Forgive me if this has already been covered.
Just bought a Lincoln 135. Would like to use it as a MIG welder when appropriate but don't want to swap the inner shield between modes. I understand the necessity to reverse the feed rolls but is it absolutely necessary to replace the inner shield with the smaller diameter to accommodate the smaller wire?
I have no experience with Lincoln units, but I would suggest you just try it. Just don't blame me if something bad happens. :)
I would expect the worst to happen is that it will jam or it will not feed smoothly. I really wouldn't expect it to hurt the machine just to try it. If you try it, and the welds are good enough for what you are doing, then that's basically your answer. If it keeps jamming or sticking and messing up your welds and forcing you to spend the time to re-feed the wire, then that will tell you whether it's worth your time to swap the liner.
Keeping the gun cable as straight as possible when welding will no doubt help it feed better and reduce the odds of problems when running with the wrong liner.
Maybe someone here with more experience has some ideas of what damage might be done trying to use the wrong liner? Is the liner switch connected with gas flow when changing from flux core to MIG, or just wire size?
By inner shield I assume you're talking about the liner. There's no need to change the liner to change wire size. The liner is large enough for the largest wire that welder is setup for. It's the tip that provides power to the wire and needs to be the proper size so you just change it. The only time you might need to use a different liner is if you set it up for welding aluminum but it's not really recommended with that machine.
You also have to swap wires inside the unit to change polarity when switching between MIG and fluxcore. Your manual should explain all that and IIRC it's also shown on the chart on the inside of the door on the side of the welder. If you don't have a manual you can download it from the Lincoln site.
Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com
"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"
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