welder help

[luremaker]

Ok this is a off subject ,but I bet someone out there may be able to help me .

I have a miller 130 wire welder and it just started to weld funny the burn sound has changed and it dose not lay bead down like it should.

Any one out there repair these units or have any ideas what to start with?

Thanks

luremaker

[1mainiac]

probably the voltage control board we have had several of them go bad last one was 500 bucks so we have a new welder instead of fixing it. If your using gas check you regulator as gas flow will mess with your weld also. Try some flux core if it does not mess up your problem is in the gas flow.

[luremaker]

Jim

I have 500 psi on the tank so it is running low but not sure if that is the issue?

Do you have a miller and is the board a common issue?

It will weld great for a min and the next not so well. I have been using this for years so i know it's not me and the sound pitch change's when it don't weld very good.

[1mainiac]

we are on our 2nd Miller in the shop I work in first one lost voltage control and was scraped. Current one does a decent job but we are not a welding shop just need a welder now and then. The Miller mig is easy for the guys to use I would rather have a TIG but like I said we don't weld all the time so pull the trigger and weld works for most of the guys. If I were going to buy a welder it would have to do mufti-process because for me it would be mostly Stick and Tig though I am very rusty at TIG welding. To me MIG is middle of the road and not really great at anything other than letting almost anyone weld. Yes I know there are some really good MIG welders but most people who have them run the same wire for all welds. So no matching the weld to the job like in Stick and TIG welding. I would try some flux core and see if it acts up because that would remove any gas issue. The other thing you could do is put a voltmeter on the output and see if the voltage is constant when it acts up. A sticky feed roller will mess up your welds also as will kinks in the wire feed line. Voltage should be stable while welding. Also since I just reread that it is a 130 is it a 115v welder My tote mig hates some of my extension cords I let my son take it to NC with him and he called saying it would not weld anything I asked him if he was using a extension cord and he said yes so I had him plug it straight into the wall and it works fine for him. That welder is going on 30 years old so it gets real touchy about how you feed it. Without actually welding with it it is hard to say exactly what is happening. Voltage issues tend to surge when welding gas issues for me seem to effect weld quality and appearance. Feed issues tend to make you erratic as the feed speeds up and slows down fast one min slow the next so the bead looks like your kid welded it.

[1mainiac]

Not sure about Holland But Lakeshore welding in Muskegon sells and repairs Miller. Purity in GR also services them.

[luremaker]

Jim thanks i will try the flux wire and see what happens and try to get a meter on it to watch the voltage. if all fails , will take it in to lake welding here in town where i bought it from. Just didn't want to drop a ton on it just to have them say it's going to cost me another $500 or so to fix or replace.

It is a 115v unit and I never use a extension core , I know the there father away from any item the less the voltage is.

Thanks for the help

[ChampionShip]

We send ours out annually at the shop for calibration and inspection. Might be worth a look