Welding Tips and Tricks

I have a MIG welder that is acting up. It is a cheap, Harbor freight welder. I know, you get what you pay for. It used to work good. I have my Lincoln arc to fall back on but this one is portable and I'm not wired for 220v everywhere one my property. The MIG welder feeds perfect unless you're welding. As soon as it arcs, the feed is choppy. Anyone ever ran in to this?

kmad1999 wrote:I have a MIG welder that is acting up. It is a cheap, Harbor freight welder. I know, you get what you pay for. It used to work good. I have my Lincoln arc to fall back on but this one is portable and I'm not wired for 220v everywhere one my property. The MIG welder feeds perfect unless you're welding. As soon as it arcs, the feed is choppy. Anyone ever ran in to this?

My Dad bought one of those. I puked when I saw it. Then I bought him an HTP MIG, lol. Those HF "MIGs" are pretty much disposable. Can you return it to the store?

I've had it too long. Definitely got my money's worth. Worked for 4 years. Just wondering if there was a resistor or something going bad on the circuit board that affects the feed motor during actual welding that is causing the jerking. Feeds smoothly if your not welding.

I looked at one of them....once. Sounds like your machine is loosing power to the feed system when you pull the trigger.
just seems that machine isn't a multi tasker ... can't feed and weld at the same time.

Never used to be like that. Any idea what has gotten weak or worn out that would cause it?

kmad1999 wrote:Never used to be like that. Any idea what has gotten weak or worn out that would cause it?

I ran into something similar with .035 FCAW-G, jerky and sometimes burnback. Feed worked fine, blew out the liner, tip not plugged and still did it when welding after some use. Put in new tip and worked fine for a while. Can a tip get worn a bit and arc inside causing sticking? Around 29V and 450 IPM. Was using some extra Lincoln tips in an Ergoplus 24 gun that are same length but smaller diameter. Could non OEM tips have an effect? Switched back to OEM tips but haven't used it enough yet to see if that made a difference.