Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello I just bought a welder a few days ago and was curious if mig and flux core drive rolls can wear out, if so how long do they typically last?

Wildwelder96 wrote:Hello I just bought a welder a few days ago and was curious if mig and flux core drive rolls can wear out, if so how long do they typically last?

You'd have to run a lot of wire at full maximum drive roll pressure/tension for that to happen, but I suppose it could. As a hobbyist, no way. The real question is: what issues/problems are you having?

I used to work at a place where we ran 400# spools you changed spools every 5 to 7 working days ( depending on what you were doing). We ran 16 ft guns and would flip over drive rollers every 6 months. Those rollers were double sided so a set of wheels would last a year. Assuming you were keeping your wire clean.


Edit: that’s around 17500 lbs of wire.

That's a lot of wire.

We have kemppi machines at work, they have plastic rollers with metal surfaces bonded onto the wire feed area. That absolutely do wear out, especially if there's too much tension pushed down on them. The holes go egg shaped, which leads to irregular feeding.

Mick

That's a black mark against kempi considering the price they charge and claims of hi quality.
I can get metal rollers on a bamboo pos.

Seems to me they might be engineering a fail point. At least it’s a cheap one to fix.

Poland308 wrote:Seems to me they might be engineering a fail point. At least it’s a cheap one to fix.

Josh,

I have to kind of agree with Coldman, Kemppi machines are not cheap (at least not the cheapest) and are highly regarded in Europe and Oz. They are made in Finland after all, so it's not as if they're engineered to the lowest standards as the Chinese machines.

Me thinks Kemppi needs to go back to the drawing board and re-engineer those wheels.

I wouldn't be surprised if Kemppi is using Chinese wheels...'nuff said...wouldn't be the first time...probably why they are so cheap to replace...

I don't know why kemppi use those things. But they are fine if treated right. The kempo 400 is a 100 % duty cycle that I personally have put roll after roll through day after day and no problem. Lots of European machines seem to have the plastic and metal rollers.

weldin mike 27 wrote:I don't know why kemppi use those things. But they are fine if treated right. The kempo 400 is a 100 % duty cycle that I personally have put roll after roll through day after day and no problem. Lots of European machines seem to have the plastic and metal rollers.

Could be that China is the only place that makes those wheels anymore...

Or it could be that they are the only reasonably priced ones. Can't you upgrade to some better wheels?

I've got a feeling that they are the fuseable link in the drive train. Designed to wear out so as not to distroy the rest of the unit.

weldin mike 27 wrote:I've got a feeling that they are the fuseable link in the drive train. Designed to wear out so as not to distroy the rest of the unit.

I agree probably a designed fail point.

The rest of the system must be flimsy if they need plastic rollers to survive.
Not passing my stink test.

Coldman wrote:The rest of the system must be flimsy if they need plastic rollers to survive.
Not passing my stink test.

I'm going along with what they say, but in my mind I'm thinking it's like buying a high end car that has a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty, but when you drive it 30,000 miles in a year the wheel bearings wear out...the car dealer tells you, "hey, they are warranted for 100,000 miles, but not if you drive 30,000 miles in a year...

I'm sure those Kemppi wheels are good if you only burn a roll of wire every 3 years...

It's actually a historical way of preserving machinery. Phenolic resin gears are an engineered failure link in machinery to stop the machinery from destroying itself should something go wrong. Make no mistake, Kemppi are fantastic machines. Way better quality than many machines. Even blue and red.

I have personally run many rolls through the machine, and if they are adjusted correctly, they are fine. The plastic parts are there to account for the fact that many apes don't know how to tune their mig properly and merely crank down on the drive roll tension if it's not working properly.

weldin mike 27 wrote:I have personally run many rolls through the machine, and if they are adjusted correctly, they are fine. The plastic parts are there to account for the fact that many apes don't know how to tune their mig properly and merely crank down on the drive roll tension if it's not working properly.

Amen,
The whole purpose of engineered fail point.