WIA Weldmatic 255s

This is the WIA weldmatic 255s mig welder. This is an earlier model machine and has the W42 wire feeder. Newer machines have different feeders. These are very popular machines and have made their way into a lot of workshops through out Australia as can be seen in the below photo.

Industral Mig Welder

These mig welders are not just used in you average workshops like mechanics, muffler shops or farm sheds.

They are also use in proper welding and fabrication sheds and workshops. Unlike home mig welders these machines have a higher duty cycle, offer more welding power, have a wire traveller and allow you to use welding industry standard type mig guns.

The power supply is the big box on the bottom, the wire feeder unit is sitting on top of that, and the welding gas bottle is mounted onto the bottom frame of the mig welding cart.

All this lot have wheels underneath so that you can move it around the workshop.

This photo shows the mig welder power supply

On this front panel at the top you have the coarse voltage control. This is a 3 position switch that you adjust in either the low, medium or high position. This setting is just to get it set up roughly to the power level you need.

To the right of that knob is a fuse holder which has a fuse.

And down the very bottom is where you connect the welding cable to, and also this is where you connect the wire feeder to the main power supply.

W42 wire feeder

The W42 wire feed unit or wire traveller is a great thing to have on a mig welding machine.  This box is where you put the mig wire.  Inside there will be a wire drive motor and drive rolls which arr used to push the wire through to the end of the torch.

There are a few more controls on this part of the machine than there were on the power supply.

This is where you adjust and fine tune the mig welding setting using the wire speed and fine voltage knobs.

Also there are two more adjustments for interval and spot time.

And finally this is where you connect you mig welding gun too. 

The wire feeder gives you portabiltity, longer reach and better access.

Inside the wire feeder unit

 This is where you put the spool of welding wire.  It then feeds into the guide tube, throught the feed rollers and down the liner alone inside the welding gun.

The roll of wire is held in place using a big clip and the feed rollers are tensioned down using the black plastic knob on top of the drive rolls. 

Here is a close up view of the actual drive or feed mechanism that pushes the wire along the inside of the welding torch.

You can see in the photo where the wire is, and between the wire are two wheels.  These are called the drive rolls or feed rolls.  This particular unit only has a single drive roll feeding the wire through.  The bottom roller will have a V shaped groove in it which is where the wire sits.  And the top roller is just a plain roller bearing or and idler bearing.

This top wheel is the one that provides the downward tension on the wire.  It is levered down from a fixed point on the left side and it is held in place using that black tension knob.

To increase the wire tension you screw it down and to decrease the wire tension you screw it up.

In the background you can see a bunch of wires and the drive motor.  There is also some mounting lugs for earth connections, torch connections and gas connections etc.

The bit of brass to the right of the feed rollers is called a guide tube, and it is there to help guide the wire and keep it on track when it goes throught the feed rollers.

Drive roll motor close up 

Berard 300 amp mig gun

 This is a genuine Bernard 300amp mig gun that came with this machine.  They have push on nozzles which are part number 4391 and contact tips that are cam lock elliptical type.

To install a contact tip in a bernard welding gun you push it into tht tip holder and then give it a turn with pliers untill it locks up tight.

So that was the WIA Weldmatic 255s mig welder. 

Visit the lincoln mig welder page.