Liner question

[moe1942]

Recently bought a MM175. For my first project I intend to burn .023 solid wire . Having seen the questions on liners, I'm thinking I need to change mine but want to ask first. It will be a home workshop welder. Is liner/wire match really critical in my situation? Cost isn't an issue. I just don't want to change back and forth if it isn't necessary.

TIA moe1942

[H80N]

Moe
may get shot at for this ... but in my experience the liner size is not all that critical... if the liner in the machine that I had at the time... turned out to be undersized for the wire that I was planning to run.. would just order a teflon liner sized to fit the largest wire that I might run in the unit.... and just run it... with no observed problems ..if I ran .023 wire through an .045 or 1/16 liner.... just from my own experience.. I have found that alignment and cleanliness was more critical... making sure that the cone of the gun adapter was close to the rollers and straight.. and periodically blowing out the liner with compressed air to clear out any crud that may have been dragged in there... do not know if teflon liners are available for the miller guns but sure were for the tweco guns that I have run in the past.... might get shot twice...as... I have no Idea what liner is in the Millermatic 200 that I have in the shop at present .. but it happily feeds whatever wire I give it without any birdcaging or uneven feed... damaged tips have caused me far more trouble than liners ever have....
just one man's opinion
Heiti

[moe1942]

Liner question

Thanks for the answer Heiti. That was my guess but I've finally learned to listen to experience. Find it a lot cheaper in the long run.

Moe

[shane7207]

i have a mm210 that i've had for about 2 years now. i always run .023 in mine since i usually work on thinner material. i've never changed the liner in mine and have never had any trouble with the liner. i have more toruble with bad rolls of wire that are kinked, wound too tight, the wire is rolled down in the edges or some other trouble. as a matter of fact i dont even know what size liner is in mine. just make sure you have the right size rollers and tips and you should be o.k.

[ASKANDY]

BANG!!!

Did ya hear that? That was the first shot

We don't make different size liners for our health. For the most part, if you want to do a small project and don't want to change liners, go for it. But you will get into trouble when you have the longer guns or you just want to put up with the "poppier" starts. The reason the wire will run better in it's proper size liner is that with a larger liner the smaller wire will tend to snake inside and coil like a sling spring sort of. The wire will not run smoothly through the gun and cause some inconsistant starts because the wire will be bunching up, then pushing out. I just fixed a race team's welder yesterday for this very reason. They were complaining of burn backs to the tip. This team was hanging bodies on race cars where all they do is tack, tack, tack. Within 12 tacks, the wire would burn back once or twice. After changing liners, 50 tacks, no problem. Try this. Run about 3" of wire out your gun. Bend it to a 90 about 1 1/2" away from nozzle. Push and pull the wire and see how much in and out play you get. You will be surprised.

Maybe I'm going overboard for the average hobby guy... I'm sure there are plenty of people doing it. I just like my stuff to work A+ and I get **ssed at my guys when they pull that and I come later that night to finish up a job and the welder runs like a sick machine gun.

Sorry for the long reply.


A-