On Friday, August 11, 2017 at 2:58:11 PM UTC-4, Bob Engelhardt wrote:
On 8/9/2017 5:10 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:

... it's the roll of wire inside the machine that has
some surface rust . ...

11 years ago, I posted here about the ****ty MIG welds I was getting and
the problem was surface rust on the wire. After replacing the wire (or
maybe just unspooling down to clean wire), I made a little compartment
around the wire in the MIG and fitted it with a packet of silica gel. I
have had zero surface rust since. And I do so little welding that a 2
lb spool lasts years and years.

http://i.imgur.com/OOpBeWU.jpg

The wire feeds out of it's box through a slot with two rubber flaps as a
seal. The box is sealed with RTV on the back and the MIG cover/door has
foam weather stripping that seals the front. The silica gel is in a
pouch, in the plastic chamber in the upper left corner.

Some time after, I realized that I could have used a plastic food
storage box and avoided the necessity of isolating (electrically) the
wire from the box. Would have been all-round easier.

Bob

Nice. Do you ever change the silica gel or does it just dry out on its own during less humid times?