Miller 211 problem

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73fj

73fj

Tho at sumbitch in ayer!
Joined
Mar 16, 2003
Threads
44
Messages
1,185
Location
Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
I am having some problems with my new 211. I bought this new in June and I have been lovin it until tonight. The problem I am having is my wire will not feed properly, the machine begins to whine as it works harder and I can feel it binding in the gun, yes I have tried adjusting the tension on the drive wheel and the wire speed. When welding it is fusing, not sticking, to the welding tip. I thought it was maybe a position issue, no luck. I'm thinking a bad or dirty liner? I had an ESAB years ago that was doing kind of the same thing. Anyone else having or had a problem like this? :bang:
 
Solid wire, 0.30. I did change the tip, three of them, this is what happened to the first two, they did not last 15 seconds. The one tip is actually melted.
IMG_1054.webp
 
Pull the liner out and see if you can feed the wire with your hands. Any chance the liner is kinked causing feeding issues? Also, take an air compressor and blow out the liner. Are you using Miller brand contact tips?

I'm assuming that the wire speed/voltage settings correct? Have you always used solid wire without any issues? Are you using the same roll of wire or it is a new roll?

Make sure you have enough wire speed to prevent burnback.
 
Yup, Miller tips, tried diiferent wire speeds, won't work properly on auto set either. This is the same roll I got with the machine, I never use flux core, can't stand it. It seems to feed OK when I am just pushing it through the lead, but when I am welding I can feel it binding in the gun. I tried changing how I was holding the lead, again thinking I was pinching it somehow, made no difference, very frustrating, this machine has been working 10/10 until yesterday. I will take it apart today see if anything obvious jumps out at me.
 
I don't know if the gun to machine interface is the same or similar to a MM175 but I had a similar problem. Check the point where the gun attaches to the body of the welder. Mine accidentally came loose at this point and was #1 binding and #2 not allowing all the gas to get to the tip.
 
73fj said:
This is the same roll I got with the machine, I never use flux core, can't stand it. It seems to feed OK when I am just pushing it through the lead, but when I am welding I can feel it binding in the gun.
Click to expand...

The original roll of wire 1 or 2 lb could be the problem. These smaller rolls of wire don't feed as well as a 8" spool.
 
I have an 8" roll.

spressomon, that's the first thing I checked, I wonder why there is no clamp system to hold that in place?

I have not had a chance today to give it a good once over.
 
73fj said:
I have an 8" roll.

spressomon, that's the first thing I checked, I wonder why there is no clamp system to hold that in place?

I have not had a chance today to give it a good once over.
Click to expand...

There should be a clamp. My little Millermatic 130 welders all have hex head bolt to clamp down on the plug end. How does it feed if you don't have the contact tip in place?

Last thing you might want to check. Any chance you have bad contactor? I had feeding problems on one MM 130 welder that ended up being a bad contactor.
 
fj40charles said:
There should be a clamp. My little Millermatic 130 welders all have hex head bolt to clamp down on the plug end. How does it feed if you don't have the contact tip in place?

Last thing you might want to check. Any chance you have bad contactor? I had feeding problems on one MM 130 welder that ended up being a bad contactor.
Click to expand...

IIRC on my MM175 there is only an "o-ring" or possibly a double o-ring that provides the resistance for the connection.
 
On closer inspection there is a way to clamp the lead inside the machine :o, however this has no noticeable effect on the problem I am experiencing.

Wouldn't a bad contact be either on or off? I can hear the drive system bear down as if a greater load has been applied to it, and then my wire slowly stops feeding.

*Clamp disclaimer: I'm a guy, I don't need to read ALL the directions, except in this case it would have proved somewhat helpful* :p
 
Any possibility that the wire is getting damp, corroded or rusty? Could possibly cause the issue you describe...

Had to throw out a large roll of wire for this reason before I started using a dehumidifier in the shop.
 
Possible, but no, wire is good. I took it back to my Miller dealer and left it there for most of a week and they tried to re-create the problem, of course it ran fine. I tried it in their shop, worked perfectly, so I brought it home :confused:. I have been using MIGs for 23 yrs and I have never seen this before, really scratching my head.
 
Had an issue with my millermatic 150 that had some similar symptoms as what you described. What was happening with mine was that I had the drive roll tension set incorrectly and the drive rolls would spin, ever so slightly, on the wire as it was being fed especially if the wire stubbed against anything when being fed. When this happened the drive rolls would "flatten out" a section of the wire. This flattened section would still go through the liner ok but when it reached the contact tip it would slow or drag and when welding it would quickly cause burnback to the tip.

This happened with solid steel wire. The drive roller on the mm150 is u grove style however the wire kind of sits on top of the grove and not fully in it. The mm150 uses one drive roller and a flat follower bearing. Not sure what the 211 drive rolls look like.

The 211 may not be as sensitive to tension and maybe not be your problem, but if so, could explain why the shop could not duplicate. Mine would come and go with gun/cable position until I got the tension set just right.
 
Hmmmm....that might explain why I can feel the binding thru the gun....and that also might explain why I can hear it working harder if it has to push a bad piece of wire thru the tip :hhmm:. I will look into it.
 
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