Help with Millermatic 35 MIG

[dladcock]

Long story short, I traded a Stihl 021 chainsaw for a running Millermatic 35 MIG welder a while ago. The welder works well, at least well enough to knock out a few projects standing in the way.

Wire feed issues are the biggest pain. It has a Tweco gun on it ad as such I'm sure it has the conversion kit already installed. I haven't looked at this closely, but will soon.

As long as these machines have been around, I am confident there are welder GURU's here that could put me on the short path to tune this machine. I think a good cleaning and lube will help with some of the wire feed issues, but I'm ignorant on the liner and gun issues that could contribute to these issues.

Thanks for your insight!

dla

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,... Have ya pulled it apart, looked at the liner, 'n blown out the whip,..??

Probably as good a place to start as any,.....

Do the feed rolls look worn,..??

 

[rburke65]

I worked for Gen. Motors as an electrician in body shop maintaining the welding equipment. For starters I would replace the liner in the harness. We used to take a foam ear plug and run the mig wire through it and THEN feed it into the liner and out to the mig tip. The foam plug would take off any dirt before it entered the liner. Our shop conditions were probably much dirtier than your garage. I don't know what conversion kit to which you refer. How tight are the hold down screwson the drive wheels? Is the mig wire "birds nesting" when the wire doesnt feed to the end of the gun? We set the pressure on the drive wheels so that if the mig wire should "burn back" and weld itself to the tip, the drive wheels would slip and the wire would not burnch up. Between a new liner and a new tip you should see better results. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[dladcock]

Ayuh,... Have ya pulled it apart, looked at the liner, 'n blown out the whip,..??

Probably as good a place to start as any,.....

Do the feed rolls look worn,..??

Ummm, haven't pulled it apart yet. Just getting started on this project. Need to get some insight into the potential issues from those that have been there. I'll check the rollers and look at the liner, probably, as you say the best place to start.

I worked for Gen. Motors as an electrician in body shop maintaining the welding equipment. For starters I would replace the liner in the harness. We used to take a foam ear plug and run the mig wire through it and THEN feed it into the liner and out to the mig tip. The foam plug would take off any dirt before it entered the liner. Our shop conditions were probably much dirtier than your garage. I don't know what conversion kit to which you refer. How tight are the hold down screwson the drive wheels? Is the mig wire "birds nesting" when the wire doesnt feed to the end of the gun? We set the pressure on the drive wheels so that if the mig wire should "burn back" and weld itself to the tip, the drive wheels would slip and the wire would not burnch up. Between a new liner and a new tip you should see better results. Hope this helps. Good luck.

I think the guy gave me a new liner when we did the trade. I need to look at that for sure, may just source a new one to be sure. Foam ear plug wiper.... have those and that's a great tip. The Tweco gun did not drop directly in from what I understand. Tweco sold an adapter kit to fit their guns to the Millers of this style. I also understood the Tweco was a better gun than OEM.

Yes, it "birds nests" plenty. Seems to get better if welding for longer periods of time. A quick tack weld turns into a project at times, clearing the "nest" and putting everything back together. That's probably the biggest complaint with this welder.

Thanks guys for the input. Can't beat experience!

dla

 

[MJD1]

Start by cleaning out liner and tip. Pull your drive rolls, should be 3 screws on each or possibly a can you rotate if unit has been upgraded. Clean rolls with carb clean and polish with steel wool or a fine scothbrite pad. When you reinstall make sure they are aligned proper with each other and the guide tube. Also clean the guide tube. I'm not sure on that one if there is a center adjuster screw that you turn to adjust or if you have to shim the rolls to align. Also check your wire spool , if its rusty or poorly wound peel off the bad wire. Be sure spool turns freely but not too loose. When setting tension after running out the wire bend it over and when triggered the wire should just push your hand without slipping. Good luck .

 

[dladcock]

The spool is new...... everything else is questionable. I went out to find serial and part numbers and noticed the motor drive roller, that's supposed to be on a keyed shaft, is loose. I didn't pull the roller, but there is a good amount of lash on the keyway. That's assuming there is even a key in place. I'll pull that first then the other parts for cleaning and inspection. I'm looking at parts to tune-up the gun, liner and so on.

It may be more cost effective to replace rather than rebuild since these are quite old. The power supply runs very well. The wire feed is my only complaint so I believe it will be a good welder when those issues are addressed.

I don't have a lot in the machine and would be content to keep it that way.

dla

 

[fuzzytek]

Picture of feed rollers and how the liner comes into machine?

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[trackwelder]

We use these at work and they really help with feeding issues.
http://www.weldaid.com/products/lube-matic-overview/

 

[dladcock]

Wow, hard to believe it's been a year and a half since I posted this. In that time a lot of water has gone under the bridge, a lot of water.....

At any rate, oddly I had checked into the JG last night and looked back at some old posts and thought I should follow up on a couple, this is one of those. Surprised there was a couple of new posts this morning.

So, here it is. I figured the welder had not had any service for many years, if at all. Started with pulling the covers, blowing dust and cob webs out, loosened every connection I could find, cleaning and re-tightening each one.

The ground cable insulation was a little rough, replaced that with new that was on hand. Replaced the gas hose with new and made sure all the clamps were in good shape.

The torch was disassembled, line replaced and the terminals were cleaned to new metal. I also loosened all the connections for the heat ranges in the panel cleaned/re-tightened those as well.

The cooling fan was a little noisy, cleaned/lubed the bearings. It runs quiet now.

The drive roller was loose and moved around on the drive motor shaft. Turned out there was a screw missing and the woodruff key was missing. Replaced those items and the upper roller with a new one. At some time the roller had been "worked" to address feed issues in the past. This may have been the major malfunction from the beginning.

The spool of wire was almost empty, so I got a fresh one. Found that the spool didn't really engage the spindle like it should, fixed that and fired it up.

The welder works like a new one out of the box. I'm very pleased and proud that it came around without any major expense. The drive roller was the only part I had to purchase, it was about 30.00 if I remember correctly.

I have built a couple of projects for the tractor, a spring rake, a multi use hitch and a winch get-up. It's a pleasure to use the welder without any feed issues or fluctuating heat settings. (an issue I didn't recognize with the sporadic feed issue)

dla