Patent 10155278 was granted and assigned to Illinois Tool Works on December, 2018 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A wire feeder has a motor, mounting plate, intermediate mounting plate, and base assembly. The mounting plate has a plurality of mounting hole patterns and a shaft hole. The motor a mounting hole pattern that aligns with at least one of the plurality. One of a plurality of motor types can be mounted to the mounting plate. The mounting plate is mounted to the intermediate mounting plate, which is mounted to the base assembly. The base assembly includes a drive gear, which is connected to rotate with an insulating cap that receives a gear hub. The gear hub is connected to rotate with the motor shaft via matching keys. The insulating hub, intermediate mounting plate and mounting plate are electrically insulating, so that the base assembly is electrically isolated from the motor.