Abstract: An automatic wire feed adjuster, including a feeding mechanism including a pair of rollers that feeds a wire therebetween, a tension controller that adjusts a tension between the pair of rollers, a wire speed sensor that measures a fed speed of the wire after exiting the feeding mechanism, and a control circuit that compares a driven speed of the wire with the fed speed of the wire, and that decides whether to instruct the tension controller to adjust the tension between the pair of rollers.

Abstract: A wire guide for use in a welding wire feeder is provided. The wire guide includes two guide surfaces spaced from one another to define an opening through which welding wire is directed from a spool to a wire drive assembly of the wire feeder. The wire guide may also include a side flange extending from an outboard position of the wire guide to maintain the wire within a desired region of the wire drive assembly, such as a space formed by grooves along rollers of the wire drive assembly. The side flange may be formed integrally with an outboard guide surface of the wire guide. The guide surfaces and the side flange may be formed integrally into a one-piece wire guide structure.