Wire feed issues on s22a feeder...

by Troy Starks
(Three Rivers, Michigan)

Hello, I have a Miller Maxtron 450 inverter that I stick and wire weld with. It has a very smooth arc and has a s22a control cable feeder sitting on top of it. My problem is that the wire will not steadily feed. The drive rolls turn when the trigger is pulled everytime, so I know it is not the powersource. The gun is a 400 amp 15 ft Tweco with a new liner, and tip, as well as wire guides. Wire moves freely within the gun by hand when tested. I am using er-70S6 .035 Esab wire, and the drive rolls are v groove in the .035 size. No matter how tight (or loose) I set the drive roll tension, it just won't push wire very hard. My hypothesis is to replace the drive rolls with brand new. I looked all around about " Mig Troubleshooting" , and found no suggestion of replacing drive rolls to cure feedability issues. Further, I am not sure if drive rolls are even considered a consumable part. So why can't I get a steady firm push of wire to expound from the nozzle of my mig gun during normal operation???

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I would go ahead and get new drive rolls anyway and see what happens along with replacing the liner. also make sure alignment is correct with the path of the wire and adjust the brass feed tube to make sure it is not contacting the drive rolls.

thats all i can think of but drive rolls and liner might cost around 50 bucks but are pretty cheap compared to scratching your head for a long time trying to find a problem.

my two cents anyway.

jody