miller matic 210 mig welder

[Centermass]

I have a miller 210 mig welder that is about 3 years old and have had some problems with the wire feed. I have been cleaning the metal before I weld but the welder acts like the material is dirty or there is not enough co2/argon mix around the weld. The welder runs jerky no matter what speed I run the wire at. The wire feels like it is slipping in the gun. I have a good power source. One of the guys at the local welding shop recommended changing the liner in the gun. It is not an expensive part but I just wanted some opinions before I took the welder apart. Also I didnt start having this problem till I added the new role of wire that is on it now. I did finish the utility trialer I was building with the new spool and had no problems.
Thanks for any help

 

[IBCRUSN]

Where do you have your regulator set at? 25+ CFH is a good start and adjust from there.

The feed issue may be your roller tension is insufficient. I have an industrial Miller feed and have the roller tension set so when you pull the trigger w/ the nozzle on a table it will just try to push the gun away then slip. It has worked well so far.

Check these before you replace the liner, especially if you're the original owner and haven't put a lot of time on the machine.

 

[Wile E Coyote]

Pull the liner out and check it. It could be kinked from being stepped on, for one example. It also could also be dirty, so shoot some shop air through it. Other than losing 15 mins, it wouldn't hurt it at all to pull the liner just to find it's okay. Just put it back in and move on to another potential culprit.
It could also be the drive roller tension being too loose or, get this... too tight even. So tight that the wire gets deformed and hangs up going through the gun. Don't overlook the contact tip, or even the darn wire itself.
Edit: Lastly, look at how tightly you have the wire roll installed, too.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Just to reiterate things already stated:

Drive rollers ( improper tension on the cable, almost not possible that they are worn out )
Liner ( dirty, kinked, generally hindering wire from traveling down cable )
Contact tip ( irregular connectivity with welding wire producing erratic current when welding )

Make sure that the contact tips and liner work with the wire size that you have.

 

[Centermass]

Thanks guys I will check all of the things you recomended. I have only run about 2-25 pound spools through the machine and I try to keep the lowest presure on the drive wheels but maybe it isnt enough. I will pull liner and blow out with air and change the tip also. I will let you know what the fix is, in a couple of days.

 

[baxter650]

Does it make a difference if the cable doesn't have any bends in it? I have the same model with a lot of use, it acts up the same way till i straighten the cable out or at least keep it to a larger radius.
I should change my liner to but i never seem to get around to it.

 

[Centermass]

It worse when cable is in tighter radias but does it no matter what.

 

[yycranger4x4]

The thing I found about my MM211 is that the last spool of wire I put in, it was running jerky too. The drive roll tension was set all good, but what I found is the tension on the roll of wire itself was too tight. I found that it doesn't have to be as tight as I thought as the wire doesn't need to be really tight to stop from unravelling.

 

[fj40charles]

Cheap wire can cause feeding issues if the wire diameter is not correct or consistent.

Make sure the mig gun is inserted all the way into the drive roll housing.

Replace the contact tip and replace the liner. Cheap and easy fix.

 

[Centermass]

Pulled liner out no kinks. Tip was clean and I pulled a bunch of wire off the spool it seemed to be smooth coming off. Put a new liner in and it seemed to have fixed the problem. I had to cut the liner to length it looked just a hair longer than the original I hope this isn't a problem.