California
Well-known member
New toys! I was offered a Harbor Freight MIG-180 AND an inverter stick/tig unit - with all the accessories - for $25. I couldn't pass this up. Prior owner was an experimenter rather than a welder, and had modded the MIG-180 as a hobby project. It was immaculate and appeared almost never-used. Heavier ground cable and clamp, a big capacitor mounted external, a longer aftermarket stinger, and a relay for full power to the drive motor instead of its current going through the motherboard. Then after he lost interest in these and moved up to a better welder, he offered these two welders for near nothing! (The docs included the original receipt for the MIG-180, it wasn't stolen!)
But the MIG-180 didn't feed smoothly when I bought it. I suspect that was his reason for adding the relay to feed the drive motor, and also for machining a custom low-friction hub for 10 lb rolls, he was trying to make it feed smoothly. I have used it with the welder on the floor and the 10 ft stinger in a straight line across the floor to reduce friction. This welded ok with the stinger near-straight. I assumed the longer stinger was more than the HF drive motor could push if it had to go around several curves.
Then when I pulled out .030 flux core wire to go to .035 FC I noticed the wire was distorted - flattened or gouged in spots. It needed so much tension down on the drive roller to feed, that this was distorting the hollow FC wire to where it wouldn't go through the stinger smoothly. This suggested a solution, a better knurled feed roller. I got one mail order from China that has much more distinct knurling.
I don't know if the feed roller I found in this welder was a useless one from some other project that he mounted just to sell the welder, or it was the original. It had very slight knurling. This new knurled .030 + .035 roller feeds flux core flawlessly with very little pressure compressing the wire against the roller.
I welded with the new knurled drive roller and flux core yesterday. It feeds day/night better! Very little down-pressure needed against the feed roller, and it feeds fine with the stinger looped around in circles on the floor. Problem solved!
Here's the roller I ordered, and the Ebay vendor. He has 100% positive feedback and the roller arrived in 13 days. He's a specialty vendor for welding accessories. Recommended.
But the MIG-180 didn't feed smoothly when I bought it. I suspect that was his reason for adding the relay to feed the drive motor, and also for machining a custom low-friction hub for 10 lb rolls, he was trying to make it feed smoothly. I have used it with the welder on the floor and the 10 ft stinger in a straight line across the floor to reduce friction. This welded ok with the stinger near-straight. I assumed the longer stinger was more than the HF drive motor could push if it had to go around several curves.
Then when I pulled out .030 flux core wire to go to .035 FC I noticed the wire was distorted - flattened or gouged in spots. It needed so much tension down on the drive roller to feed, that this was distorting the hollow FC wire to where it wouldn't go through the stinger smoothly. This suggested a solution, a better knurled feed roller. I got one mail order from China that has much more distinct knurling.
I don't know if the feed roller I found in this welder was a useless one from some other project that he mounted just to sell the welder, or it was the original. It had very slight knurling. This new knurled .030 + .035 roller feeds flux core flawlessly with very little pressure compressing the wire against the roller.
I welded with the new knurled drive roller and flux core yesterday. It feeds day/night better! Very little down-pressure needed against the feed roller, and it feeds fine with the stinger looped around in circles on the floor. Problem solved!
Here's the roller I ordered, and the Ebay vendor. He has 100% positive feedback and the roller arrived in 13 days. He's a specialty vendor for welding accessories. Recommended.