Portable welding wire feeders and separable wire sources

A portable welding wire spool housing comprising:

• a freestanding source case that is separately portable and physically independent from a portable wire feeder;
• a spool support within the source case, the spool support configured to support a spool of welding wire and to enable the spool to rotate to pay out the welding wire from the spool;
• an outlet to enable the welding wire to be withdrawn from the source case by the wire feeder;
• a connector on the first side of the source case configured to connect the source case to a freestanding feeder case of the wire feeder, wherein the connector comprises a rail or a slot on an exterior of the first side of the source case, the rail or the slot configured to engage the other of the rail or the slot on the feeder case by sliding the rail into the slot;
• and
• a releasable lock configured to engage to secure the rail and the slot against disengagement, wherein the outlet is configured to pay out wire when the rail and the slot are fully engaged and the releasable lock is engaged.

A wire feeding system, comprising:

• a wire source housing comprising:
• a freestanding source case;
• a spool support within the source case configured to support a welding wire spool;
• and
• a first connector on the first side of the source case, comprising at least one of:
• a rail on an exterior of the first side of the source case;
• or
• a slot on the exterior of the first side of the source case;
• a wire feeder comprising:
• a freestanding feeder case;
• one or more drive rolls within the feeder case, the one or more drive rolls configured to drive wire to a welding torch;
• and
• a second connector configured to connect to the first connector, the second connector comprising the other of the rail or the slot, wherein the rail is configured to engage the slot by sliding the rail into the slot;
• and
• a releasable lock configured to engage to secure the wire source housing and the wire feeder against disengagement.