Mig 200 wire feed problems

[illuvplanes]

My 200 will quit feeding wire and will spool out between the roller and entrance to gun liner. It then shorts out and arks inside the case. I have to pull all the wire out of gun, clip the wire out the spool and rethread it in the roller and then the liner. It happened four times in ten minutes yesterday. I was running higher voltage and wire speed then I normally run because of thick material. I tried different tension settings on the roller but it didn't seem to make any difference. The wire was burnt back to the tip each time but I had good direct ground and clean metal. What am I doing wrong.

[performance]

What you described is classic bird nesting. A couple things, check to make sure you haven't placed your unit in "stick" mode accidentally. Also, if you have mismatched wire with electrode size the wire can swell and stick inside the electrode (contact tip) causing a situation as described. BUT the solution to birds nesting is NOT to tighten the feed, but rather to loosen it.

What wire, gas, size are you running?

[geezer]

Sounds like you have to go to a thicker wire, the one you are using will pack up at that feed rate inside the liner unless you keep the liner very straight with no bends from the machine to the torch. If it burns back to the tip it will fuse and cause the same problem, increase your stickout.

[illuvplanes]

Mark, I am running .035 ER70S on a 10 lb. spool, CO2, and .035 tips.

[Ray]

Sounds like it’s fusing to the tip from not enough stick out to me.
I Should ask what voltage and wire speed your running, and what your welding on.

.035 is not that thin of wire , and should be good to 150 amps, and about ¼” in a single pass.
Having learned to Mig weld over time and mostly from the school of hard knocks, there are several things that can cause birds nesting like your describing.
Not enough wire tension can cause it, by allowing the wire to slip in the feed rollers the wire burns back and welds to the tip. Having used this welder with .035 I have found the tension works best (for me) between 3 and 4 on the scale, higher than I expected.

Too high a wire speed, causing the wire to over feed into the weld, usually accompanied by push trough.

Tip size, metric for .035 is .9 mm, 1.0 will work, but not .8, change often, makes a big difference, they kind of waller out in the center and affect the arc.

Bad torch liner, my experience with the Benzel and Trafimet torches is they are pretty dang stout, and will take a pretty fair amount of use before there’s a problem, unless you’re really bending it, but at higher speeds it can become more of a problem. Damaging the whip by running over it or something could cause binding.

The key in my personal opinion is the sound, if the wire is slipping on the roller you can usually hear the drive feed motor slip, accompanied buy a flash, and pop and if you don’t let off the trigger instantly a rats nest.
If it stalls or really loads the motor, and the arc stops or pops with the wire stuck in the puddle, then it can burn back to the tip quickly and cause it, usually if the issue is at the tip it will bunch up at the tip before starting to rat up in the wire feed area, are you seeing anything like that?

And lastly, I’ve seen a lot of inconsistency in wire lately, if you got it from Hf or some smoken deal place, I’ve seen a lot of variance in the thickness to the point of having to use a larger tip. I usually pony up for the name brand stuff, been bit to many times on this.

Hope this might help, mostly my opinion take it or leave it, I’m sure others will have valid observations or experiences as well.
Not trying to butt in.

[geezer]

0.35 wire is pretty good size for that machine, are you any where near 300 ipm @ 22volts for 1/4 inch?

[illuvplanes]

geezer, I was running 22 volts or very close to that. As far as wire speed, I don't know exactly. I was judging by sound rather than dial. I was going for splatter rather than sizzle. ThanksRay, Mark and geezer for responding to my problem. I'm probably going to keep a small spool of large wire handy if I must weld very heavy metal. Would that help by keeping wire speed down? I will try the other suggestions as well.

[performance]

I would disagree with Ray about the cause low wire tension causing birds nesting. The cause of birds nesting is burn back of the tip, but if the tension is right, the drive rolls SHOULD slip if it seizes in the tip. Many things can cause burn back, primarily too low of wire speed. You should be able to get the wire to curl up when you press it to a block of wood, but it should be just tight enough to do so. Slipping drive rolls can't birds nest. The CO2 will work in our machines, but argon/CO2 mixes are a LOT less frustrating to work with. Also CO2 burns hotter so you have to rethink your setup. It doesn't get the same sizzle and its more spatter than weld. Adjust your arc force to smooth it out, rather than wire speed once it approaches a weldable speed.

Too much wire speed can do damage that's for sure. But my thinking is that you are using the wrong size tip, if you are using the tips that came with the unit since, from my recollection they only come with .30. So the seizing you are getting is caused by the tip heating up and causing sticking with the 035. You need step up to an 035 or 040 tip. A tweco 11 series will screw right in.