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Step 26Reload a Wirefeed Spool

Reload a Wirefeed Spool
One of our wirefeed welders ran out of wire. All we had were some spools that wouldn't fit it.

So clamped a pipe in the vice and slid the big spool over it.
I bolted the small spool onto a chunk of threaded rod with two nuts and two washers.
Then I hooked the end of the wire through the hole on the inside of the little spool just like the wire it came with had been.
I spun the little spool with the drill, guiding the wire on and maintaining tension with my other hand.
Try to make the layers of wire as level as possible. The wire has some memory so it will try to jump off if you let go. When it was full enough I cut the wire. I hooked the end through the hole in the spool that's there for that purpose, so the wire is held on under tension and won't start jumping off or getting loose.
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2 comments
May 13, 2011. 9:08 PMwllmundrwd says:
I did that very thing earlier this year; my brother was amazed and I still don't understand why...
Mar 23, 2008. 1:45 PMLiquidhypnotic says:
This is sheer brilliance. Well, actually, this entire instructable is pretty ingenious, but this one in particular makes me smile.

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Author:TimAnderson
Tim Anderson is the author of the "Heirloom Technology" column in Make Magazine. He is co-founder of www.zcorp.com, manufacturers of "3D Printer" output devices. His detailed drawings of traditional ...
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