see the wire...

Is it euro lance style plug on welder? If so just buy a new lance / torch, if its full of crud will give endless issues...nothing like a new torch to sort a welder out!!

[Danny Wideboy]

I had the same problem with my Clarke mig dude.

Need to make sure the new wire you feed in is perfectly straight for a good 2-3 inches, take ALL the curve out of it, it catches on the gas holes, remove the tip (if you havn't already) and try again.
I tried a few times without straightening the wire fully and just wasted a load of it.

HTH.

[silverzx]

Heh the term for that is "birdnesting" it lol...

Have you removed the tip from the lance? And still the wire wont come out?

Most likely lots of dust / crud from people using dirty wire has built up in the lance / moved and jammed up the end, if you cant get it feeding behind the tip, try taking it apart further down and see if you can see the wire...

Is it euro lance style plug on welder? If so just buy a new lance / torch, if its full of crud will give endless issues...nothing like a new torch to sort a welder out!!

I had the same problem with my Clarke mig dude.

Need to make sure the new wire you feed in is perfectly straight for a good 2-3 inches, take ALL the curve out of it, it catches on the gas holes, remove the tip (if you havn't already) and try again.
I tried a few times without straightening the wire fully and just wasted a load of it.

HTH.

Cheers boys, turned out the spring had bent about half an inch before it enters the shroud/tip area. Snipped that half inch off and it's working again.

Did some welding and toward the end of the evening the wire feed motor stopped working altogether!

The wire pulls in/out freely so theres no blockage.

Is there a seperate fuse or anything independant for the wire feed that I should be checking?

I've found a complete torch setup for £50-60 on eBay but don't wanna spend money if not needed. The spring on it's own is only £3.35.



Clarke MIG 160/165 Swan-Neck Liner
£3.35 (inc VAT)
No.6 in the diagram

The spring:








The first attempt at welding anything together, a stainless flexi and mild pipe, could of went worse...

[puglove]

I had a simular problem on my welder. The cabe that the wire,gas etc goes through had kinked up the to badly witch ment the wire just wouldnt feed through it

[silverzx]

I had a simular problem on my welder. The cabe that the wire,gas etc goes through had kinked up the to badly witch ment the wire just wouldnt feed through it

Get with it Jammie Dodger, we got that fixed last night, new problem is wire feed motor seems to of died even though welder still on and humming away!

[puglove]

Well im sorry!!!!!

[vincent1]

The brown wire in the lance maybe check thats making contact to the correct points in the lance, maybe the wire has a break in it if you have a multi meter check it right back to where it joins inside of the welder as you have had the lance/trigger apart hopefully just a bad contact somewhere.

[silverzx]

The brown wire in the lance maybe check thats making contact to the correct points in the lance, maybe the wire has a break in it if you have a multi meter check it right back to where it joins inside of the welder as you have had the lance/trigger apart hopefully just a bad contact somewhere.

Good point, didn't think of wacking the multi meter out!

[silverzx]

Well, it fixed itself..

[Rippthrough]

You've got too much tension on that wire, it should be able to just slip without kinking like that, just in case it does snag. Can be a little tricky to get it perfect with the cheaper drives mind, bringing the liner end as close to the wheel as you can helps.