Killer Weldz Thread

Lol on the music thing, I always wondered why it would get louder while me and Chris were talking..lol The music thing does help, I where a pair of ear buds when I weld so the music can be at a level I can hear the sound of the weld but other things in the shop get drounded out. Only bad thing is if you use your phone for music and someone calls in the middle of a bead.
 
Great tip on the wire downsizing to 023. Been getting a little practice. Much more control and easier stop and starts . Heat appears more even as well. Why didn't i think of this before. ...thanks guys!

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So for you guys who have gone down to .023 wire on your machines, are you changing the drive rollers or just using the ones that came with the machine? My Miller comes with reversible ones that are grooved for .030 and .035 so ideally I'd need to get new ones. Have any of you run the smaller wire on the larger rollers and had good luck?

I've welded with smaller wire a lot in the past with my dads Lincoln and I like it but haven't done much plate work with it. I'm not sure I really want to dedicate my big Miller to .023 permanently so I'd like to try out a roll and see. Hell knowing Miller it'd probably be cheaper to just buy another small machine just for .023 than to buy drive rollers for my 212
 
For my 185, I've now run all sizes in it and never changed the rollers. Iirc, my rollers only have a groove on bottom wheel, top wheel just applies pressure, I'd have to look again to be sure. Welded some 1/4 tonight for my bump pads, I'll post a pic tomorrow, never been happier with my welder than now with the .023. I will continue to keep .030 handy for heavy, less purdy jobs.

Only problem i have is my local supply only carries 10 lb rolls of 23, have to order the 40 lb units.
 
MarsFab said:
So for you guys who have gone down to .023 wire on your machines, are you changing the drive rollers or just using the ones that came with the machine? My Miller comes with reversible ones that are grooved for .030 and .035 so ideally I'd need to get new ones. Have any of you run the smaller wire on the larger rollers and had good luck?

I've welded with smaller wire a lot in the past with my dads Lincoln and I like it but haven't done much plate work with it. I'm not sure I really want to dedicate my big Miller to .023 permanently so I'd like to try out a roll and see. Hell knowing Miller it'd probably be cheaper to just buy another small machine just for .023 than to buy drive rollers for my 212
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Buy the rolls. It's only going to cause feed problems if you don't. If you have a decent relationship with your LWS, you should be able to get them for about $40.

Edit: Wrong quote grabbed
 
mcutler said:
For my 185, I've now run all sizes in it and never changed the rollers. Iirc, my rollers only have a groove on bottom wheel, top wheel just applies pressure, I'd have to look again to be sure. Welded some 1/4 tonight for my bump pads, I'll post a pic tomorrow, never been happier with my welder than now with the .023. I will continue to keep .030 handy for heavy, less purdy jobs.

Only problem i have is my local supply only carries 10 lb rolls of 23, have to order the 40 lb units.
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That's my welder, too. The roller should be grooved. The size it's cut for will be printed on the outside of the roll if you're looking at the roller installed. It should be grooved for two sizes. I think. Damnit. I've run .023, .030, and .035 in it and I can't 100% remember if this info is correct!
 
I know that after they went to two driven rolls, they had sized grooves. The 212 should have them. Our 210 does. One set covers 23 and 30, then there's one for .035 and another for .045. I can believe I've forgotten whether or not the 185 does, though! I could have sworn the driven roll was sized for wire. Oddly, I was talking to a friend today, who was unaware of the conversation here, and had run out of .035 in his MM210, so he grabbed an older roll of .023 and loaded it up. First, it birdnested, then it refused to feed. He didn't know about the sized rolls.
 
My point: You might could get away with running .035 on a .023 drive roll for a while, but you're probably not going to feed .023 through an .035 roll. The groove will be too big.
 
My biggest concern is slippage. I've seen long term slippage make metal powder that chews up liners and drive motors. We spent like 2 months trying to track down the cause of this issue on an older miller wire feeder unit when I worked in a steel shop. Turns out that going down to .030 from .045 and not switching rollers wasn't a great idea. But in my case were only talking .007 difference instead of .015 so I suppose we'll see soon enough. But yea probably should just order the dang rollers and not have to worry about it
 
I have always run .035 and I'm just about ready for another spool and I'm thinking about the .023 after reading this.
I weld a lot of 3/16 and 1/4 but I also want to still be able to weld on a 3/8 axle truss or link mount without worry so should I play it safe with .030?
 
I use .023 on just about everything on a buggy and keep my welder set up for that wire. The rollers are .023 rollers. I tried using the .030 roller (maybe it was .035...) initially when I first bought the welder and the consistency was terrible. I guess the rollers were slipping on the smaller wire.

I tried the larger wire and the .023 just flowed much better and I had way more control with the wire and the weld.

For anything big, I just use the TIG or even a 1/8" 7018 :D

My machine is the Lincoln 185 (or something like that) I bought new back in 2008
 
BUCKEYE PERFORMANCE INC. said:
I have always run .035 and I'm just about ready for another spool and I'm thinking about the .023 after reading this.
I weld a lot of 3/16 and 1/4 but I also want to still be able to weld on a 3/8 axle truss or link mount without worry so should I play it safe with .030?
Click to expand...

0.030 is going to give you a little more versatility in what you do, especially if you wind up in out of position situations often. High current overhead and skinny wire can get tricky as that ball of liquid metal forms earlier than with thicker wire and may not get to its intended target once gravity takes over. Also, being able to lay more wire with a faster travel speed is handy in vertical and overhead positions, where you're depending on the puddle to start to solidify before it drips down. I say buy a roll of each! Wire is relatively cheap, and having an extra roll never hurt anything! But understanding the best wire for your situation is important. Knowing how to make the wrong wire work is just as important! ;)
 
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