MIG Gun Liner Sizes

[TomVeatch]

Newbie Question: How important is it to match the size of the liner to the wire size?

I note that there are several different sizes of gun liners for my new MM180. Is it important to match the liner/wire sizes, or is it not normally a problem. Reason for asking is that up to now I've only used .035 and .030 wire in the stock (.035?) liner without seeing any problems. Shortly I'm going to be running some .023. Can I expect kinks, jams, erratic feed, etc. if I don't buy and install the smaller diameter liner?

[JonnyTIG]

Your liner shouldn't need to be changed unless it has an oval shape to the entry point of it, or has a kink in it or other damage. Wear from the filler wire will eventually make the hole in the liner oval shaped. This can cause the wire to stick to the liner, or not allow the wire to twist inside the liner causing burn backs or 'nests'. I use my wire feed setup at work every day, and generally push about 500 lbs of wire (035 -045) through one liner. I blow the dust out of the liner every time I change the roll, and I use the lubricator / cleaner sponge most of the time. Too long of a liner is worse than a liner that is too short. As with a short liner, feeding the wire through is difficult, a long liner can cause the wire to kink up and cause feeding problems / birds nests frequently.

[JimYoung]

Mine is steel .. goes in my Millermatic 90. seems to be ok, but once is a while the wire catches some where and I have to refeed it from the spool forward. I guess that could be the tip as well..
Jim

[makeithot]

I would normally change the liner every six months but it depends on how much you use it is it steel liner or plastic

[JimYoung]

I don't want to steel the thread, but I was wondering... when do you know its time to change a liner... ?
Thanks, Jim

[TomVeatch]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Based on that, I'm not going to worry about it. Even the thin stuff should be stiff enough to not "birds nest" inside the liner.

[yorkiepap]

Liners...

Hey Tom,
You shouldn't have any problems using .023 wire in the factory liner if it came with the standard .035 max liner. I have a Miller Sidekick & Miller Challenger172 that have the standard liner for .023-.035. I have changed many times without any problems at all. I do keep the fibre wire lubricator on all my machines and use a few drops of the lube prior to each use. Since my units are older, they have only one wire groove in the feed roller and it handles .023-.035. I think Miller kept a system that works well and you should be ok......Denny

[calweld]

Within reason, it's not a problem. I only run .045 or 1/16 thru my MIG gun, either works ok with a 1/16 liner, some wires (NR211 especially) do run better thru the correct size liner, but normally I don't worry about it. Now, .023 may be a different story, something like pushing spagetti thru a waterhose????