Handler 140 drive wheel slips

[baycraft Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close baycraft]

I am a newby on here and am having some problems with my Hobart Handler 140. I bought it a few years ago and have had no problems with it whatsoever. I went to use it the other day and the drive wheel is slipping and spinning on the flux core .030 wire I am using. I have put alot of this wire through this machine and never had a problem with it until now. When I go to weld it will spark and burn the wire up the the tip. I change the tip and adjust the speed and voltage and the drive wheel is spinning on the wire.

I bought a new drive wheel with the grooves cut in it to help push the wire out and that didnt do it. It still just slips on the wire. I put on new tips and have changed the diffuser. The roller bearing surface isnt worn out.

Im running a spool that is not the smallest (2lb?) but the next size up--5lb? I wonder if the spool could be too hard for the drive motor to pull? Or maybe rubbing the inside of the case?

The wire moves freely back and forth by hand inside the liner of the gun etc so I dont know what else it could be....

Sometimes I can get it to weld good and then it slips and the welding is over...
Any help would be great!!!

Thanks everyone!

[74fencer Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 74fencer]

I have experienced the same problem and my machine. I am curious to know what the problem is also!

[Thomas Harris Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Thomas Harris]

Are you sure the drive wheel is slipping? I thought mine was slipping too much awhile back and on closer inpection found it was not turning intermittentlly. The motor was bad, causing it to spin/not spin when the gun switch was activated. Just doesn't make sense not feeding wire if the drive wheel has pressure , the liner is not clogged, and the spool moves freely. Hope it's not the drive motor as the dealers are very proud of them.

[Hobart Expert Darrell Hobart Expert Find all posts View Profile Close Hobart Expert Darrell]

Another factor to check is the wire spool hub brake nut setting. If the brake nut is tightened too far and the wire spool is difficult to spin, wire drive roll slippage will occur.

[HotZone Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close HotZone]

Use a diegrinder wheel such as a Dremmel to cut small radial slits across the wheel to aid in better traction

[Jake_SS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jake_SS]

Check the motor shaft for up and down movement and the alignment of the wire relative to the inlet and outlet tubes. parallel, vertically and horizontal. After a period of time the top roller pressure can force motor and or shaft to drop a tad which will cause slipping. Might have to raise motor to compensate. Do not use dremel method

[Thomas Harris Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Thomas Harris]

Like I stated earlier, make sure it is actually turning when the switch is closed. If so, then you might check the motor to be sure it is mounted rock solid into the frame of the unit. The motors have plastic housings, so a crack or movement in the plastic mounts could cause seperation of the rollers. All this assumes no binding in the path from wire supply to the gun tip. Also check the idler roller to make sure it is not siezing when the drive roller moves. I assume this smaller unit drives only one roller with the other free wheeling. Larger, better systems use gears to drive both rollers. Geese!, I feel like I'm at work evaluating a printing press problem, except there's about 20 rollers on each unit on a press. Make sure you can pull wire through with the roller fully loosened. If you can't, you need you solve that problem before worrying about the motor and drive. The liner can be a cuprit too.

[hankj Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hankj]

Use a diegrinder wheel such as a Dremmel to cut small radial slits across the wheel to aid in better traction

I wouldn't.

Handlers have pushed millions of feet of wire through their drives without issue. There is a problem here; I suspect it is what Darrell said.

Hank