Wire Feeder

I have just treated myself to a Stick Welder, Plasma Cutter and TIG combo machine. Then don't-ya-know, I had a bout of illness and I haven't been able to get into the workshop to learn to use it (play with it). So I designed and made a wire feeder. My MIG has a large reel in it, but I also acquired some mini reels of mild steel, stainless and ali. My idea is to feed the wire into the joint instead of using filler rods when TIG-ing.

Here's some photos of the device.
Attachment 31212Attachment 31213Attachment 31214Attachment 31215

The feed mechanism is an old all-metal 3D printer extruder with a larger pinch roller and a stronger spring.

The pen is mainly an M4 long brass spacer and a MIG tip with a 3D printed housing and a push button.

The electronics are a Nema17 driver board and an oscillator made to feed the signals to the driver. Controls are On/Off, Direction, 3 speed ranges, and pot for fine adjusting the speed.

I had to buy the foot pedal from Amazon (£8 for two) and some GX16 2pin connectors for the foot pedals and the pen. The welder has a 2 pin GX16 connection for the torch switch, so I could use one of the foot pedals. Everything else I had already.

Cheers,

Rob

I'll be genuinely interested to follow your experience with this.

My attempts at TIG glueing is generally (a bit like my attempts at Thai cookery), a blind panic of trying to control 4 contradictory things at a time due to lack of preparedness and an absence of my skill (also, having a 140A arc 6 inches from my face....). Throwing an autofeed into that feels like adding a 5th random element into the mix, but if you claim it helps then I might thinking about having a pop at this myself. The cynic in me still questions whether this would have not already been invented if the need is there, but I'm sufficiently ambiguous with metal-glueing to sit on the fence with this one.

I'll break out the popcorn on this thread. Good luck :)

Ackcherly Doddy,

My motivation was to avoid buying filler rods, when I have all the MIG wire I need.

These feeders are available commercially, but they are silly money and I had the time to make one whilst I am bored out of my brain being not able to do much more than lie in bed or sit in a chair, dosed to the tits with painkillers.

If the thing works, then I will be revising the design of the case to incorporate the drill and file mods I made to this one, then I might publish it as an 'Instructable'. There is plenty of rubbish published there already.

I am just keen to get back into the workshop.

not to sure about this one, so never made a comment earlier. I cant see how its going to be better than manualy feeding the rod. In a MIG set the current is comming down the wire and flashes off to droplets of material. also i do believe the power supply is different(could be wrong here).
Doddy its easy enough on my setup and i am no expert but first off every thing has to be spotlestly clean, once you have the Amps dialed in you get your pool and dip the rod into your Argon shield to heat the wire and then as you move nearer to the arc touch it on your work piece
Ther are some goods videos on youtube .
Regards
Mike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mekanik

.....i do believe the power supply is different(could be wrong here).

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Yes, TIG and stick sources are generally constant current (CC), whereas MIG / MAG is constant voltage (CV). Your plan may work to some extent but I expect you may struggle to maintain a stable arc. MIG / MAG welders are pretty cheap, so you may be better just buying a pukka machine for that. A logical next step for your TIG equipment might be an AC source so that you can weld aluminium.

I already have a 160A MIG welder with a large spool of wire in it and I have three mini reels of wire but no filler rod apart from brazing rods. There is no electrical connection between the wire coming out of the nozzle, so it is basically just putting metal into the weld, just the same as feeding a rod in. I realise that DC makes ali welding difficult to impossible, but I can't afford an AC TIG welder.

Yes - I do realise the whole idea may be crap and I am desperate to get back into the workshop to try it.

One comment about MIG and TIG and Stick - the polarities are different I believe for different purposes.

Cheers,

Rob

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cropwell

Yes - I do realise the whole idea may be crap.

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Nonsense!, if nothing else it might make an interesting anecdote! Please see this through and educate us. Nothing was invented by doing nothing. I, for one, am genuinely interested in the results.


Mike/Metanik - my biggest problem is not dipping the tungsten into the puddle. Whether it's stiction between glove and table, the heavy welding jacket, or simply too much caffine, I find myself regrinding the tungsten more than I'm welding. I really should try with a peddle, though, that might help. BUT, let's not hijack this project thread!

One of the best investments I made was magnifying lens inserts for my welding helmet. Particularly for TIG, it's important to see what you are doing up close but once you have reached the age where you need reading glasses, this can be a problem. Now I can see what is happening and dipping the tungsten is much less of an issue. They aren't expensive and can be bought from most welding suppliers or the usual online channels.

second that, i also have to use glasses with the magnifying lens, also have the HF control on the torch.

I have to wear glasses all the time anyway. I have a pair for very close work like soldering.

Mike, what is the HF control? My machine seems to have it as automatic, as it sends out a seeker spark when I press the trigger.

My setup is ancient, BOC(Oxford) oil cooled monster with an Oxford AC/DC rectifier & BOC THF450 High Frequency Generator with Gas and Water valves (for water cooled torches)with post cooldown timer.
When i bought it i wanted to have the capacity to weld ally but for that you needed an AC Supressor, another very large and expensive box the same size as the THF450, no had much luck with Ally.
Your inverter type will be all singing & dancing compared to mine and take up very little space, the lightning from you torch is the High Frequency puls that initiates the ark.